The House in the Mist

「ですから、探偵小説の中で起こる事件は、やあり、なるたけ突拍子もないものであって欲しいもんですな。いかにも現実 にありそうな事件くどくど読まされるくらいなら、そりゃあ、警察の捜査記録に目を通しとる方が宜しい。その方がよっぽど、リアルっちゅう意味じゃあ刺激になる」

『霧越邸殺人事件』

It's about time I get started on the review backlog. Today, a book I read probably over a month, maybe even two months ago.

On their way back to the station after a trip, the members of the theater troupe Dark Tent get lost in a sudden snow storm. As they try to find their way back in the forest, they arrive at a big mansion facing a lake. As it's already dark, they decide to ask for shelter, which they get, albeit somewhat reluctantly. The mansion, the Kirigoe Mansion, is inhabitated by a group of people who have strange ways of making their guest feel 'welcome'. The guests are each given a room and a great dinner, but the master of the mansion absolutely refuses to appear in front of his guests, and his servants are also doing the mere minimum. And the guests are repeatedly reminded of the fact that the Kirigoe Mansion isn't a hotel, so they shouldn't wander around. Which may also be for their own sake, because the mansion seems to have a strange power of 'foretelling' the future of those inside its walls. And considering the title Kirigoetei Satsujin Jiken ("The Kirigoe Mansion Murder Case"), it shouldn't be a surprise that the Kirigoe Mansion is also the setting of a mysterious chain of murders. The twist: the victims are all people of the theater troupe, so the master of the mansion figures that it's their problem: the murderer is logically also one of them, so they have to find out who did it themselves.

Kirigoetei Satsujin Jiken is a pretty well-received novel by Ayatsuji Yukito. It's the third novel by Ayatsuji that made it into the Touzai Mystery Best 100 and often hear positive things about it and... yes, it is actually an excellent mystery novel, but I for some reason didn't enjoy it as much as I did other novels by Ayatsuji. And I have no idea why.

For this is really a very competent mystery novel. It is quickly revealed that the murders in the mansion are actually following a pattern (i.e. nursery rhyme murders) and the way the members of the theater troupe deal with the closed circle situation, as well as the mystery behind their host and the mansion make the 600~700 pages fly by (the start is a bit slow though, but it has a killer tempo afterwards). The truth behind the nursery rhyme murders is logical and totally solvable and it is absolutely clear that Ayatsuji is very familiar, and skilled in using tropes like the closed circle, mitate murders, the 'mountain villa in the snow storm', the mysterious host and servants and Western mansions as a setting, as these are also the building blocks for his Yakata series. In fact, this novel was written for a different publisher than th one for the Yakata series, but one could see Kirigoetei Satsujin Jiken as a spin-off title.

But a slightly weaker spin-off. Maybe the novel doesn't really appeal to me, because it's a bit too classic. Which might sound strange, considering my preferences in the genre, but in the Yakata series, Ayatsuji seems to do more surprising with the tropes. From examination, reconstruction and deconstruction, to simply coming up with grand tricks that work on a totally different scale than you'd usually see. Kirigoetei Satsujin Jiken is a lot safer in that respect, and slightly disappointing. Every time I recognized a trope here, I was expecting Ayatsuji to play around with it, but alas it's mostly just using the tropes as is. In a good way, and many writers would dream of writing something like Kirigoetei Satsujin Jiken, but to me, it's a bit underwhelming. But like I said, this is overall a very well received novel, so I am the minority here.

The best part of the novel is the setting of Kirigoe Mansion. Western mansions are of course Ayatsuji's thing, considering his Yakata series, but this has to be the scariest one, mainly because this house actually seems to have magical powers (that don't have actual influence on the mystery part of the story: you can solve the whole thing through logic). It reminded me a bit of the 1977 horror fantasy (comedy?) movie Hausu, with a building that seems to be keeping its inhabitants inside to have some bloody pleasure. No human-eating piano here though. Ayatsuji Yukito has a strong reputation in novels with a strong and memorable settings, but Kirigoetei Satsujin Jiken is certainly among the best of those works. Like I wrote in my review of Ellery Queen's There Was An Old Woman, you have to have certain setting for a nursery rhyme murder to work, a slightly deranged plae where anything can happen. Well, Kirigoe Mansion is that place.

Overall, this is a strong, classical work of mystery fiction. Some consider it among the best of Ayatsuji's works, I find it a bit too predictable, but it's definitely a good mystery that's worth a read.

Original Japanese title(s): 綾辻行人　『霧越邸殺人事件』

The Fourth Side of the Triangle

「落ちよ 時の狭間に！ゴールデン・トライアングル！！」

『聖闘士星矢』

"Fall between the cracks of time! Golden Triangle!!"

"Saint Seiya"

Now that I think about it, this blog passed it third birthday two weeks ago. Well, technically, the blog itself already started in March 2009, but the switch from posting about studying in Japan, to posting (sorta) regularly on (mostly Japanese) detective fiction, was somewhere around September 2010. Heh. I am probably the most surprised of all about me still writing this blog. Anyway, and now for something not completely different, namely another, ancient mystery.

