Tender Hearted

「一緒に踊ろう。これも仕事のうち」

『探偵物語』

"Let's dance. This is also part of the job"

"Detective Story"

My backlog on video material is in general not as bad as my games and books backlog, but there are always exceptions: today's topic had been waiting for... four years now?

Rich heiress Arai Naomi is to move to the United States in a week, and her guardian has hired private detective Tsuchiyama Shuuichi to act as her bodyguard in her last week in Japan. Naomi naturally is not happy with someone watching over her every step, but she slowly starts to get interested in the stoic, yet nice Tsuchiyama. One day, Tsuchiyama's ex-wife Sachiko appears in a panic, saying her lover was murdered in a hotel bathroom, even though nobody else had entered the couple's hotel room. Her lover had some very shady connections, and because it seems like only Sachiko could have commited the murder, both police and gansters try to get their hands on her (for different reasons). After helping Sachiko hide, Tsuchiyama and Naomi try to figure out who managed to murder the lover in a locked hotel room in the 1983 film Tantei Monogatari ("Detective Story").

Tantei Monogatari (1983) stars Yakushimaru Hiroko and Matsuda Yuusaku and should not be confused with the same-titled 1979 TV series Tantei Monogatari ("Detective Story"), also starring Matsuda Yuusaku. This movie was based on a story by Akagawa Jirou which was apparently written with Yakushimaru Hiroko as the lead in mind, who was a popular idol-singer-actress at the time (she would also play the lead in a film of Natsuki Shizuko's W no Higeki the next year). Tantei Monogatari was quite succesful; its earnings ranked second in 1983.

As it's an idol movie, Tantei Monogatari's focus lies not in its mystery plot, but in the love story between the stoic Tsuchiyama and the unexperienced, but lively Naomi. There's the attracted odd couple angle to this movie, of course, which is accentuated by the difference in length between the two lead actors. It's pretty fun to see the banter and the way the two act around each other, and while it's nothing less than a cheesy love story, I guess I shouldn't expect much more of an idol-centred movie.

The locked room murder is basically an extra. It's almost confusing why a fairly simple love story is saddled with an impossible murder story of all things: you'd think a 'simple' murder plot would have suited the atmosphere better than a locked room murder. The solution to the murder is extremely simple, but I did like how the direct hints leading to the murderer were placed in the story. And as I am writing this, I realize there's actually an inversed impossible disappearance mystery there too, as Tsuchiyama, Naomi and Sachiko have to get out of an observed apartment complex unseen at one point in the story, but again, the solution is among the most basic you could imagine. The impossible sitations in this movie all just play second fiddle to the love story's main.

Nothing to like here? Well, Matsuda Yuusaku is definitely a great actor. Yep. And I love the eighties vibe of the movie. And the theme song, Tantei Monogatari sung by Yakushimaru Hiroko is actually quite nice. But yeah, I'd never go the trouble of actually recommending anyone to watch. Tantei Monogatari. Of course, unless you're a big Matsuda Yuusaku and / or Yakushimaru Hiroko fan.

I am actually not sure why I bothered to write a review about this movie... Ah well. It is, in a way, a fairly famous Japanese detective movie.

Original Japanese title(s): 『探偵物語』

Diagnosis of Murder

"Good old Watson! You are the one fixed point in a changing age"

His Last Bow

A full review of a Sam Hawthorne volume, and not a Short Short?! Like I mentioned in my review of the third volume, this means it's finally time for the final problems of Dr. Sam Hawthorne.

Dr. Sam Hawthorne series
Diagnosis: Impossible - The Problems of Dr. Sam Hawhtorne
Diagnosis: Impossible 3 - Further Problems of Dr. Sam Hawthorne
Diagnosis: Impossible 4 - More and More Problems of Dr. Sam Hawthorne
Diagnosis: Impossible 5 - Further and Further Problems of Dr. Sam Hawthorne
Diagnosis: Impossible 6 - The Last Problems of Dr. Sam Hawthorne

Dr Sam Hawthorne first arrived in the small New England town of Northmont in 1922 and many things have happened since then. He has become best of friends with the sheriff, has seen nurses come and go, has moved his private clinic to a corner of the local hospital and of course parted with his original sportscar. And not to forget, Sam has solved countless of impossible crimes that happened in and around Northmont, a town even deadlier than Cabot Cove and more mystery-filled than Crystal Cove. But now, in the midst of World War II, Sam is facing his greatest challenge yet. For he is finally getting married. But will marriage change his crime-solving career? Of course not! From gigantic birds that sweep up persons to a man-eating orchard and a suicide inside Sam's locked cottage and caring for his wife and baby, Sam has never been busier than now.The final volume of the Japanese complete collection sports the English subtitle Diagnosis: Impossible 6 - The Last Problems of Dr. Sam Hawthorne and marks the end of an excellent series by Edward D. Hoch.

I first came in contact with Hoch's Dr. Sam Hawthorne series in 2012. I had always wanted to read the series, but with some hesitation, because there was no complete collection available in English. As the Japanese versions seemed to be the only complete collection around at the time (and I think still is), I decided to read the Japanese translation of an English-language series. And I've loved the series since. But, and I have also made that clear in previous reviews, I find it kinda hard to discuss the stories in detail, because I'd risk spoiling important parts of each story as they're all excellent examples of functional brevity. Also, the stories all follow the same set-up and plot structure, so writing the review of one collection, is pretty much writing the review of any other collection. For example, I quote this from my review of the third volume:

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 it still holds. Does that mean the series is bad? No. The complete series consists of 72 stories, all roughly following the formula above, and I was still entertained each time. Hoch was an amazing writer, both as someone who came up with great impossible crime situations, as well as someone who could write interesting stories. While I wouldn't say that every story in the series is as good as the other, there's is definitely a high standard in quality in these stories. The series has been as good as it was since the first volume, so while it might sound a bit negative if I say, 'you could start anywhere, they all the same', I actually mean 'they're all so awesome, I really can't choose'.

