「愛がほしいだけさ」

"'Two young adventurers for hire. Willing to do anything, go anywhere. Pay must be good. No unreasonable offer refused.' How would that strike you if you read it?"

"The Secret Adversary"

To be expected of the Kyoto University Mystery Club: people who arrive early for the end-of-semester party all head straight for the Book Off to browse/read until meeting time, discussions at the izakaya include topics like secret hallways and how the stairs are probably only able to hold a certain amount of weight so we can create an elimination-style detective story and the karaoke list being dominated by theme songs of Conan and Kindaichi Shounen.

L'Agence Barnett et Cie is a small private detective agency in Paris run by Jim Barnett. What makes this agency unique? It's free. No fees are charged for services rendered. At all. And that's not because Barnett is a bad detective: to the contrary, he is a very gifted private detective who seems almost able to perform miracles for his clients. His gift for detection is even recognized by inspector Béchoux, disciple of Ganimard, the legendary police detective of the Paris police force. Oh, and yes, Jim Barnett is nothing more than an alias of the famous thief Arsene Lupin. And you can bet that even though he doesn't charge anybody for his services, Lupin is sure to arrange things so he profits in one way or another...

L'Agence Barnett et Cie is a short story collection and readers familiar with Arsene Lupin will know what to expect: whereas the novel-length stories of Lupin tend to be swashbuckling adventures, the short stories tend to very entertaining orthodox detective stories. This collection is no exception and I had great fun reading the stories. In fact, I wasn't even planning to read any Japanese translated novels this week, but I had been wanting to read this collection for years and when I discovered this book among the shelves of the Mystery Club, I just had to read it immediately.

In Les gouttes qui tombent ("The Falling Drops"), Barnett is asked to help baroness Asserman in the matters of an inheritance. Her husband, the baron, had been ill and confined to his bed for a long time and with time, love between the two had disappeared. Wanting to punish the baroness for her lack of loyalty to him, the baron then made a curious will. His wife was to inherit an insanely expensive necklace when he were to die, while his other relatives were to inherit the rest of his possessions (the mansion, the rest of his fortune). The catch? The baroness discovers, after her husband's death, that the necklace is replaced for a fake and that she thus inherits nothing at all. But who could have made the switch of her necklace (which she had always hidden in her safe)?  The solution is a very obvious one because of the length of the story though: I love short stories, but if written badly, the right solution might be too easy to see because there are just too few story elements. Which doesn't mean the solution was disappointing though, as this was a truly cruel and horrifying trick to steal and get rid of the necklace! More easy on the heart is seeing how Barnett/Lupin arranges things so he benefits too!

Inspector Béchoux hopes Barnett will be able to solve a curious murder in La lettre d'amour du roi George ("The Love Letters of King George"). The murder on an old man seems to be commited by his three nephews, as they are the only ones to profit of his death and they were all on the scene of the crime, but they swear that they saw their uncle's friend at the house that day. However, the villagers all swear that they saw this friend at his own house, sitting in the living room smoking like he always does at the time of the murder. How could he have been in two places at the same time? The solution is one of those that seem a bit unrealistic, which can be attacked with a lot of 'but what if...''s, but it might actually work. In those times, in little villages.

La partie de baccara ("A Game of Baccara") is very easy to see through. I mean, there is not even something to see through. The murder of a man after a game of baccara really doesn't need the likes of Lupin to solve. The only fun part of the story? Barnett once again making a profit in a slightly illegal way.

L'homme aux dents d'or ("The Man With the Golden Teeth") is the one stole the religious treasures, the monk said to inspector Béchoux. So he found a suspicous man with golden teeth in the neighborhood. So everything is over? No. For the monk swears that the golden teeth were on the left side of his mouth, while the man arrested has them on the right side. Once again not that complex, while it does features a double-layered solution.

An investor is robbed of a bag full of stock certifcates in Les douze africaines de Béchoux ("The Twelve African Stock Certificates of Béchoux"). And yes, like the title suggest, the loot includes an investment of Béchoux himself (so now it's personal!). Thanks to the quick recovery of the robbery, the investor manages to arrange that nobody is able to leave the building until the arrival of the police. But even an extensive search of the police across all floors doesn't produce the documents, nor the thief. Where did they disappear to? Another impossible diappearance/extensive search story, but with a slightly disappointing solution because this is one of those times where I feel that that place was a place that should have been searched. On the other hand, Leblanc does make some truly hilarious (and probably true) observations about the habits of a particular professional occupation.

Le hasard fait des miracles ("Chance creates miracles") feels a bit like Au sommet de la tour from the Les Huit Coups de l'horloge Lupin collection, both about families of nobility with a muddy past and a mysterious death. Here the death of an impoverished young baron, who seems to have fallen to his death forms to be a problem. Was it just an accident? Like Au sommet de la tour, Barnett uncovers a very old plot and the truth behind the current death (which unfornately also depends on a very unbelievable bit of luck), but the best part is seeing Barnett being his old Lupin-y old self and dominating the last scene.

Gants blancs... guêtres blanches... ("White gloves, white spats") opens with the revelation that Béchoux was actually married. He divorced because his wife wanted to become a star, which she did. Now she wants Béchoux to find out who robbed of her apartment, attacked her mother and to recover the loot. Still in love with his wife, Béchoux is unable to refuse this request and even though he knows that Barnett is not to be trusted (as he always ends up profiting one way or another), he also knows that only Barnett is able to solve the problem of how the robbers were able to get into the building unobserved. A variation on a classic trick, which sadly enough becomes clear immediately the moment the hints to it are introduced in the story.