The title of Shimada Souji's Suishou no Pyramid ("The Crystal Pyramid") refers to a copy of the Great Pyramid of Khufu made of both stone and glass, situated near New Orleans, facing the Gulf of Mexico. The monument was made by Paul Alexon, a scholar, who needed his own pyramid to prove a revolutionary theory regarding the Great Pyramid. Paul died however, leaving his pyramid (and adjoining tower-annex-living-quarters) to his brother Richard. The odd structure is now to be used as a film set for the Hollywood movie Aida '87, starring famous Japanese actress Matsuzaki Reona. Richard is also on the set, trying to hit on Reona. The first night of filming, during a hurricane, Reona swears she saw a strange creature walking near the pyramid, though nobody else of the staff saw the beast. And then the next day, Richard is found dead in his bedroom at the top of the tower next to the pyramid. The police is astounded to discover that not only was the room completely locked from the inside, the man also drowned to death on top of the tower. The police orders a stop on the filming of Aida '87 until they crack the case, but figuring that might take too long, Reona decides to ask an acquaintance, Mitarai Kiyoshi, to solve the case for her.

As much as I love Shimada's Senseijutsu Satsujin Jiken and Naname Yashiki no Hanzai, I can't but say that Suishou no Pyramid is a highly flawed story. It has a very clear and easy to explain problem: it is unnecessary long. The book itself is over 700 pages, but there are many, many parts that feel as nothing more than bad, bad filler. Examples: the first 200 odd pages are dedicated to two narratives, one set in ancient Egypt, one on the Titanic, that have no significant relation to the actual case. The narrative of the actual case starts after this overly long and unneccessary prologue, but it doesn't end there. From there until the end the book is filled with passages that don't seem to serve any purpose in terms of the plot and I think the basic story could have easily been done in 300 pages, instead of more than the double. This is the biggest problem Suishou no Pyramid has, and it made this a very tiring reading experience, which could have easily been avoided. I really have no idea why it's written the way it is.

Because get rid of all the superfluous parts, and you're left with a great locked room mystery. People who have read other stories in the Mitarai Kiyoshi series like Naname Yashiki no Hanzai, Shissou Suru Shitai or Aru Kishi no Monogatari will know that Shimada Souji's impossible crime plots are... grand. I remember once watching the first, and then the last episodes of the animation series Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. In the beginning of the series, small robots fight each other on earth, but by the time of the final episode, gigantic combining robots use complete planets and galaxies as weapons. This difference in scale is also detectable here. Shimada Souji has a tendency to come up with mysteries of a completely different scale: whereas 'normal' people would use needle and thread to create a locked room murder, Shimada will use steel wire and jackhammers. And still make it work. The same holds for Suishou no Pyramid, where Shimada will baffle the reader with one of the most impressive solutions I've ever seen to a locked room murder.

Shimada's stories do sometimes feel a bit artificial at times though. I didn't think it was very obvious in Senseijutsu Satsujin Jiken, but Naname Yashiki no Satsujin is probably a good example of a greatly executed locked room mystery, but which feels very forced and artificial at the same time.The same holds for Suishou no Pyramid, up to an extent. The setting of a gigantic glass pyramid in the United States is a bit artificial, of course, but this time, Shimada actually plays with this characteristic of his novels and it has very entertaining results. It works mostly if you're familiar with Shimada's works though, so I wouldn't recommend this novel if you've never read his novels before. In fact, it might be a little bit hard to get into, with the above mentioned stray narratives, and the fact that the series detective Mitarai Kiyoshi 1) appears very late in the story and 2) the introduction here isn't enough to really capture enough of his essence as a character.

Between the unneccesary passages and sub-plots, there is also quite some interesting information and background research on pyramids and in particular the Great Pyramid of Khufu. Fun if you're interested in ancient Egypt and it really adds to the mystery. The way the mysteries surrounding the Great Pyramid connect to the locked room murder in the present is surprising and definitely the highlight of this novel.

Cut away half of the novel, and you'd have a fantastic locked room mystery that also interacts with Shimada's earlier novels on a meta-level. But as it is now, it has too much excess luggage, which really hurt the core story. Suishou no Pyramid is one I can only recommend by adding a lot of 'but's and disclaimers. Which is a shame, because the core is really solid.

Original Japanese title(s): 島田荘司　『水晶のピラミッド』

Partners in Crime

Life is a game, so take your chance

And play your hand, you just might win

You never know

"Aibou - Season 7 Opening"

Reviews of novels will probably resume this week... as soon as I manage to finish the one I'm reading now. 

Aibou ("Partners") is a popular police TV drama which has been running for over ten years. What started as a series of special episodes in 2000, has now grown out to be multimedia franchise, with 11 seasons (the 12th season is to start in October), several films, videogames and spin-off series. And yet, to me it was for a long time just 'the series with the awesome theme song'. It was just too long and while I occassionally watched an episode, I never really felt the need to really follow the show because of its length. But last year's Aibou Eleven offered a nice entry point, so I finally got to see what made this show so popular.

