Paging the Crime Doctor

Primum non nocere 

Not sure whether I was influenced subliminally or not by the subject of this review, but I have been playing the classic game Theme Hospital lately. Many, many moons I played the game, but never finished it. And now., many years later.. it's still a fun game. I play a lot of games, but I have never really gotten into strategy/management games... except for this game, and Rollercoaster Tycoon. Maybe I should read a detective featuring a rollercoaster...

A year ago, I reviewed Edward D. Hoch's Diagnosis: Impossible, the short story collection featuring Dr. Sam Hawthorne solving the most incredible impossible crimes. Well, to be exact, it was the Japanese version of that collection, which added an extra Hoch story. Also, there have only been two Sam Hawthorne collections published in English (I have been told a third is on its way), but the complete Dr. Sam Hawthorne series has been available in Japanese for years. Which is also sitting here in my bookcase. And so we move on to the third Japanese volume, which has the English subtitle of Diagnosis: Murder 3 - Further Problems of Dr. Sam Hawthorne. General practictioner Dr. Sam Hawthorne has been living in the small New England town of Northmont for a long time now, which has proven to be a great home to him, despite a rather big part of the population consisting of mastercriminals who specialize in impossible crimes and a declining population rate because of said crimes (murders). But a town is just a part of a greater country, and thus we see nationwide socio-economical changes like Great Depression and the Prohibition form the background of this set of Dr. Sam's adventures.

This is either a hard to describe short story collection, or a very easy one.. It's basically the same as the first collection. And the second. One might have noted that this review is about the third collection. Where's the review of the second one? Well, I had skipped writing one, because I couldn't think of anything to add to my review of the first collection! I could have reposted that review, just swapping the titles. And to be honest, I could have done the same for this third collection...

Which probably makes it sound like Further Problems of Dr. Sam Hawthorne is a boring set of stories, but again, it isn't! It's a very solid collection of wonderfully constructed impossible crimes, each of them a great example of how to write a mystery short story! The way Hoch manages to present a new impossible crime and flesh out the background setting every time perfectly in just that amount of pages per story is amazing! Many writers would commit an impossible crime to have such a talent.

The 'problem' is that Hoch manages to keep a fairly high standard, every time, always.  The first collection is not much different from the second or the third. They're all good, but it would be difficult to describe the differences between the collections, because there are few. Sure, I could do a short summary of every story, but I once again choose not too, because considering the length of the stories and their set-up, it would be very easy to spoil some of them. But they are good. Of course, not every story is as good as another, but the 'lesser' ones are good stuff. In Further Problems of Dr. Sam Hawthorne, I liked The Problem of the Snowbound Cabin (well, snow + impossible crime = you can guess), The Problem of the Invisible Acrobat (acrobat disappearing during act) and The Problem of Hunting Lodge (murder scene without foot prints), but every story is worth reading.

The fact is though that a lot of the stories are actually very similar. Like a Scooby Doo episode, you can guess the following is present. 1) Sam Hawthorne meets a fellow townsman whom we have never met before, but Sam is acquainted with (in same cases a recurring character). Said character is involved in way or another with whatever the title of the story is. 2) Sam is witness to the impossible crime. He usually just happens to be there (often doing his rounds). There is a moment where all witness lose sight of the subject or object of the crime. 3) The trick behind the impossible crime was done in that split moment nobody could have seen anything, be it a switch, or setting off a mechanism. 4) The story ends, and Sam alludes to his next adventure. Most adventures follow this scheme, making it easy to guess what's going on. If you'd just read the stories seperatedly, this might not seem to obvious, but as every collection has about ten stories you read in one go, yeah, this pattern tends to become obvious.

And now I noticed I already said this in my review of the first collection. Aaah. Like I said, the collections, and thus the reviews, are not very different....

Well, there are some minor changes. The background setting of Northmont keeps developing throughout the stories. Minor storylines like Sam's car and his assistent keep popping up, providing a lively world in which all these crimes happen. And while I said all the stories are very much alike (also in their high standard), there are some little surprises here and there, like stories like fake solutions. Which considering the length of the stories, is actually amazing. To do a great impossible crime story, in a believable setting, and a fake solution, all of that in a limited amount of pages...