After the events of the last story, Béchoux hopes to finally arrest Barnett for his unortodox way of running a detective agency that 'doesn't charge a fee' in Béchoux arrête Jim Barnett (Béchoux arrests Jim Barnett"). Barnett seems to be connected with the case of the murder on a housewife and the consequent disappearance of a photo that could make or break the case against the main suspect. Not a very interesting story actually, as the solution to where the photos are hidden is almost too absurd.

There is quite an emphasis on the great search trope / hidden objects trope in the stories collected here, which has always been a big Lupin thing, I guess. Most of the solutions aren't that surprising though and I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed here.You'd think with all these comments that I didn't like this collection, but that's not true actually. I had quite some fun with the book and that was really because these stories are two-layered. At one hand, we have the main story of seeing how Barnett solves the cases. But on the other hand, we also have to consider how Lupin is going to make a profit out of this case. And that is really the main attraction for me of L'Agence Barnett et Cie: seeing how Lupin acts as a great detective and all, while still being his sly thief-self and arranging everything that he profits one way or another.

Reading this in Japanese was interesting though. I had only read Minami Youichirou's adaptations of Lupin until now, which were highly re-written and simplified (in fact, La Demeure mystérieuse is a sort-a sequel to L'Agence Barnett et Cie also featuring Béchoux). This was an actual translation, which gave another flavor to the text. The Minami 'translations' can definitely be critized for being very disloyal to the original text (in terms of word-to-word translations), but they read more easily as actual Japanese text. I've been reading quite some Japanese translations lately (why?!!!) and I do find the difference in ways of expression across the languages very remarkable. It is instantly clear whether you are reading an actual Japanese text or a translation. Which makes sense, I guess, but I do see why one would like to read Minami's translations.

Next up: a non-translation. I hope.

Japanese title(s): 『バーネット探偵社』　「したたる水滴」　「ジョージ王の恋文」　「バカラの勝負」　「金歯の男」　「べシューの十二枚のアフリカ株券」　「白手袋・・・白いゲートル」　「べシュー、バーネットを逮捕す」

Psychological Recovery...6 months

「でもこうやって部屋に置いたままにしていたら、それこそ犯人にとって思惑どおりっていうか　―　これだと被害者側から自ら、被害に遭い続けるようなもじゃないですか」

 (...) 

「僕は先輩のいうことも分かります。殺人事件で言えば、死体にあたるものですから。汚いからってすぐに捨てちゃうのもどうかと」 

「嫉妬事件」

 "But leaving it here is precisely what the culprit wants! It's like the victims themselves choose to continue to be victims!" 

(...) 

"I do understand what he means though. If this was a murder case, this would be the body. We can't just throw it away because it's filthy..." 

"The Jealousy Case"

Following the example of many, many Japanese students, I tried to study in a restaurant yesterday. Partly because I hadn't eaten anything besides cookies around two thirty, also because I had always found it strange to see so many student studying in a restaurant. Wouldn't it be more effective to study in a place more quiet?

In my case: yes. It is much more effective. Studying in a restaurant does not work for me. A result which I had expected already actually, considering I can't even study in an university library.

I am not sure who designed the cover for Inui Kurumi's Shitto Jiken ("The Jealousy Case"), but people might be pissed upset if they bought this novel based on the cover alone without reading the description. 'Casue it is is about something quite different. 1984, a few days before Christmas. Jourin University's regular classes have ended and most clubs have also entered their winter break. One of the few clubs still active in this time is the Mystery Research Club. This small club dedicated to the detective novel has a tradition of a 'Guess the Criminal' event, where one of the club members writes a short detective story which the other members have to solve. If well-received, the story is included in the annual magazine the club publishes. This particular day however, the 'Guess the Criminal' event is cancelled because of unforeseen circumstances. Because as the members of the club assembled in their club room, they noticed something terrible. Horrible. Grotesque. On top of the books on the top row of one of the bookcases in the clubroom, some unknown person had placed... human feces. Who did this, and why?

This might sound a bit disgusting, but reality is stranger than fiction, for this is actually based on a real incident that happened within the Kyoto University Mystery Club. Many, many years ago, someone did really leave human feces on top of some books in the Mystery Club's BOX room. And it remains an unsolved case. It happened before members like Ayatsuji Yukuto and Abiko Takemaru joined the club, but even they confirm that this was an actual incident. The case was made 'famous' for outsiders through the following passage of Takemoto Kenji's Ouroboros no Kisoron ("The Foundation Theory of Ouroboros"):

「ええ。まだ僕が入学する前の話らしいんですけどね。あるときミステリ研の部員がボックスに言ってみたら、本棚に並んでいる本の上にうんこが乗っていたんですって」
「本の上に」
僕はやっぱり笑ってしまった。綾辻君は身振り手振りを加えて、
「ええ。こう、何冊が縦に並んでいる上に。それも人の背より高い本棚、上から二段目だったかな。その上の横板との隙間もそんなにないし。だから、何冊か本をゴソッとひっぱりだして、その上にウンコをしておいて、またもと通りきちんと直しておいたと考えるしかないんですよ」
『ウロボロスの基礎論』　（竹本健治）

"Yeah. It happened before I got into university though. A member of the Mystery Club went into the BOX and found shit on top of the books in the bookcase there"
"On top of the books"
I sneered. Ayatsuji started to add gestures to his talking.
"Yes! Like this, on top of some books standing next to each other. And on the second shelf from the top of a bookcase larger than anybody. So there was hardly any space between the books and the shelf above. So the culprit must have taken out some of the books, placed the feces on top of them and then placed them back"
"The Foundation Theory of Ouroboros" (Takemoto Kenji)

Neither Takemoto nor Shitto Jiken's Inui originate from the Kyoto University Mystery Club, meaning they must have heard the rumors from other members. Inui's take on the case is like the summary suggest a fictionalized version of the incident, with the members of the club trying to deduce whodunnit. In true 'Guess the Criminal' fashion, based on the process of elimination of who could have entered the room, when and for what cause the material was placed on top of the books. And while most of the thinking is done by the members of the mystery club, the role of the detective is actually reserved for outsider Tendou Tarou, the binding factor of Inui's Tarot series (Shitto Jiken is the fifth book in the series by the way, which features stories with (vague) references to tarot).