Within the depths of the Metropolitan Police Department (Tokyo), situated in a little office, is the Special Order Unit (tokumeikakari), headed by police inspector Sugishita Ukyou. Sugishita is a highly intelligent and competent detective, but because he 'doesn't play the game right', the higher-ups have basically placed him somewhere away from the action. Management also uses the Special Order Unit as a place to banish unwanted police officers to: with Sugishita not always the easiest man to work with, and hardly anything to do for the Special Order Unit, they figure that anyone placed there will quit the job on their own. At the start of the series, six people have been known to have quit the force because they were placed in "The Lone Isle of the Police Department", with 'loose cannon' Kameyama Kaoru the first 'partner' to have been able to work with Sugishita for a long time (hence the title Aibou ("Partners")). Kameyama worked for many seasons with Sugishita and was replaced with the career policeman Kanbe Takeru as the 'second partner'. Kanbe was eventually placed back in the National Police Agency, leaving Sugishita without a partner.

Which made Aibou Eleven a good time to step into the series, as it introduces the world to Sugishita Ukyou's new partner in the Special Order Unit. Kai Tooru (nickname Kaito) is a newly promoted detective who gets picked by Sugishita as his new subordinate, after they manage to solve a hostage crisis in the embassy of Japan in Hong Kong together. Kai's estranged father happens to be the newly appointed Assistant Director-General of the National Police Agency, who tries his best at getting his son out of the force; he figures that his son won't last long in the Special Order Unit anyway. And indeed, Kaito at first cheated for being placed in the Special Order Unit, as he wanted to go to the Homicide Division. But he soon finds out what Sugishita does here, and why it's called the Special Order Unit. As Sugishita interprets his own unit: 'if there's a special order, the unit will do it', and more importantly, 'unless there's a special order, the unit is free to investigate whatever it wants'. And so we follow Sugishita and Kaito as they stick their noses in a variety of criminal cases and solve them.

And I have to say, I regret I haven't followed this series before, because it was surprisingly fun. At it's core, Aibou Eleven is a buddy-cop drama mixed with puzzle plots, with gentleman detective Sugishita as our masterdetective and Kaito as the viewer-proxy. But it is the variety of plots that made Aibou Eleven really worth watching and I feel tempted now to look for the previous ten seasons now.

As you can probably figure from the introduction above, Aibou in general is a police drama that focuses a lot on the functioning of the police. Like with series as Odoru Daisousasen, you'll learn a lot about the organizational structure of the Japanese police and the internal politics. A lot of the stories are tied to both local and national politics, and in general feels close to the shakai-ha (socially concious mysteries) promoted by Matsumoto Seichou, because they function as a critique on the workings (and resulting corruption) or large-scale organizations. The pilot episode of  Aibou Eleven for example, deals with international politics and diplomatics, as the National Police Agency isn't sure how to react to a hostage situation in the Embassy of Japan in Hong Kong, while other stories deal with the illegal act of amakudari ("descent from the heaven", high government officals quitting their job to work at a company in the sector they governed). Other contemporary social problems, like the sale of identities or the use social media are addressed in this season.

But it's the way these 'grand schemes' are used as a background for more traditional, puzzle plots that make a lot of Aibou Eleven's episodes great to watch. A lot of the problems described above might seem faraway from home, but the way these plots manage to make this social problems relevant, and yet not overshadow the importance of a puzzle plot is, at the best of times, fantastic. The first episode, the hostage sitation in the embassy for example, is in its core actually a 'normal' whodunnit murder mystery. I have to admit that sometimes it feels a bit forced, but overall this is a format I have learned to enjoy.

And not all stories are related to politics anyway. There are some 'normal' murder cases that Sugishita and Kaito get involved with. Because of Sugishita's rank, reputation and the free time the Special Order Unit has, the duo can basically investigate a lot freely, which leads to a variety of cases introduced in the series, from the above mentioned large plots to small-scale murder mysteries. As such, the series probably has something to offer to most mystery fans.

And Sugishita Ukyou himself is an interesting character. He's basically the opposite of Columbo, always dressed as a gentleman, knowledgeable about basically everything, head of his own (very, very small) unit. And whereas police detective like Columbo and Furuhata Ninzaburou work by haunting the suspect and catching them on little slips of the tongue, Sugishita works much more like a 'conventional' police detective. He is basically what happens when you put the archetype of a great detective in the police. It's a bit strange, as I am more used to the 'hard-working' type of police detective in this kind of mystery fiction, but it works and coupled with a partner, very fun to watch. He does share a 'Oh, one more thing please' as a catchphrase with Columbo though!

Oh, and the fact that Kaito's father as Assistant Director-General of the National Police Agency is actually behind a lot of the high-class plots and schemes is interesting for the drama (as it puts the Special Order Unit against Kaito's father), but the fact that Ishikawa Kouji is playing him is pretty funny, as he himself played great detective Kindaichi Kousuke in the Ichikawa Kon movies. 