This Japanese volume also contains a bonus Hoch story, The Nile Cat. It's a short crime story about figuring out the motive for a crime. Short, but good. Not much to tell about without getting into spoilerific territory.

In short, Diagnosis: Impossible 3 - Further Problems of Dr. Sam Hawthorne (the English release will probably feature a different title, I guess?) is a great impossible crime short story collection. If you liked previous collections, you're bound to love this one too. If you got bored by the formula though, you won't find anything new here.

Original title(s): Edward D. Hoch 『サム・ホーソーンの事件簿』Ⅲ: 'The Problem of the Hunting Lodge' 「ハンティングロッジの謎」 / 'The Problem of the Body in the Haystack' 「干し草に埋もれた死体の謎」 / 'The Problem of Santa's Lighthouse' 「サンタの灯台の謎」 / 'The Problem of the Graveyard Picnic' 「墓地のピクニックの謎」 / 'The Problem of the Crying Room' 「防音を施した親子室の謎」 / 'The Problem of the Fatal Fireworks'「危険な爆竹の謎」 / 'The Problem of the Unfinished Painting'「描きかけの水彩画の 謎」 / 'The Problem of the Sealed Bottle'「密封された酒びんの謎」 / 'The Problem of the Invisible Acrobat' 「 消えた空中ブランコ乗りの謎」 / 'The Problem of the Curing Barn' 「 真っ暗になった通期熟成所の謎」 / 'The Problem of the Snowbound Cabin' 「雪に閉ざされた山小屋の謎」 / 'The Problem of the Thunder Room' 「窓のない避雷室の謎」 / 'The Nile Cat' 「ナイルの猫」

Three Days to Heaven

思い出はいつもキレイだけど

それだけでおなかがすくわ

「そばかす」　(Judy and Mary)

Memories are always beautiful

But my stomach feels empty with just that

"Freckles" (Judy and Mary)

And because I always use this first paragraph to talk about random topics: Broken Sword 5 - The Serpent's Curse Episode 1 was great! Muuuuuch better than the previous two games, and a great, humurous adventure on its own. But now I'll have to wait another two months before the final episode is released.... And talking about stories split up in two volumes...

I had a lot of fun with the game Danganronpa and its sequel Super Danganronpa 2 is probably the best detective game I played this year. The story of a group of students of the Hope Peak's Academy forced to commit the perfect murder and the surviving members trying to find the murderer in classroom trials was incredibly exciting, and this quirky mix of Battle Royale, Gyakuten Saiban and the psychedelic atmosphere proved to be a great hit in Japan, which in turn spawned a mountain of related merchandise and other releases. Among them is the novel Danganronpa / Zero (written by Kodaka Kazutaka), which serves as the prequel to the games. Set in a time when Hope's Peak Academy was just a school for super class students, when people weren't forced to kill each other yet.

Or maybe not. A certain incident has happened within the grounds of Hope's Peak Academy, leading to a very big group of unhappy students, despite the school's council efforts at a cover-up. The situation is looking grim and it seems like a violent storm might take over the school any day. But Otonashi Ryouko has little to do with that. Mostly because she is suffering from severe amnesia, which causes her to forget pretty much anything, including the tension in the academy. The only thing she remembers is her friend, Super Class Neurologist Matsuda, who is treating her. But it seems that even her forgetfulness might not be enough of an excuse, because despite her best efforts at not getting involved, Ryouko seems to be unable to avoid getting in the center of events. What is the incident that caused this, and what has it to do with her lost memories?

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. How to talk about Danganronpa / Zero. First of all, forget about reading this before playing Danganronpa. Heck, you might even consider playing Super Danganronpa 2 first. Sure, this is the prequel and set before all of the events in those two games, but it also spoils a lot of the plot twists you're supposed to uncover yourself in those games. Most important of all, despite being a prequel, Danganronpa / Zero will spoil the identity of the big bad of the first game. Furthermore, Danganronpa / Zero is actually quite badly written, so you really need the background information available in the games to even start thinking about enjoying Danganronpa / Zero. Many references and allusions to certain events and characters only make sense if you have played the games, and the world setting as presented in Danganronpa / Zero is very vague, showing just a glimpse. It's basically impossible to get a clear idea of the world of Danganronpa through just this novel, even though it's a pretty important aspect of the story.