The subject matter might seem a bit strange, but Shitto Jiken (which incidently means Jealousy Case, but sounds like Shit Case) is quite fun to read. It's not really a daily life mystery, but the case is less horrible than a dead body. Or is it? In some ways, it almost seems more horrible than a stiff. I mean, having to investigate a dead body for hints or... that for hints... The conclusion is also a bit darker than one would expect and not what one would have expected after the somewhat silly discussions on how one would have to act to actually put feces on top of books and whether people who love books would be able to do this.

Two little points I didn't like though: the final deduction of Tendou is kinda comes out of nowhere and even though he points out one important hint in particular, no normal reader would have been able to pick that up. The second is the length of the story, which falls a bit between a long short story and a short long story. I would have preferred it shorter.

Because of the somewhat strange length of the story, Inui added an original story for the paperback release, which is actually the 'Guess the Criminal' script which was cancelled because of the shit case. Mittsu no Shitsugi  ("The Three Questions") feels like an orthodox Kyoto Mystery Club 'Guess the Criminal' script, with a puzzle which can be solved mostly through the process of elimination, but it also includes a particular trick I have seen quite often now, in English and Japan, but I still get fooled by it. One of these days, I will actually learn from my experiences.

I had quite some fun with this book, as it is so strongly related with 'my' club, but it also conveys quite a realistic image of a Japanese mystery club I think and despite the nasty contents, the story works out as a fairly entertaining detective story. Which manages to be more horrible than a story with a bloody, cut-up corpse. And yes, walking in the club's BOX this morning was kinda scary, having read this book yesterday. The BOX room is still pretty much the same as it used to be all those years ago: a number lock on the door, the inside a bit cramped because of all the bookcases full of books and manga inside it. But luckily no nasty surprises today.

Original Japanese title(s): 乾くるみ 『嫉妬事件』:  「嫉妬事件」 / 「三つの質疑」

「ぼくは言った。犯人は・・・ぼくだ」

「犯罪は『芸術』なんかじゃない！！・・・・どんなきれい事で飾ろうと、犯罪は悲劇しか生まないんだ！！」 『金田一少年の事件簿：　蝋人形城殺人事件』

"Crime isn't art! No matter how you dress it up, crimes only bring forth tragedies!"

"The Case Files of Young Kindaichi: The Wax Puppet Castle Murder Case"

Finally saw the live action Detective Conan TV drama special Kudou Shinichi -  Kyouto Shinsengumi Satsujin Jiken ("Kudou Shinichi - Kyoto Shinsengumi Murder Case") broadcast earlier this year, part of last year's Kudou Shinichi e no Chousenjou drama starring Mizobata Junpei and Kutsuna Shiori. The first half was a fairly faithful adaption of Shinichi's First Case (though they still managed to mess up canon!) while the second half was an original story about a murder on a movie set of a jidaigeki. There was a sorta interesting locked room trick there, definitely better than most what we've seen of the current TV drama production team, but I still can't stand the cast of the TV drama series! Oh, and things get way out of hand when I think that this famous scene of Captain Tsubasa is less ridiculous than what Shinichi does in terms of kicking stuff in this special! 

But enough about that. In better news: Kamaitachi no Yoru is actually getting an English release! I absolutely love the Kamaitachi games (see my thoughts on the first and second game), so quite excited to see the reception of a game that blends so expertly a mystery novel with an actual working game system! Oh, and this brings me to the main topic of this post. Games!

Meitantei Conan - Akatsuki no Monument ("Detective Conan - Dawn's Monument") for the GameBoy Advance is a very flawed adventure game featuring our kid detective. Which is a bit of a shame, because the story is actually quite good. Mouri Kogorou is asked to investigate rumors of the 'suicide village', which say that a whole town commited suicide. A gigantic hotel-apartment is built on the place the village used to be, and the owner of the building, Fujii Hidemi, thinks she was deceived by the construction company by not being informed about those rumors before investing in the building. Mouri and the gang arrive at the hotel disguised as guests at the opening reception, when suddenly a man falls from the top of building down on the main stage of the reception hall. And this is just one of the many, many murders (including locked room ones!) that are commited that night.

Like I said, this game is very flawed. It starts with the game-system which ties all actions to a time-limit. Doing something wrong depletes your time limit meter and running out of time means having to restart the chapter. The problem here is that everything costs time. I have seen this time-limit system quite often in adventure games when you are asked a question (forcing you think fast when answering), but it really makes no sense to give time limits to all actions, including examining items and changing locations. Why would I run out of time by going to the window?! Why am I punished for re-examing something, just because I wanted to re-read the description?! It means that you basically have to know exactly what to each chapter, as one or two mistakes usually means that you have to start all over again.

Removing almost all of the player's freedom also means that this hardly feels like a game at times. If I can't choose my own path anyway, I might as well read a book! I mean, the music isn't that great either! And no review of this game would be complete without refering to the awful, horrible, terrible mid-section of the game, where you are forced to interrogate twenty four suspects. All of them. One after another. And they all have basically nothing to tell you. You are forced to ask every suspect for their alibis for every murder (like I said, there are multiple murders) and because it would make sense to make this into one question ("What's your alibi for the murders"), you have to ask every suspect their alibis for every single murder ("What's your alibi for the A murder?", "What's your alibi for the B murder?" etc.).Twenty four times. And some other questions too. This part easily ranks amongst the top 3 bad game sequences of all games I've ever played. And I've played quite some games.