Anyway, Aibou Eleven was a fun series and made me much more curious to the rest of the series, as well as the upcoming Aibou Twelve. And strangely enough, this year's Detective Conan movie, Private Eye in the Distant Sea. The scriptwriter of that movie is actually mostly known for his work on Aibou and it would be interesting to see how the Aibou flavor works in conjuction with Conan!

Original Japanese title(s): 『相棒 Eleven』

His Last Bow

ひとりどこにいても　そこに見える優しい

あなたの名前呼んで　あすを待つでしょう

『愛のバラード』（金子由香利）

Wherever I am, even if alone, I'll look at the gentle you,

I will call out your name and wait for you

"Ballad of Love" (Kaneko Yukari)

And of course, still a backlog on posts. The problem with writing reviews focusing on the use of tropes, is that you'll quickly start to repeat yourself, as you compare the book in discussion to other works with the same trope.  Which is neither fun for readers of the blog, nor for me. Right, now, I am stuck with a bunch of books with topics I already discussed relatively recently, so just waiting for a good moment to write them. So, meanwhile, some other reviews...

Slightly disillusioned by the tragedies he came across in his work, private detective Kindaichi Kousuke decides to go to the United States. However, he gets involved with a strange incident on Hospital Hill. The hill used to house the Hougen Hospital and the mansion of the Hougen family, but World War II had forced a move of both buildings. The ruins are still on Hospital Hill though, and the people of a local photo studio were thus very surprised when they were asked to take a wedding picture in the old Hougen mansion. The bride seemed drugged and thinking there was something fishy going on, the photo studio hires Kindaichi Kousuke (who had come to have his passport photo taken) to solve the mystery. When they visit the old Hougen mansion again to look for clues however, they discover not a happy wedded couple, but the decapitated head of the groom hanging from the ceiling! The mystery behind this strange murder, and its connection to the Hougen family, is what drives the movie Byouinzaka no Kubikukuri no Ie ("The House of Hanging on Hospital Hill").

I have already written extensively about Ichikawa Kon's Kindaichi Kousuke movie series in earlier reviews (of Inugamike no Ichizoku (1976), Akuma no Temaru Uta (1977) and Gokomontou (1977); I refer to those reviews in case you want to know a bit more about the history behind the famous movie series of the equally famous Japanese detective novel series. Byouinzaka no Kubikukuri no Ie (1979) is in two ways the ending to the Kindaichi Kousuke series: it was the last movie of golden trio Yokomizo Seishi (writer), Ichikawa Kon (director) and Ishizaka Kouji (actor of Kindaichi) (until the 2002 Inugamike no Ichizoku remake), but the original novel is also chronologically the last case Kindaichi Kousuke solved (Akuryoutou however is the last Kindaichi story written). The movie does differ from the original substantially though: the original novel has Kindaichi initially failing to solve the case, and it would take him twenty years to finally find out the truth; this case was the last, and longest case Kindaichi had ever taken. In the movie, the timeline has been smoothed out to for a 'normal' case, and I gather that Ichikawa rewrote quite some characters, including the identity of the murderer.

But as I haven't read the original novel yet, let's just look at this movie as is. The first thing that caught my eye was definitely the more urban, modern setting of this movie compared to the earlier movies. Islands, mountain villages? Byouinzaka no Kubikukuri no Ie is set in a normal town and with the movie opening with a jazz band performing for the US occupation troops, you immediately know this is a slightly different movie compared to the previous ones. The original novel apparently made this change more obvious, as it was about a story spanning twenty years, but you'll get the same feeling by watching the Ichikawa Kon movies in a row (even though they were shot really close to each other).

The story is classic Yokomizo material: bloody, grizzly murders, plots of revenge, overly complex family trees and horrible human tragedy. Yes, it's basically more of the same, but this is precisely what Yokomizo does best, and it works here too, but compared to Inugamike no Ichizoku and Akuma no Temari Uta, I have to admit that Byouinzaka no Kubikukuri no Ie is a little weaker. The raw elements are alike, but the finish is different. For me, this is most obvious in the fact the earlier two movies were more 'structured' because of the nursery rhyme trope employed there. Such a trope at least makes it feel the story is going somewhere (someone is trying to complete a certain pattern), whereas Byouinzaka no Kubikukuri no Ie, you're just confronted with a 'normal' murder, which might have been commited for a lot of reasons. As a movie-viewer, I just find a more obvious structure a bit more pleasant. Though I can't say I was bored with this movie: heck, you'll often hear me question the necessity of more than two hours for a movie, but I enjoyed this 140 minute movie from start to finish.

Not that this is a perfect movie. For example. like I said, Yokomizo likes to use overly complex family trees in his stories, and this is probably the most complex of them all. It is even addressed in the dialogue, with Kindaichi himself saying he doesn't get it, but despite that Ichikawa Kon didn't seem to have thought it necessary to make it a bit more clearer. It is quite important to the plot, so it seems strange to have Kindaichi address the topic, and then ignore it.
  