One of the problems of the story as it is told, is it lacks any sense of direction. We're introduced to the amnesiac antics of Ryouko, and then stuff just happens to her. A lot of stuff, including murderous attempts at her life and Ryouko being framed for a murder. And Ryouko just flows along with the events. The whole story is seen from a very passive point of view, which is a bit hard to believe considering the seriousness of the events. Sure, Danganronpa always had a bit of a weird atmosphere ("Oh, one of us got killed... the murderer is among us... wanna go on a date? I have a present for ya!"), but Danganronpa / Zero takes a long time to get an interesting point. Add in that Ryouko's narration is a bit... tiresome to get through and you might understand why even though it's a very short story, it's pretty hard to get through.

As a detective novel, it's a bit strange too. The Danganronpa games were basically courtroom dramas in the spirit of the Gyakuten Saiban games; uncovering the murder through debates, finding contradictions and coming up with over the top deductions. The atmosphere might be pop'n psychodelic, but the mysteries are as classic as you can get, with the player/detective slowly getting closer to the truth. Danganronpa / Zero is nothing like that. Stuff just happens, and then the truth is suddenly revealed. And to be very honest, the truth that was revealed wasn't too surprising either, as I suspected that at the end of the first volume (of two), though I have to say that the hints were laid down very neatly.

As a mystery novel, Danganronpa / Zero is a bit disappointing. As a stand-alone novel Danganronpa / Zero is impossible. You really need to have played the first Danganronpa (and preferably Super Danganronpa 2 too) to even want to understand it, and even then it's just a mediocre story. It gives a bit more background information, but nothing groundbreaking. This is really just for the hardcore fans who just need to have more Danganronpa in their life.

Original Japanese title(s): 小高 和剛 『ダンガンロンパ　 / ゼロ』

St. Ellery Slays the Dragon

"I'm sorry, Beau," said Mr. Queen in a gentle voice. "My specialty is murder, not romance."

"The Dragon's Teeth"

And as I was writing this review, bad memories of the ending of Broken Sword 3 were revived in my mind. But yay, Broken Sword 5 will be out tomorrow!

Millionaire Cadmus Cole had spent most of the last 18 years on sea, so Ellery Queen and Beau Rummel were quite surprised to find the illustrious man in the offices of Ellery Queen, Confidential Investigations. Ellery (and specifically him alone) is hired for services to be rendered in the future, but Cadmus refuses to tell him what he'll have to do, saying he'll know when the times comes. After the death of Cadmus, Ellery discovers that he is hired to find the two heirs of his will. One problem though: his appendix has burst, forcing Beau to take up the job under the name of Ellery. The suspicious circumstances of Cadmus Cole's death on sea, and his will which bestows his fortune upon his two nieces, who in turn must live together and never marry, give Beau and Ellery enough trouble to fill the pages of The Dragon's Teeth.

A Queen novel that starts out a bit strange, but manages to get back on trail just in time for the conclusion. First of all, the structure of The Dragon's Teeth is a lot like The Door Between: a woman in distress, a private eye trying to protect and falling in love with her, and Ellery staying most of the story in the background. Sure, Ellery appears more often here, and we know he works together with Beau, but still, these Queen novels with surrogate detective figures are weird. Of course, even in The Roman Hat Mystery Ellery wasn't that prominent present, but Beau in The Dragon's Teeth, and Terry in The Door Between are just characters that seem to be created to attract a new audience who want a more romantically involved and impulsive hero. The book also has a fairly small cast, a trait it shares with The Door Between too.

The first half of the story feels like Yokomizo Seishi's Inugamike no Ichizoku (or chronologically speaking, the other way around). The will that determines the marriage life of its beneficiaries, the tension that exists between the two nieces, the legal trouble and discussion about identities... As if Cadmus Cole, and Inugami Sahei after him, followed a course in making wills that will lead to a lot of trouble, and very possibly murder. Which reminds me, testaments, lawyers and the legal world seem to appear quite often in Queen novels now I think about it.

Ellery appears a bit more often near the end though (after a murder) and the novel becomes a lot more fun because of that. The conclusion, though not as impressive as in his earlier novels, does show elements of the Queen deductions we've all come to love. Like in so many of his novels, the state of certain items and their location is very important, and like I noted in my review of The Roman Hat Mystery, there seems to be fetish for objects in these novels,  as it's always deductions surrounding singular items that take the spotlight in the end. The murderer is also a type of person that seems to appear a lot in Queen novels, so experienced readers might even be able to guess the murderer's identity based on his/her role in the story(but of course, it's more impressive if you can actually build a logical case against said person, rather than just meta-guessing).