The story of the game is quite interesting though, with locked room murders and even a great alibi trick I've never seen before (but sadly enough, this also translated to a very bad game experience). The murderer is quite easy to guess though and I have to admit, this story felt less like a Conan story, but more like a Kindaichi Shounen story. Which brings me to the next game...

I haven't actually played this game (heck, I don't even own a Sega Saturn), but I am definitely tempted to get a Saturn and Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo - Hoshimitou - Kanashimi no Fukushuuki ("The Case Files of Young Kindaichi - Stargazing Isle - The Sad Monsters of Revenge"), having seen several awesome playthroughs of this game. This is naturally an adventure game based on Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo, but the twist here is, and I think that this is a first, that you actually play as the murderer! Yes, none of that waiting until a murder happens and slowly gathering hints until you get to reveal the identity of the murderer: here you slowly plan your murder and try to get rid of all the evidence! Can you outsmart the grandson of the famous detective Kindaichi Kousuke?!

It is sort of an inverted mystery, in the sense that you see all the events leading up the murder and the consequent investigation, with the big difference here being that you are trying to avoid the final confrontation with the great detective where he points out the little mistake you made. The concept is really original and actually perfect for Kindaichi Shounen. Yes, nearly all of the murderers in the series commit their crimes because of some great tragedy they had to undergo because of their victims and this is getting a bit stale after 20 years, but to literally see it from the other side: it's really a great motive to commit all these murders. Making things personal always works for these kind of stories.

As you start the game, you get to choose between two scenarios, which are related and play out like alternate universe versions of each other. In both stories a party is held on Stargazing Island, with guests like the idols Hayami Reika and Nagisa Chiharu, as well as some people from the press and of course Hajime and Miyuki. But there are potential murderers amongst the guests too (depending on which scenario you choose): the 'disappeared' idol Nao, who had to leave the showbizz world after getting involved a made-up scandal by some scheming journalists and Takuya, the fiance of Nao's manager who commited suicide after the scandal. Having found out that those responsible for the fake scandal are present on the island you, as either of the persons bent on revenge, try to get in to the Hall of Fame of Kindaichi Shounen murderers.

The game develops as a normal adventure game, where you have to collect information and make the right choices to advance the story. For example, you can get information useful for coming up with an alibi trick by talking to another person, or you might find out some useful habits of your victim if you choose to interact with him or her. The only difference here with a normal detective adventure is that you're the murderer now, but that makes it that much more fun. The meaning and impact of Hajime's catchphrases like In the name of my grandpa! or the murderer is among us! really changes when you're on the other side of things and whereas it usually gives a feeling of relief in the original manga, hearing those words here makes you think only one thing: GAME OVER.

The game is actually full of bad endings, which are not just simple game over screens. You have a range of possible murder methods for the victims, but while there is only one 'good' murder method per victim, the storylines featuring 'false' methods are developed quite comprehensively, each having its own denouement scene with Hajime and it might take quite some time for the player to notice that the murder method itself is wrong, rather that he is doing something wrong while committing the murderer. It sure lengthens the playtime, but in a natural and amusing way, as seeing Hajime solving the case doesn't feel like a 'normal' game over. Such game over scenarios are technically nothing more than orthodox inverted mysteries and thus feel 'complete' and not really as a game over. Compare to when you would play the detective and then fail to solve the case!

And the concept is worked out in hilarious ways too. Whenever you get a game over screen, one of your 'murderer' seniors, i.e. murderers featured in the series, give you hints on how to progress, almost mimicking the senior-junior relation we see in the series between Hajime and Saki (1 and 2). And because of the way the game is set up, you win when you succeed in killing all your victims without being found out. Which leads to the problem of someone else being caught as the murderer. Which is both scary and hilarious at the same time.

This was the only Kindaichi Shounen game to utilize this concept, but I sure wish there would be more of these games! Yes, there are tons of games where you kill people, but it is seldom this private and personal. It might feel a bit strange to take up the role of a planning murderer, but it really works in the world of Kindaichi Shounen.

So, with all this Kindaichi's 20th anniversary stuff, a new drama special and a new anime special... can I ask for a new game too?

Original Japanese title(s): 『名探偵コナン　暁のモニュメント』, 『金田一少年の事件簿 星見島 悲しみの復讐鬼』

「僕にも誰かを愛せると、その手を重ねて知らせて」

「誰にも理解されず。 誰にも理解を求めず。 他人を頼らず己を頼み。自分を食い潰しながら生きていく」

『クビキリサイクル』 

"Without understanding anyone. Without asking anyone for understanding. Relying on no one, relying on oneself. Living on while living off one self"

"Deheading Cycle" 

If I were to plot a graph of when I make posts here against when I am busy with exams and papers, I think it show that I actually tend to post more often when I am busy. My theory: I am usually quite lazy and good at doing absolutely nothing in my free time: so when I actually have to get active (because I have to write papers / study), I also tend to read more books / write more posts. Or I am just good at not studying.

While stories like Issunboushi were considered full-length novels at the time of their publication, contemporary readers regard them more like novellas. Therefore, Edogawa Rampo's Kotou no Oni ("The Demon of the Lonely Island") is now commonly seen as his first real full-length novel. It is also often regarded as one of his best, if not his very best novel, an opinion I don't share completely, but I can certainly see why readers would regard it as such. Originally serialized in 1929, Kotou no Oni starts with our narrator Minoura, a young, not particularly attractive man, falling in love with his co-worker Hatsuyo, who returns his feelings. Their relation is not completely without troubles however, with the biggest problem being Moroto, a well-educated doctor-friend of Minoura who harbors amorous feelings for him. Moroto seemingly tries to sabotage Minoura and Hatsuyo's relation and it should not come as a big surprise that Minoura suspects Moroto of being a murderer when Hatsuyo is one day found murdered in her house. A completely locked house.