As movies, all the Ichikawa Kon movies still beautiful productions. Grand shots are followed by playful cut-aways, music is great and of course the acting. Ishikawa Kouji is still the best Kindaichi Kousuke around, and other veterans of the series like Katou Takeshi, who plays a different leading police inspector in every movie (thus meeting Kindaichi 'for the first time' every time) and Ootaki Hideji (who always plays a person with a connection to the past) always make this a series worth watching. But the biggest surprise is in the movie's prologue and epilogue. Writer Yokomizo Seishi had already made a small cameo in Inugamike no Ichizoku, but he actually plays an extended cameo in Byouinzaka no Kubikukuri no Ie as himself! Or rather, he 'plays' a writer of detective stories who is friends with Kindaichi Kousuke (loosely basing his stories on Kindaichi). It's a bit of a self-parody maybe, but the scene where Kindaichi is drinking tea with his creator is just fantastic. One should watch the movie if only just for these scenes.

Oh, and the role of Mokutarou, an apprentice at the photo studio, is quite interesting by the way. He quickly becomes Kindaichi's assistant and confidante, and his slouchy dress and manner almost makes it seem like he was set up to be a 'new' Kindaichi Kousuke, in a Batman-esque way. I am pretty sure they didn't make a spin-off with him, but the importance of his role to the story, is almost a mystery on its own.

All in all, Byouinzaka no Kubikukuri no Ie is definitely worth watching. Like all the Ichikawa Kon directed Kindaichi Kousuke movies, this movie is a great mystery with fantastic production values which will keep you hooked for the whole runtime. The story is 'standard' Yokomizo Seishi, but very captivating nonetheless, and while Inugamike no Ichizoku and Akuma no Temura Uta are definitely the best of the series, Byouinzaka no Kubikukuri no Ie shouldn't be missed.

Original Japanese title(s):『病院坂の首縊りの家』

L'offrande au neant

 J'ai, quelque jour, dans l'océan,

(Mais je ne sais plus sous quels cieux),

Jeté, comme offrande au néant,

Tout un peu de vin précieux...

 "Le Vin Perdu" (Paul Valéry)

Twain's comment on 'classics', "a book people want to have read, but don't want to read" has been true for a lot of books for me, but with detective novels, I usually really do want to read the 'classics' myself. Of course, what's a 'classic' to one, might not be to another, and canons are rarely perfect. And yet, you have to admit, a title like "The Three Great Occult Books" sounds alluring, right? And so the reading of the classics continues...

The Three Great Occult Books
Kokushikan Satsujin Jiken (The Black Death Mansion Murder Case) (1934)
Dogura Magura (1935)
Kyomu he no Kumotsu (Offerings to Nothingness) (1964)

Hinuma Souji and Kouji lost their parents in the great Touyamaru accident, just like their cousin Aiji. They all seem to cope with their loss in a different way: Souji has become quite pessimistic, Kouji tries to occupy his mind by writing a detective novel, while Aiji has of late become a frequent visitor of gay bars. But was the death of their parents really just an accident? The Hinuma family is said to have been cursed by an Ainu god for cruelties done by the first Hinuma in the family line and indeed, Aiji has lately been seeing a suspicious Ainu hanging around. Hearing more about the Hinuma family, chanson singer Nanamura Hisao forespells that there will be more deaths in the family soon, dubbing it "The Hinuma Murders". And indeed, Kouji is one day found dead in the bathroom. Because everything was locked from the inside and Kouji had a weak heart, the police decides it was an accidental death, but not everyone is convinced by that, especially because this is awfully similar to the novel Kouji had been writing. A group of interested people, including Aiji and Hisao, decide to deduce who the murderer is, but surprisingly, they all arrive at different conclusions. But this was just the first act in the long tragedy to be found in Nakai Hideo's Kyomu he no Kumotsu ("Offerings to Nothingness", 1964).

Ranking in second in the Tozai Mystery Best 100 list, Kyomu he no Kumotsu has the reputation of being an anti-mystery novel masterpiece. While not as... crazy as Yumeno Kyuusaku's Dogura Magura (at least I can write a normal review for this book!), it is not surprising why this book is considered one of the Three Great Occult books of Japanese mystery/fantasy fiction. Kyomu he no Kumotsu manages to be a great anti-mystery, but also to be a great 'normal' detective, a quadruple locked room mystery nonetheless, at the same time and it works. There is something for everyone here and anyone who can read Japanese, should read Kyomu he no Kumotsu.