The murder happens quite late in the novel, which is a bit of a shame. I admit there's a lot going on to satisfy the reader for the moment, but I really liked the way all of his earlier novels featured murder quite quickly (see my reviews of the nationality novels starting with The Roman Hat Mystery). Which reminds me, I have given up on writing a full review of Queen's The Scarlet Letters, but that had the same problem: a very, very late murder and unlike The Dragon's Teeth where the hints pointing to the murderer were spread across the story, most of the important clues of The Scarlet Letters (including a dying message) appeared after the murder, as if they had forgotten to write them. (Add in the problem of Ellery and Nikki babysitting a couple in marital trouble for 80% of the book and you'll see why I hesitated with writing a full review on The Scarlet Letters. This paragraph is the review).

Location-wise, The Dragon's Teeth shows a bit of Queen's past books. From the millionaire living on sea (like in The Egyptian Cross Mystery), the mansion just outside of New York City (The Hamlet from the Drury Lane novels, Hollywood (from The Devil to Pay and The Four of Hearts) to good old New York City (most of Queen's novels), it's a mishmash of familiar locales. I am personally more a fan of the confined settings like the theater, department store and hospital, but ti's hard to deny the 'Queenesque' quality of the elements found in The Dragon's Teeth.

The Dragon's Teeth was definitely as bad as I had first thought. It's not a masterpiece, and the premise of a fake Ellery and the late murder are not that alluring, but the ending is what you'd expect from a Queen novel.

The Cosmic Turnabout

Wishing on a dream that seems far off

Hoping it will come today.

Into the starlit night,

Foolish dreamers turn their gaze,

Waiting on a shooting star

"Lunar Silver Star Story"

Oh, I had forgotten to mention it, this month will probably consist of reviews of mostly Western detective fiction, because of coincidence and the prolonged procrastination of writing reviews.

I had already heard James P. Hogan's Inherit the Stars, the first novel in the Giant series, described as a science fiction mystery novel, but still, I was quite surprised when I discovered it had ranked in the Tozai Mystery Best 100, beating titles like The Egyptian Cross Mystery and Le Mystère de la chambre jaune. So why not, I thought when I saw the book going for almost nothing at a second hand bookstore. It's the actually-not-that-far-off-anymore year of 2027: man has conquered the moon. Bases are built all over the surface and commercial flights are available. But the moon still has a big surprise in store for mankind. One day, the corpse of a man dressed in a spacesuit is found on the moon. But nobody on the moon has been reported missing, and with no idea where the unknown corpse dubbed Charlie came from, carbon dating is done on the body and his equipment. Results: the corpse is over 50.000 years old! Physicist Victor Hunt is asked by the United Nations Space Arm to help in figuring out where Charlie comes from and what he was doing on the moon.

Like I noted in my review of Asimov's The Caves of Steel, I have read only one or two science fiction mysteries, and they were always written as fair play mysteries. Like with fantasy mystery fiction, as long you know 'the rules' of the world, you know what's possible, then making a fair play mystery is possible in any kind of background, whether it is a world where witchcraft exists, or a future with humanoid robots (or both). But they were all clearly written as classic mystery novels.

Inherit the Stars on the other hand is first of all a hard science fiction novel, and secondly a mystery novel. The two themes are strongly intertwined, but Inherit the Stars with its grand scale investigation into the history of Charlie, with specialists from all fields of science, from mathematicians to linguisticians and biologists, with theories about disappearing species and space travelling is relatively heavy. Don't expect a simple, personal murder or an alibi trick in Inherit the Stars, Charlie's mystery serves to talk about human kind and its future.

But that doesn't make the mystery of Charlie less captivating. Now that I think about it, there are alibi tricks in Inherit the Stars, as how can Charlie and his space suit have existed in a time when humans weren't fully evolved yet? The solution to it all is quite memorable too, especially considering the scale of it all, but once again it feels closer towards science fiction than a fair play mystery (though it is definitely able to arrive at the solution based on the hints). I guess that The Caves of Steel did the same, but Inherit the Stars goes a bit deeper into science fiction fields than The Caves of Steel, I think.