Minoura asks his friend Miyamagi, an amateur detective, to investigate the murder of Hatsuyo and it doesn't take long for Miyamagi to discover a truly inferious plot surrounding Hatsuyo's murder. But before he is able to tell Munoura more about the case, Miyamagi is murdered. On a public beach. During the day. Surrounded by families who had come for a sunny day on the beach. Who is this monster who is able to murder people like that in impossible circumstances!

And this was just the first half of the novel. Things get really weird afterwards. Which is to be expected from Rampo. What starts out as a fairly orthodox detective with two murders commited under impossible circumstances, evolves into a science-fiction boys adventure mystery with sexual deviant themes. And I have to admit. It works. I have no idea how Rampo pulled it off, but it somehow _works_. Kotou no Oni is as chaotic and deviant as the themes it addresses, incorporating pretty much all the motifs Rampo used in his stories, including orthodox detecting, people hiding in stuff, sexual deviance, physical impairments, secret codes and treasure hunting, abnormal fixations, Japanese architecture, public showing of murder (victims), 'circus freaks' and a lot more, but it does not break despite all this weight.

Though I have to admit that I was quite surprised by the way Rampo played with the amateur detective trope. The amateur detective is a character who is featured a lot in Rampo's stories and even Akechi Kogorou started out as nothing more than an amateur with a knack for analytic reasoning. The way Miyamagi gets killed off early in the story is actually quite shocking, as he was presented as a really gifted amateur detective, who did not differ from Rampo's other amateurs (who don't get killed off).

Anywy, Kotou no Oni works despite its chaos, and that is definitely largely because of Rampo's writing style. I somehow forget it every time, so I get surprised every time I pick up one of his books, but Rampo was a master in storytelling. The conversations, the 'spoilers' he gives you to entice to continue reading, the mysterious events that pique your interests, the way the story keeps on evolving, it might not be suited for a real orthodox detective, but it sure keeps your eyes glued on the pages. You would hardly guess that it was pre-war literature (and yes, there is a much more profound difference in pre and postwar Japanese fiction in terms of writing style compared to English fiction).

I liked the first half, with the impossible murders, the best. Here Rampo sticks quite strongly to the orthodox detective model and while the locked room murder of Hatsuyo slightly resembles another famous story by him, I do consider it an interesting locked room trick if one realizes when and where Kotou no Oni was written. The beach murder works actually wonderful in conjunction with the Hatsuyo murder, because the the solutions to the murders, while completely different, really do rely on the same hint and the moment you realize the solution of one murder, you see the implications for the other murder. In that sense, Rampo really succeeded in connecting the two murders, instead of just writing stuff just as he was going (a tendency he has shown quite often in the past). The solution to the two murders is revealed at the end of the first half of this novel, also signalling the change in tone of the novel.

The second half moves away from the orthodox detecting and we are introduced to a swashbuckling science fiction adventure on the titular lonely island. Kotou no Oni was one of the major sources for the movie Horrors of Malformed Men, so people familiar with that infamous movie might not be surprised to hear about stuff like an island full of physically impaired people and ideas like one half of a Siamese twin falling in love with the other half. We also have a treasure hunt inside the caves under the island and an evil mastermind called Otottsan ("Father". No, no that Father). This is Rampo really giving in to his grotesque writing mode (as opposed to his orthodox detective writing mode), but like I said before: the shift does not feel too abrupt. Abstractly seen, Kotou no Oni actually follows Rampo's own evolution as a writer, from orthodox detective stories to more grotesque stories (that still rely strongly on a mystery theme). But the two parts definitely make up one whole and the little details spread over the two parts that comprise this story also shows that Rampo did actually plan this story up to a certain extent as a whole.

For those interested in a more academic reading of Kotou no Oni, there is a paper written by Reichert (‘Deviance and Social Darwinism in Edogawa Ranpo’s Erotique-Grotesque Thriller “Kotō no Oni”", see the attic) which addresses the themes of (sexual) deviance in the novel. It spoils everything of the novel though, so only for those who don't care about being spoiled, or those who are not planning to read the novel anyway.  Which also brings me to the question: I am pretty sure that this is a fairly early example of modern detective fiction that addresses homosexuality, but is the earliest? I mean, it is not just hinted that Moroto is gay, he is without a doubt presented as a man having strong romantic and sexual feelings for Minoura. Rampo is often quoted as a writer whose work features homosexuality, but Kotou no Oni is as far as I know the only story where it is not just simply implied (c.f. Issunboushi, which starts with an 'enigmatic' meeting between two men in a park which features a lot of hinting).

I wouldn't recommended Kotou no Oni as a detective story, but this novel is definitely Rampo. It features pretty all of his major themes and motifs (excluding his adolescent fiction, of course), but it doesn't feel as chaotic as you would expect it to be. In fact, for a Rampo novel, it feels remarkably as a whole and I can definitely see why people would rank Kotou no Oni as one of Rampo's best works.

Original Japanese title(s): 江戸が乱歩　『孤島の鬼』

『鍵のかかっていない部屋』

「《水冷式重機関銃二百連発、ただし暗殺部隊！》みたいなっ！」

『クビシメロマンチスト』

"Like '200 continuous hits fom a water cooled heavy machine gun, but by an assasination squad!'"