The initial set-up reminds of Anthony Berkeley's The Poisoned Chocolates Case, of course. Like I mentioned in the review of that book, Berkeley often comes close to being an anti-mystery. but always stays on the safe side of the line. Kyomu he no Kumotsu in comparison, crosses the line. And is on crack. Similar to The Poisoned Chocolates Case, the amateur detectives each arrive at their own conclusions; they deduce different tricks, different murderers. And now multiply it by four different locked room murders and you might get an idea of how the deductions and hypotheses of Kyomu he no Kumotsu really feel like offerings to nothingness. This is nothing like the progressive, evolving theories of Ellery Queen, or the blatanly false, but plausible theories presented by the attorneys in Van Madoy's Revoir series: in Kyomu he no Kumotsu, you're presented with an amazing amount of theories for a series of locked room murders, basically posing the infinite possibilities of the imagination, and doubting the possibility of certainty. Heck, at one point, the detectives actually theorize about a locked room murder they think the murderer will commit, figuring they can then solve the murder before it has even happened! The contineous deductions are a bit tiring, but that is the point. Yet, every single one of these deductionsis certainly interesting, and keeps your eyes glued to the pages.

The amateur detectives are also very meta-concious, refering to a whole slew of detective novels, and in particular, the Ten Commandments of Knox and the Twenty Rules of S.S. Van Dine. During their deduction battles, the detectives also, for 'fun' reasons, have to adhere to the famous rules and even have a rule their solutions to the locked rooms must be original: they are not even allowed to use tricks seen in other detective fiction! One character who is not as big a mystery reader as the others is even given a copy of Edogawa Rampo's famous essay A Categorization of Tricks, so he check whether his trick is original! Just consider: here we have writer Nakai Hideo, forcing himself to come up with an original solution for every hypothesis posed by every character, for all four locked rooms! As reader you get mesmerized by this parade of ideas, but to think one man did all this, for one story! In fact, Kyomu he no Kumotsu was written in two parts, and when Nakai initially send in the first part to a competition, the judges thought this novel was a joke novel, because the neverending deductions and the strict following of the Decalogue and Twenty Rules made it seem so absurd. I have to note though that unlike Berkeley's The Poisoned Chocolate Case, Kyomu he no Kumotsu always keeps a straight face, a very serious and straight face indeed.

In the end, the story actually denies being a mystery novel. Unlike some anti-mystery novels, this novel does indeed have a proper solution to the whole series of deaths, but the conclusion forms a magnificent ethical criticism on the whole genre. But the great part of this is; you, as the reader, have the freedom of how to read Kyomu he no Kumotsu. Sure, the conclusion sets "The Hinuma Murders" in a different light, but even so, it remains an excellent locked room murder mystery. The criticism on the genre works, because Kyomu he no Kumotsu has taken on the form of a proper detective novel, but at the same time this book shows exactly why detective novels have been so popular. Read it as anit-mystery, read it as a proper mystery novel, it works both ways.

A great locked mystery, a great anti-mystery, an ode to deduction, a criticism on detective fiction. Kyomu he no Kumotsu is an offering to nothingness, and an offering to detective fiction. Definitely a must-read. Oh, and no, I won't be doing Kokushikan Satsujin Jiken anytime soon, I think. I have it here, but to reading all Three Great Occult Books in a short period of time is probably not good for you.

Original Japanese title(s): 中井英夫 『虚無への供物』

Mystery Incorporated

「君　どんなの読むの？好きな作家でもいいから」

推理小説どころか、フツーのも読まないんですけど！！

「・・・・・コ・・・・・コナン？」

「ドイルか？王道好き？」

ドイルって誰よ！

『みすけん！』

"So, what do you like? Writers are also fine!"

 - I don't read at all, let alone detectives!-

".....Co...... Conan?"

"Doyle! So you like the classics?"

-Who the hell is Doyle?!-

"Misuken!"

Those familiar with manga and anime, might have heard of the series Genshiken. Genshiken, short for Gendai Shikaku Bunka Kenkyuukai (The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture), is a fantastic meta-series about a college club for otaku. The series features a great cast of members, all with their own field of interest, ranging from fighting games to figures to cosplay, but also includes members who are just lightly into things like anime and manga (or, in a bizarre twist of fate, one person doesn't like otaku hobbies at all, but is forced to hang around because of her boyfriend). As such Genshiken is a very educative, and funny view on Japanese college club culture, as well as fan culture.

People who have been following this blog for a while, might know that I was member of the Kyoto University Mystery Club, a college club where we talk about, and write detective fiction. So we were quite surprised when we heard of the limited series Misuken! by Sakataki Arata. Misuken!, short for Misuteri Kenkyuukai (Mystery Club), stars Aiba Chisato, trying to enjoy her first year at a university in Kyoto. And she decides that a boyfriend is necessary to enjoy college life, and that the handsome Kagemori Kiyomasa should be the lucky one. Trying to get close to him, she decides to enter the same college club as Kagemori, not knowing it's a Mystery Club. Chisato is a bit overwhelmed by the almost maniacal love these people have for detective fiction, especially because she hardly reads herself, but she slowly adjusts to the club and starts to genuinely enjoy detective fiction herself too, while she is still trying to get Kagemori to notice her.

Oh, and yes, this is a shoujo (girls) manga. Oh,and note that the mystery in Mystery Club refers to detective fiction. The first time I used the term Mystery Club (the 'official' English term for the club I was at), people were thinking more in terms of Scooby Doo's Mystery Incorporated, I think.