Inherit the Stars isn't exactly my kind of detective novel, but the mystery of 50.000 year old Charlie is indeed very interesting, and the solution, while a bit 'different' from what you'd expect, makes quite the impression.

The Secret Adversary

"Ik ben alleen bang dat een dermate interessant geval zich in de practijk niet voor zal doen. Belangrijke misdaden, wèrkelijk intelligent bedachte en uitgevoerde moorden, worden hoe langer hoe zeldzamer. Het is alsof de mensen niet meer durven, bang zijn voor de moderne, verfijnde hulpmiddelen van de politie."

"Een tip van Brissac"

"But I am afraid such interesting cases don't exist in reality. Important murders, keenly thought-out and executed murders are becoming rarer by the minute. It is like people don't have the guts anymore, scared for the modern, sophisticated instruments of the police."

"A Tip from Brissac" 

And because this is a post on a fairly unknown Dutch mystery novel on a site mostly about Japanese mystery fiction, I once again predict a horrible view count!

I was made aware of Dutch author/actor Jan Apon's detective novels about half a year ago (from a Japanese source!), but his books seldom seem to pop up in second hand stores, so it took a while before I finally got my hands on one of them. Een tip from Brissac ("A Tip from Brissac", 1940) was the last book in Apon's Raoul Bertin series and starts by introducing us to André Babelay, wealthy and influential banker. We follow him on this typical day, getting acquainted with his lover, learning about his wife's adultery, see him sadistically push a company into destruction and finally, we see him die. To be precise, he is killed. The Sûreté's inspector Chadel calls in ex-collegue Raoul Bertin to help him with this case, in which almost everyone seems to have a motive to kill Babelay, and also everyone seems to have a connection to the mysterious moneylender Brissac, who might or might not be involved in the murder.

I wasn't able to find anything about the contents of this novel, so I was not sure what to expect precisely when I opened the book, but it was a surprisingly fun, actually. We have here all the ingredients you'd expect in an orthodox detective novel, and it's overall done very well. After the initial part leading up to the murder, we're treated to an investigation filled with sharp observations and keen deductions about the coming and going of several suspect parties to the crime scene, and the way the name Brissac slowly becomes more prominent as the story continues is great. And while it's not very original, the setting of a rich banker murdered in his own library, a mansion with suspicious servants and guests, people going in and out the mansion, the classic atmosphere is what I enjoyed greatly. Sure, Cor Docter's novels were a bit more realistic (slightly), but I am personally definitely more a fan of the more classic tropes.

Een tip van Brissac has its shares of flaws though. During the denouement for example, Bertin conjures up a series of evidence of which I am pretty sure I wasn't informed of until then. But then again, it was pretty easy to guess who the murderer was because of that one strange, ah yes oh so strange action that person took... The middle part of the book is great though, with the investigation moving at a pleasant pace and new deductions and revelations made once a while to keep the reader hooked. Apon apparently wrote radio dramas after World War II, but Een tip van Brissac, with its many time-stamped scene changes (there are no formal chapters) and fast-paced dialogues might be an early experiment of Apon into that medium.

I also have a strange habit of reading Dutch mystery novels that aren't set in the Netherlands. Van Gulik's Judge Dee and Aafjes' Judge Ooka are set in different eras in the Far East. Een Tip van Brissac (and I assume the rest of the series) is set in France. Cor Docter's novels seem the expection really, though it 's probably more because of my eclectic reading than a common trope in Dutch mystery fiction.

And the fact that Raoul Bertin is an ex-policeman is interesting though. Detectives in Dutch mystery fiction are moften official police detectives (or judges...), and while the term amateur detective might not be correct, the fact Bertin has no official authority concerning the investigation is something that struck me as odd.

All in all a little surprise. Een tip van Brissac isn't perfect, but it was definitely a fun Dutch mystery to read, and definitely the most classic in form of the books I've read up until now (admittedly, not very much though). Let's hope I'll be able to find some more of Apon's books!