"Strangling Romanticist"

A friend reacted surprised when I told her that I play several videogames at the same time (as in, I don't need to finish one game before I move on to the next one) and then I realized that I have the same habit for books. In general, I read several books at the same time. For example, the last few days I have been switching between novels of Arisugawa Alice, Ayatsuji Yukito and Edogawa Rampo. Well, and Akutagawa Ryunosuke for a paper. But yeah, in general, several books at the same time. Is it just me? But now for something completely different.

I think I read Higashigawa Tokuya's Chuutohanpa na Misshitsu ("A Half-Finished Locked Room") over a month ago already, but for some reason or another, I kept postponing writing the review. Which is the longest time between reading a book and writing the review for it ever since I started this blog. And I'm not even sure what caused this enormous time lag. Because this short story collection, featuring the first five stories Higashigawa wrote isn't that bad. On the other hand, it is nowhere close of being called a masterpiece either though. Which might be what kept me from my review: the book just doesn't invoke enough passion with me to really laud or bash it. It's like the title, chuutohanpa, neither fish or fowl. And I totally copied that last expression from my dictionary.

The titular story, Chuutohanpa na Misshitsu ("A Half-Finished Locked Room") is Higashigawa's debut story and naturally features a locked room, a trope Higashigawa uses quite often. The mystery of a company president found murdered in a locked tennis-court provides for an interesting problem: why was the tennis court, an incomplete locked room because one can simply climb over the fence, locked? Did the murderer lock the tennis court after he left it? Or was the tennis court locked from the beginning and did he go through all the trouble of climbing over the fence to get in and out of the court? If so, why didn't the victim himself flee by climbing over the fence? The story is presented by the two protagonists who discuss this strange case they see in the newspapers and already we see Higashigawa's trademark comedy style (and his love of misleading readers and his own characters alike). This story is quite short, but features some interesting observations about (semi-) locked rooms and we also have an inkling of Queen-ish logic behind the explanations of the strange murder scene.

Minami no Shima no Satsujin ("A Murder on A Southern Island") presents us to the duo of Binchan and Nanao, two students who will act as the Holmes and Watson for the remaining stories in this collection. Binchan and Nanao receive a letter from their mutual friend Kashiwabara who has gone on a holiday to a southern island. Their friend explains that he got involved with a murder there and he implores Binchan (because Nanao is useless) to solve the case for him to get him out of trouble. Binchan (and Nanao) have to deduce the case based on the letter their friend wrote with all the details, which makes for an interesting story, but not really fair. At least, there is one great trick hidden in this story, that forms the key for the remaining deductions that lead to the murderer, but I think the trick would be very hard for most readers to see through and it was definitely impossible for me. I just lack the 'expert' knowledge to see through that trick. The story does show very well Higashigawa Tokuya's writing style and these two opening stories are definitely my favorite of this collection.

Take to Shima ("Bamboo and A Corpse") has Binchan and Nanao trying to come up with an explanation for a very strange article they found in a 1936 newspaper (which was to be sold at the old bookstore Binchan works at). A dead body was found hanged from a bamboo tree. SEVENTEEN METERS UP IN THE SKY. Was it murder? Suicide? And how, and why would one hang a body seventeen meters high?! A fun story where Higashigawa plays around with several plausible explanations before he reveals the correct one, which unfortunately again relies on information that might or might not be present with the general public.

Kawashibara has another problem he wants solved by Binchan in Juunen no Misshitsu, Juppun no Shoushitsu ("A Locked Room Ten Years Old, A Disappearance In Ten Minutes"), which means another deduce-the-explanation-based-on-his-letter story. Which, by the way, was totally unnecessary I think for this story. Anyway, Kawashibara has gotten involved with a girl whose father died in a locked outdoor atelier ten years ago and he accompanies her to her old home, the place where her father died, which is now currently the home of her uncle. The girl wants to know the truth about her father's death and decides to investigate the atelier annex, but the annex literally disappears before Kawashibara's eyes as he was looking at it from the main building during a snow storm. How does a building disappear in the snow in ten minutes? Not a big fan of this story, as it features a trick which just seems a bit implausible. Like always, there are only that many variations on the disappearing building/train/etc., but this was certainly one of the harder to believe ones. And like I said, there was no need at all for this story to be told in letter-form, so that felt a bit distracting.

But nothing beats Arima Kinen no Bouken ("The Adventure of the Arima Kinen") in terms of disappointment. There might have been disagreeing opinions about this book and Higashigawa in general when discussed this book at the Mystery Club, but we could all agree that this story was bad. There is something about a murder and a suspect having an alibi which involves him having seen the Arima Kinen horse race live on TV, but the 'trick' used in this story is way too easy to see through. It is not only a dated trick (already dated when Higashigawa wrote this story!), but the same trick was also used in a minor Conan story much and much better by building upon it. It is amazing that this story was the only story in this collection that was written by Higashigawa after he became a pro (the previous four stories were all written before he became a fulltime professional writer), because this was definitely a bad story. Not even in terms of this collection. In general, I mean. And I have to admit that Arima no Bouken is the reason I haven't read Higashigawa for a while now. Yes, I know his later stories are better (hey, I've read loads of them by now!), but still, the aftertaste of that story is unbelievable.

And no idea what the next review will be. Like I said in the introduction, I always read several books at the same time, so it's even to me always a surprise which book will be finished first!

Original Japanese title(s): 東川篤哉 『中途半端な密室』: 「中途半端な密室」 / 「南の島の殺人」 / 「竹と死体と」 / 「十年の密室・十分の消失」 / 「有馬記念の冒険」

A Study in Scarlet

今はわからないことばかりだけど

信じるこの道を進むだけさ

どんな敵でも 味方でも構わない

この手を離すもんか

真っ赤な誓い

『真っ赤な誓い』 (福山芳樹) 

There is still a lot I don't understand

I can only move forward on this path I believe in

No matter the enemies or friends I will come across

No way I will let go of

This blood-red oath! 