So Misuken! is basically the Genshiken for detective fiction. So it's not a detective story, it's about detective stories. It is loosely based on the Kyoto University Mystery Club (though the 'proper' abbreviation for that club is Mysteryken), as it is also set in Kyoto and shares the same main club activities (reviewing and writing fiction; there are other university Mystery Clubs in Kyoto, but especially writing is an important part of the Kyoto University Mystery Club). But everything is a 'bit' more sparkly and cleaner here. Seriously: I can guarantee you the club room of the actual Mystery Club is not, and will never be even close to being so tidy and big as the one in Misuken!. Also: I am pretty sure that few members of the club entered to find a boyfriend / girlfriend. The part about having a fairly high rate of flunking students. Well, that's slightly more close to the truth. Playing mahjong is definitely real.

But ignore that for a bit and what do we have? A series that tries to do well, but fails in that. The start is very stereotypical for these kind of series, with the protagonist finding about the wonderful world of [insert topic], but I guess it works here. The story eases you into the topic, with every chapter featuring introductions of major titles / writers of the genre, helping protagonist Chisato (and the reader) on her way. I have to admit though, like so many series featuring a hobby or activity, it does sometimes feel like brainwashing. Just like how Captain Tsubasa's Tsubasa managed to convince brainwash everyone of the wonders of soccer, just like how Slam Dunk's Hanamichi slowly starts to understand is getting taken over by basketball, Chisato's sudden 'jump' to detective fiction in the first chapter, thanks to Ayatsuji Yukito's Jukkakukan no Satsujin, is a bit scary.

In subsequent chapters, Chisato gets to learn the other members a bit better, including their own motives for joining (the funniest being someone who not unlike Chisato, joined the Mystery Club, because he watched the drama version of Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de. Because it starred actress Kitagawa Keiko). There is also a bit on 'Guess the criminal' stories, and a fun story about members of the club doing a 'pelgrimage' to the sights described in Van Madoy's Marutamachi Revoir (for those who happen to be visiting Kyoto: you can also do one for Detective Conan: Crossroad in the Ancient Capital!). And of course, every story has a nice amount of references to detective fiction.

The problem here, is that this is a limited, one shot series and the two main objectives of the series: 1) Chisato getting close to Kagemori and 2) giving the reader a glimpse of the club activities and members of a college Mystery Club, are hardly achieved: There's just too little that can be done in just four chapters, and the series 'ends' with almost no sense of fulfillment, you only get 'oh, they might get close' and 'oh, she learned to like detective fiction'. It is a bit of a shame, because I do think there are quite some topics left untouched that should have been included (more about book collecting / buying, more indepth on writing fiction, more characters with distinct preferences etc.). There is just no sense of conclusion here, and you're left with the feeling of 'was this all?'.

The topic of detective fiction Mystery Club is a fun one though and often seen in Japanese detective fiction. This is also partly because many writers debuted as students, and members of university Mystery Clubs. Ayatsuji Yukito's Jukkakukan no Satsujin and Arisugawa Alice's Gekkou Game, two major titles of the New Orthodox movement, feature university mystery clubs heavily for example. Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo and Higashigawa Tokuya's Koigakubo Academy series in turn feature the high school variants. Assuming that genre readers are on average relatively meta-conciousness, having a Mystery Club in a detective story has quite some positive points, as the characters can act more 'smart' because of their meta-knowledge, as well as to convey the author's own, reflexive thoughts on the genre. The difference with Misuken! being that in Misuken!, there is no mystery, it is really only about the activities of an average Mystery Club. It's definitely something I had never seen before. Misuken! also a lot more accessible for precisely those who aren't too familiar with detective fiction, but want to learn more.

The series also shares a bit with series like (the highly underrated) Kingyo Used Books, which manage to convey the feeling, the love people have for books and the culture behind it. Because most of detective fiction is indeed in the printed medium, this shouldn't seem strange, but while you often see book collectors and such in fiction (hello, Ellery Queen!), 'normal' love for books and the average reader don't seem to have a place in fiction, which is a shame. Sometimes, finding a book that reminds you of something, or buying a book because of its nostalgic smell or something like, is just as interesting as finding that first print of A Study in Scarlet. Misuken! might not be as fluent in conveying those feelings as Kingyo Used Books, but it definitely did it right.

Misuken! is definitely a flawed short series. It's nowhere close to a masterpiece like Genshiken, even as a series on its own it's just barely achieving what it should do. The concept is great though, so you might want to read it if you're into detective fiction and want to learn a bit more about what they do at mystery clubs. Because unlike as seen in Jukkakukan no Satsujin, Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo and the student Alice series, Mystery Clubs in general are not coming across murders on a regular basis. It's really short too, so it doesn't even take that much time to go through it. Oh, and I gathered that this year, the Kyoto University Mystery Club had a significant rise in new, female members. Dare we call it the Misuken! effect?