Original Dutch title(s):  Jan Apon, Een tip van Brissac

The Gold Solution

The Real Folk Blues

本当の喜びを知りたいだけ

光るものの全てが黄金とは限らない

The Real Folk Blues (山根麻衣)

The Real Folk Blues

I just want to know real happiness

Not all that glitters is gold

"The Real Folk Blues" (Yamane Mai)

The new Detective Conan film looks awesome! At least, the story seems, like Countdown to Heaven and The Raven Chaser before it, somewhat related to the bigger storyline, so excited! Now if only I can get myself in Japan around April...

Edogawa Rampo's Ougon Kamen ("The Golden Mask") is named after a mysterious figure wearing the titular item, a golden mask with only a set of slit eyes and a giant smile as its face. The Golden Mask has been responsible for the most audicious thefts in recent memory and is also considered the main suspect for several murders. The police has no idea of how to stop the illustrious thief, and the matter seems to turn into an international affair when the Golden Mask threatens to rob the French ambassador. But celebrated detective Akechi Kogorou is also involved and he claims he knows who the mysterious figure is, just based on the discovery of a note with the initials A.L.

Okay, I'll just spoil it now: it is Arsene Lupin. Yes, it was the famous French gentleman thief who had been making trouble in Tokyo wearing a golden mask. Of course, most people who read Ougon Kamen now, read it because they know Arsene Lupin appears in it, so it's not that big a spoiler.

Maurice LeBlanc famously pitted a certain consulting detective against his Arsene Lupin; Edogawa Rampo in turn pitted Lupin against his Akechi Kogorou. LeBlanc was forced to chance the name of this consulting detective to something less dangerous in the courtroom, but with the more lax copyright rules at the time (and most likely also the smaller market and people simply not knowing of the book), Lupin has always stayed Lupin in Ougon Kamen (though TV adaptations wisely didn't use his name).

Anyway, the basic idea shouldn't be hard to guess. Over the course of the novel, Akechi and Lupin have several skirmishes, each party trying to outsmart the other. As with practically all of Rampo's serialized novels, he seems to improvise most of the time, and what you get is a chaotic series of entertaining confrontations between the two. Nothing too deep, but simply fun to read. Especially one part in the middle, which takes place during a party styled after Edgar Allan Poe's The Masque of Red Death, is great stuff, as well as a climax that has elements of both the Lupin and Akechi series.

Ougon Kamen was written in 1930-1931, so it is not hard to see how the fight between Arsene Lupin and Akechi Kogorou seemed to have inspired the creation of the Fiend with Twenty Faces (1936), Rampo's own thief-and-master-in-disguises. In fact, the Lupin in Ougon Kamen has some character elements that seem more like the Fiend, than the actual Lupin. Sure, Ougon Kamen's Lupin is still very popular among women, but he is also a bit more ruthless, a bit more willing to shed blood than the real Lupin. Akechi says this might be because Lupin doesn't consider Asians worthy of the same courtesy he shows his own countrymen, but still, this is a weird Lupin. But it's not hard to guess why: Akechi Kogorou is the protagonist, so Lupin has to appear as an actual villain for you to root for Akechi (the same happened to that consulting detective in LeBlanc's crossovers...). In the end we're left with a Lupin who is mostly like Lupin, but also a Lupin who obviously serves as a prototype for the Fiend. I think that Akechi Kogorou himself commented that the Lupin in Ougon Kamen was weird in Nishimura Kyoutarou's Meitantei ga Oosugiru (the legal nightmare crossover with Ellery Queen, Hercule Poirot, Maigret and Akechi Kogorou vs. the Fiend with the Twenty Faces and Arsene Lupin).
  
Ougon Kamen is like most of Rampo's serialized novels a bit of a chaotic mess, but the kind of mess that is fun, amusing and bound to leave a smile on your face. It's written for the masses, which is not a bad thing per se, and the childish ideas might not be for everyone, but I know I was amused from start to finish.

Original Japanese title(s): 江戸川乱歩　『黄金仮面』

Friend of a Friend (FOAF)

永遠なんて言葉は苦しくて

明日を謳うことが出来ないよ

静かに眠れるその日が来たのなら

遠い過去ともサヨナラ出来る…でしょう?

「Phantom」 (村田あゆみ)

The word forever is too painful

I can't even talk about tomorrow

But when the day I can sleep silently comes

I will also be able to say goodbye to the faraway past.... right?