"Blood-Red Oath" (Fukuyama Yoshiki)

As always, I tend to do a lot of other things when the time for actual study arrives (test/paper period), so instead of working on my Akutagawa Ryuunosuke paper of 10.000 characters, I decided to read a book I had been sitting on for almost 4 months. Though I really, really should start on that paper now, with just a few days to go... (I am working through the notes for my paper and studying for a kanji test as I am writing this, so please forgive the many, many typing errors that are bound to pop up! Will try to fix the worst of them later...)

Ayukawa Tetsuya, or Ayutetsu because Japanese people like to abbreviate everything, is one of the grand masters of post-war orthodox Japanese detective fiction and the fact that I haven't even mentioned his name even once until now on this blog is actually almost embarrasing. No idea how that happened. Anyway, Ayakawa is especially known for his alibi deconstruction stories (starring police inspector Onitsura) and thus a lot of his stories have a distinct Croftsian tone to them, I said knowledgably even though I've only read one Crofts story in my whole life. But for some reason I chose to Akai Misshitsu - Meitantei Hoshikage Ryuuzou Zenshuu 1 ("The Red Locked Room - Great Detective Hoshikage Ryuuzou Complete Collection 1") to be my first encounter with Ayukawa, which is actually a short story collection focusing on locked room mysteries, instead of alibi deconstruction. And it features the private detective Hoshikage Ryuuzou, instead of Onitsura. I never seem to choose things representative on this blog...

Though Jubaku Saigen ("Reconstruction of the Spell") is sort-of representative, as it is the draft / short story version of Lila Sou Jiken, one of Ayukawa's more famous novels. Seven students visit a villa in their summer vacation in Kumamoto, when one day they discover a card saying that O-tsuga's curse (a local legend) will kill them. And indeed, they start getting killed and for some reason, playing cards are left near the crime scenes. Famous private detective Hoshikage Ryuuzou takes up the challenge of solving this case.... and fails. It is up to the down-to-earth inspector Onitsura to find out who has been killing the students.

A weird story to rate. Maybe it should feel grand because of the two detectives,  because this is a very lengthy short story, but I have to admit, I was quite bored the first half of the story. It was pretty clear what was going on early on in the story and I had actually sorta given up on the story, when suddenly the name of the murderer was given two-third into the story. The remaining part of the story was reserved for the deconstruction of an alibi, which was actually way more fun and interesting than the first two-thirds of the story. I would say that the latter part of this story really makes it worth of going through the rather predictable early parts of the story. And I have to admit: I still get excited whenever I see Kyuushuu dialect in detective stories!

The titular Akai Misshitsu ("The Red Locked Room") refers to an university autopsy room (and the red brick building it is situated in), where one day the dismembered body of one of the autopsy assistents is discovered. The building served as a double locked room, so how was the murderer able to get in to murder the poor girl? Akai Misshitsu is a neatly constructed locked room mystery, but technically resembles another famous locked room mystery very much, which removes much of the surprise of this story. But it is really well-constructed as a short story, with just the right length to give the reader material to work with, without feeling too bloaty for a short story (like the previous story). Not a difficult or surprising locked room mystery, but expertly written.

Kiiroi Akuma ("The Yellow Devil") is not about a super-difficult boss from the MegaMan series, but about a stripper, who was found stabbed to death in her bathtub in her locked bathroom. She had been threatened by someone calling himself the Yellow Devil for some time now, but how did the Yellow Devil disappear from the bathroom? Mostly a gathering of several familiar tropes of detective fiction, but I have to admit that some of the foreshadowing / hinting in this story was very good.

Kieta Kijutsushi ("The Disappearing Magician") is also not especially exciting, even though it's about a magician who seemingly disappears from a locked room situation after shooting one of his assistants (oh, and don't forget that he poisoned another assistent while doing a 'disappear-from-a-box' trick earlier) . Sounds more interesting than it is, as it is too easy to solve and not particularly well written or structured. But I have to admit: it was hard to lay down because a lot happens within a short amount of pages.

Youtouki ("Record of the Monster Tower") is the shortest story in the collection and I quite like the story, even though it's very easy to solve. Rampo-esque storytelling quickly introduced the reader to the Eye of Shiba, a famous jewel that is supposed to have been lost during the war. The two protagonists suspect that the jewel on top of the turban of a local performing yoga practitioner is the Eye and they practically kidnap the man in order to retrieve it back for Japan. But afraid of the man's yoga powers (Yoga Flame? Yoga Teleport?), they decide to call the police, but not after having tied him up inside an old lift. Which also boarded up. And also raised. Just to make sure he wouldn't disappear. But of course, the yoga practitioner did escape. But how? Like I said, very easy to solve, but I really liked the way the story was told and it was an effective story for the short amount of pages.

But this collection's real gem is Doukeshi no Ori ("The Clown's Cage"). During an interview session by two journalists of a local jazz band at thei base of operations, the singer is killed in her bathtub in her room on the second floor. By a clown. The clown was seen leaving the building by the (tied-up) maid through the backside exit and entering the tunnel right behind the band's building, but witnesses on the other end of the tunnel swear that nobody came out of the tunnel! I really liked this story not only because it once again shows that clowns are evil, but also because it was a really well constructed story, that even if it may rely on what some might consider coincidences, works great. This could easily have been a longer story and still be fantastic, but to pull it off as a short story really shows Ayukawa's gift for constructing great mysteries.