Original Japanese title(s): さかたき新　『みすけん！』

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

"A premeditated murder is not unlike a child. First it must be conceived, second gestated; only then can it be born. These three steps in the fruition of the homicide are usually unwitnessed; when this occurs, there is a Mystery, and the function of the Detective is to go back along its bloodline , for only in this way can be established the paternity of the crime - which is to say, solve the mystery.

Ellery Queen had never before been privileged to attend the delivery, as it were, and the fact, having attended it, he knew as little about its parentage as if he had not neither irritated nor angered him, for if a murder had to be commited and could not be averted, then Ellery preferred it to be a mystery at the beginning, just so he could dig into it and trace it backward and explain it to himself at the end."

"There was an Old Woman"

You know, writing detective fiction yourself is surprisingly fun. Though I really should start thinking about writing these things in English some time, instead of Japanese...

Chance brings Ellery Queen to the Potts family, led by the old matriarch Cornelia Potts. Having made her money with shoes, Potts is referred to as the old woman who lives in a shoe.She is also the mother of six children; the three by her first marriage are just as eccentric as she is. Thurlow is spending fortunes bringing in lawsuits 'to protect the family name', Louella is obsessed with her scientific experiments and Horatio is basically living the life of a child. The other three children suffer quite under their mother and the other children; the twins Robert and Maclyn run the business, but only see fortunes spent by Thurlow and Louella, while Sheila is pretty much ignored. One day, a fight ends up with Thurlow challenging Robert in a gun duel at dawn; fearing somebody might get hurt, Ellery wisely decides to switch the live bullet in the gun, for a blank. Ellery, the inspector and Velie are witness to the duel, which to the Queens' surprise has a deadly end anyway; someone switched the bullets back for live ones!

I went in There Was An Old Woman without too much expectations, but I have to admit: this was a great Queen and I am glad I read it. I did know it was a nursery rhyme murder; that is, the murders (yes, plural) follow a Mother Goose rhyme, but the way this was done was quite impressive. Of course, ever since  S.S.The Bishop Murder Case, we have seen the nursery rhyme murder trope, (or more broadly speaking, the mitate murder), in countless of novels by slew of writers including big names like Christie. Take the trope a bit broader and you might even say that Christie's One Two Buckle My Shoe is a nursery rhyme murder in plot structure (not in execution/story though). So what made There Was An Old Woman so enjoyable?

Well, I have always thought that in order for a mitate murder to work, you need to have a certain atmosphere. Because let's think about it, killing someone according to a nursery rhyme, or a traditional game song, or something like, it's a bit silly. Yokomizo's famous works like Inugamike no Ichizoku, Gokumontou and Akuma no Temariuta wouldn't have worked half as well if the stories weren't set somewhere the reader believes common sense is not as common as you would think it is. Strange, faraway small communities where the rules might be a bit different. Mansions where one family's word is law. It's there where outrageous murders work, and where something surreal as a nursery rhyme murder might actually seem plausible.

The house of the Potts, with the strange inhabitants, is indeed such a place where common sense might not prevail. In a house where people challenge others to a duel to the death, spend fortunes on doomed experiments and playing in the garden, sure, someone trying to recreate nursery rhymes through murder actually seems believable. Despite it being located in New York, the Queens' homeground, the way Cornelia Potts rules over the mansion really makes it feel like a different world where bizarre things might happen. It's this which makes this novel so fun to read.

To compare it to a similar Queen novel: I recently also read Double, Double, which also features a nursery rhyme murder, this time set in Ellery's second home Wrightsville. However here the murders seem less bizarre and the connection to the rhyme seems weak, which is partly because tidy Wrightsville seems less of an obvious spot for a surreal series of murders. Sure, it can work, like in Ten Days Wonder, but even that book misses the zany atmosphere of There Was An Old Woman. (This paragraph is the Double, Double review by the way; there is too little material there for a seperate review. I would similarly be talking about nursery rhyme murders, only using the book as a bad example.)

There Was An Old Woman not only feels similar to Van Dine's The Bishop Murder Case, but als takes some cues from The Greene Murder Case, with a small family being murdered. Like I mentioned in the reviews for both those books, a lot of Japanese writers are, either directly or indirectly, influenced by Greene and Bishop, which explains why this novel also feels very close to some major titles of the (New) Orthodox schools of writing.

It's not all Van Dine though. There is a thorough search for some missing guns, which is a classic Queen trope, while the multiple layers to the solution, as well as the type of murderer, is also something a seasoned Queen reader will figure out. As such, it's actually quite easy to solve this case, as there are quite some parallels to other Queen stories, but that doesn't make this less fun. If earlier Queen novels were best experienced for seeing how story and deductions are connected, then this Queen is best experienced as a trip to a surreal world. Oh, and for those interested in the multimedia world of Ellery Queen; there's a nice surprise waiting for you at the last page.

So in short,  There Was An Old Woman and Double, Double both do similar things. But Woman is a lot better. The next review by the way, whenever that will be, is probably of something Japanese.