"Phantom" (Murata Ayumi)

And as I was writing this post, I wondered, what are some of the better known urban legends in mystery fiction? I don't mean urban legends in mystery fiction, but urban legends about novels / writers et cetera. I have to be honest and I can't think of any at the moment, though I am pretty sure they exists... (and if I am told one now, I'd probably go "oh yeah, I heard that one...")

I heard this from a friend of a friend... you know the Metropolitan Police Department? That building in Tokyo? Well, I was told that there is a secret fifth basement floor. Oh you have heard about that? So you know about the rumors, about dead people having appeared there, and about the voices coming from the rooms? But I bet ya you hadn't heard that on the fifth basement floor, in the Police Historical Archives room, there is a secret police unit working! Well, working isn't the right word, maybe. I heard the higher-ups assigned two policemen to the Police Historical Archives, who have no idea about the truth behind their unit, but they are assigned to cases that seem to be connected to urban legends, supernatural powers and all that is occult. What, there is no thing as the occult? Maybe you're right. Maybe there's a logical explanation for the strange cases in Hayarigami Keishichou Kaii Jiken File ("Hayarigami - MPD's Occult Case Files").

Hayarigami is a sound novel game series, like Kamaitachi no Yoru and 428. For those not familiar with the concept; the story is presented to the player through plain text (accompanied with background images and music), and the player is occasionally forced to make choices, that influence the flow of the story. In short, choose-your-own-adventure books, but in game form. In Hayarigami, you take the role of Lieutenant Kazami of the Police Historical Archives, making the correct decisions in order to unreveal the truth behind the seemingly occult cases. Make the wrong decisions, and the case might go unsolved forever. There are three Hayarigami games, with the first being available on PS2, PSP, DS and even iOS. 

The interesting thing to Hayarigami is that you have two distinct ways of tackling the case; scientific or supernatural. As every case is connected to urban legends and other occult phenomena, one can choose to actually believe in the supernatural (i.e. make choices that show you're open to supernatural explanations), and the case will unfold in a way that poses that occult powers were responsible for the incident. Choose the scientific route, and the case will unfold in a way that poses a rational explanation to the events. And so every story basically gives you two solutions, one that fits a classic, rational detective model, one that fits ghost stories. But they're actually both interesting to go through, and it actually pays to go through both the scientific and supernatural routes, because the routes complement each other, each filling in the little gaps of the other route.

The cases are fun, though a bit short. They all deal with (Japanese) urban legends like Kokkuri-san and cursed chain mails and through the dialogues and such, you actually learn a lot not just about their contents, but also about urban legends as a field in folklore and social studies. I've already mentioned in the reviews of Norizuki Rintarou's Toshi Densetsu Puzzle and Kyougoku Natsuhiko's Hyakki Yakou series (amongst others), I'd always had an interest in urban legends, but playing Hayarigami has really made more interested in the material, and I have found myself going through Brunvand's books on the topic for example.

Of course, myths/(urban) legends and ghost stories have always been a part of mystery fiction, but most of them use and refer to them as simply a background story ("the man was killed in an impossible way, just like in that ghost story I just told you"). Hayarigami (but also Kyougoku's novels on youkai for example) does that too, but also discusses these constructs in the context of folklore and other social studies, how urban legends come to existence, how they evolve and how they are used in a wide variety of ways. It's also why Hayarigami as a game, promoting both a supernatural and a scientific mode at the same time, works without feeling too shizophrenic or contradictory: for a supernatural object, can be used in a rational way. It shows that communication, thoughts and memes can be used in mystery fiction, which is something I'd like to see much more.

As a game, Hayarigami is sadly enough not nearly as long as something like Kamaitachi no Yoru (which has an amazing number of bonus scenarios). Yes, you can basically go through each scenario twice (and there are two bonus scenarios), but it's still a relatively short game. The sound and art direction are top notch though; especially the art is doing a great job in conveying a slightly unsettling atmoshere.

For those interested in (Japanese) urban legends, Hayarigami Keishichou Kaii Jiken File is a great way to start. It is a bit short and might only present a small selection of urban legends, but the way the material is handled is great and bound to pique your interest in the study of urban legends. As mystery fiction, Hayarigami is also fun, providing slightly creepy stories that may or may not have a supernatural tone to them. It all depends on what you choose to believe.

Original Japanese title(s): 『流行り神 PORTABLE　警視庁怪異事件ファイル』