This was just my first encounter with Ayutetsu, but I really liked his style of constructing stories. Even though this collection focuses on locked room situations, it was pretty easy to see that Ayukawa Tetsuya's main love lies in alibi constructions, as half of the locked room mysteries in this collection are mostly based upon the intricate description of character movements during a short span of time and the observation by witnesses of said movements. Jibaku Saigen's Croftsian alibi deconstruction sub-plot was also very interesting and I am tempted to read more of Ayutetsu's 'proper' specialty.

Oh, and one might have noticed that I hardly mentioned the series detective Hoshikage Ryuuzou. He is... just there. He is supposed to be a bit like a Vance-type, but he mostly just appears at the end of the story to explain what happens, with little to nothing to really make him stand out. It's like giving up on a difficult math question and asking the computer to just give the answer to you. He might be different in later stories, but in this collection, he hardly made any impression on me. Well, besides the whole failing part in the first story.

Overall an entertaining collection though and I am defnitely more excited now to read more Ayutetsu. And now to get going on my Akutagawa paper.

Original Japanese title(s): 鮎川哲也: 『赤い密室　名探偵星影龍三全集１』: 「呪縛再現」 / 「赤い密室」 / 「黄色い悪魔」 / 「消えた奇術師」 / 「妖塔記」 / 「道化師の檻」

"En route, ladies and gentlemen for - Murder."

"...he thought in despair: 'She's one of Them!' For Inspector Cockrill was setting out upon a Conducted Tour of Italy and ever since, his money being paid and withdrawal now impossible, he had received the assurance of the travel agency that he would find delightful friends among his fellow tourists, he had been contemplating their coming association with ever-increasing gloom. 'She and all the rest,' he thought. 'They're Them.'"

"Tour de Force"

Three months in Kyoto have convinced me that people like to stand in line for restaurants a lot more than people in Fukuoka. And as someone more accustomed to Fukuoka-rituals than the ones in Kyoto, I still have an aversion to standing in lines for food. But still, those long lines do suggest that the food is good. So our plan was to simply be the first in the line, cutting the waiting time. So we picked a soba restaurant that always has a long line waiting in front for it and arrived  a bit before opening time. We got in safely, had a nice dinner, went out. And then we discovered that there were actually always two lines here; a modest one for 'our' soba restaurant, but most people were actually standing in line for the ramen restaurant next door. Next time, Gadget!

What this has to do with the Christianna Brand's Tour de Force? Nothing at all. Really. I've been relatively good lately, but some people might remember that usually the introductions to my posts are not related to the main topic.

So yes, we continue our streak of English fiction on this blog. But a bit differently this time. Luckily. I read Croft's Mystery on Southampton Water in Japanese (even though I could have easily read it in English), and the same holds for The Misadventures of Ellery Queen, though it has to be mentioned that there is no English equivalent for that release. But Christianna Brand's Tour de Force, I actually read in English. How rare! I really think that I'm the only one who reads the English books in the Mystery Club room. Anyway, my first encounter with Brand and Inspector Cockrill was through the excellent movie Green for Danger and I had seen the title Tour de Force mentioned earlier as a good Brand, so I opened the book with quite some expectations. And then I sneezed, closed the book again and washed my fingers. And the book. Clearly, the book had certainly not been cleaned of dust for many, many years.

Having booked a tour to Italy for his holiday, Inspector Cockrill is forced to spend his days with his fellow travelers. Which consists of a widely varied group, including a fashion designer, a writer, a piano player who lost his arm, accompanied by his wife and many others. The group enjoys and suffers in the ways you would expect from such a tour; great sights to see, but also problems with bad hotels and bad meals being served. And then, the tour arrived at the island of San Juan el Pirate, where Vanda Lane, one of the members of the group, is murdered in her hotel room. Most of the members of the tour being away on an excersion luckily narrows down the circle of suspects, but it just happens that all the suspects were on the beach during the time the murder was commited and they were all within eyesight of Cockrill!

As I only saw the movie version of Green for Danger, Tour de Force was the first time I made contact with Brand's prose, but I have to admit that I had troubles going throug the book. There is a certain witticism to Brand's writing I really like and there are quite some quote-worthy passages in the book, but there is just something to her writing that really made it hard to read for me. Maybe because there were few dialogues / direct lines spoken by characters? Not sure, but it made an excellent story a bit hard to really enjoy. It makes me a bit weary of starting with Death of Jezebel, which I know is regarded as Brand's masterpiece. I can easily get my hands on a Japanese copy, but just the thought of reading Brand's prose again, but in Japanese.... *shudder*

The prose was a shame though, because Tour de Force is really fun. The busman's holiday (and island) setting reminded me of Christie's Evil Under the Sun, which is never a bad thing with me. The varied types of members is something you'd expect only to see in... the Orient Express. Like I said, there are some funny passages and observations in the text that described a really plausible tour with all its problems.

But that was not all, as the puzzle plot is quite interesting too. Brand comes up with a whole series of possible solutions and plausible scenarios that explain who could have killed Vanda Lane and the presentation of these 'solutions' is actually quite natural seen in the context of the story developments (as opposed as the sometimes rather forceful presentation of a false solution in a Queen story). At any rate, these solutions do make you doubt what is real and what's not, which makes Tour de Force the more interesting.

And the final solution is really memorable, as the lead-up to it is done very well. It's a bit of a shame I've seen a very similar plot in the final episode of a TV series I like (which I won't specify anymore in fear of spoiling anything for anyone), where it was also done a bit better I think, but still, Tour de Force is worth a recommendation if you wanna read a very compentently constructed murder mystery.

All in all a good mystery which is certainly recommendable to anyone who enjoys a great puzzler. Unless you don't like Brand's prose.