And while I doubt this is the main attraction for most readers, it's also very fun to see time slide by as you progress in the series. You see changes in the characters and the city of Northmont, and while the middle part of the series dealed with the Prohibition, the last two volumes had a distinct feeling of dread because of World War II (which also often ties in with motives in the last quarter of the series), obviously not present in the early parts of the series.

My favorite stories in this volume are The Problem of the Interrupted Seance (which is interrupted because the medium was murdered, and the two other persons in the room knocked out, with no murder weapon inside the observed room) and The Problem of the Shepherd's Ring, where a ring which grants the power of invisiblity is used by a madman to kill one of his enemies. Most of them are worth a read though. It's only a shame the series has no real ending because of Hoch's demise.

I'm not actually sure why I'm writing this review. If you're already a fan of the series, you'll probably know that Diagnosis: Impossible 6 - The Last Problems of Dr. Sam Hawthorne is a must read. And those with no real interest in the series anyway, would hardly choose to start with the last volume of a series.But I'd like to think that everyone who started with Sam's first impossible crime adventures, will eventually reach this final volume.

Oh, and for those who haven't read the stories yet, you might want to check out the Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine podcast: it featured several audio plays of the Sam Hawthorne series!

Original title(s): Edward D. Hoch 『サム・ホーソーンの事件簿』ＶＩ： 'The Problem of the Haunted Hospital' 「幽霊が出る病院の謎」 / 'The Problem of the Traveler's Tale' 「旅人の話の謎」 / 'The Problem of Bailey's Buzzard' 「巨大ノスリの謎」 / 'The Problem of the Interrupted Seance' 「中断された降霊会の謎」 / 'The Problem of the Candidate's Cabin' 「対立候補が持つ丸太小屋の謎」 / 'The Problem of the Black Cloister' 「黒修道院の謎」 / 'The Problem of the Secret Passage' 「秘密の通路の謎」 / 'The Problem of the Devil's Orchard' 「悪魔の果樹園の謎」 / 'The Problem of the Shepherd's Ring' 「羊飼いの指輪の謎」 / 'The Problem of the Suicide Cottage' 「自殺者が好む別荘の謎」 / 'The Problem of the Summer Snowman' 「夏の雪だるまの謎」 / 'The Problem of the Secret Patient' 「秘密の患者の謎」

ReturN: File 3

「我が心、君のみぞ知る」

『金田一少年の事件簿　鬼火島殺人事件』

"My feelings for you, are yours only to know"

"The Young Kindachi Case Files The Will-o'-the-Wisp Island Murder Case"

I just noticed that this post on Conan and Kindachi Shounen was the five-hundredths post on the blog. Yay, I think? Anyway, back to business: another review of Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo NEO ("The Young Kindaichi Case Files NEO"), the currently running live action drama series based on the popular comic franchise!

Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo NEO
Pre-series TV Special 2 (January 4, 2014: The Prison Gate Cram School Murder Case
Episode 1 (July 19, 2014): The Murderer of the Silver Screen 
Episode 2 (July 26, 2014): The Game Mansion Murder Case
Episode 3 & 4 (August 2 & 9, 2014): The Will-o'-the-Wisp Island Murder Case
Episode 5 & 6 (August 16 & 23, 2014): Young Kindaichi's Road to the Final Battle
Episode 7 (September 6, 2014): The Yukikage Village Murder Case
Episode 8 & 9 (September 13 & 20, 2014): The Rosenkreuz Mansion Murder Case

Hajime, grandson of famous detective Kindaichi Kousuke, childhood friend Miyuki and fellow Mystery Club member Saki have summer part-time jobs at a training camp of the Fudou General Hospital, held at Shiranui Island, also known as Will-o'-the-Wisp Island. There is a tradition of a test of courage at the lodge on the island: it is said that one can see a will-o'-the-wisp if one peeks through the keyhole of a particular door at a particular time. Hajime sees more than that though: he sees one of the trainees being hanged! But when they open the door, they find nothing in the room. Everyone thinks it was just Hajime's imagination going wild, but that changes when they find the first dead body. The first, because more hanged bodies that have a tendency to disappear, appear on the island. Can Hajime solve the mystery of The Will-o'-the-Wisp Island Murder Case?

The Will-o'-the-Wisp Island Murder Case is the first case in Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo NEO to be spread across multiple episodes, which is why I skipped last week (as I mentioned in the first review of this series, I'll only do reviews on complete stories). The Will-o'-the-Wisp Island Murder Case is also a story I already reviewed in the past: it was originally a novel and while people might know this story from the animated series, people who only read the comics might have missed this story.

As a mystery story, The Will-o'-the-Wisp Island Murder Case isn't very special, I think, as a lot of this story has been done in earlier stories. And I don't just mean the closed circle island setting, and the tragic past-thing. The idea of a hanged body being witnessed by Hajime, which then disappears from a locked room, only to reappear later again was already featured in The Seven School Mysteries Murder Case and the solution is actually quite similar, even if it doesn't appear like that at first glance. But as I mentioned in the review of the original novel; it is a story that actually benefits from a visual format, so it works quite well in the live action series. I do think that two episodes is a bit too much for this story, though I am also aware that one episode (fifty minutes) would be too short. The previous case fitted perfectly in one episode, but the unit of fifty minutes doesn't really work with this story; too long for one episode, too short to fill two episodes without feeling dragging (episode four was actually boring).

And I already mentioned in the previous review that even though I like the direction of Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo NEO and the attempt to present it as a fair-play mystery by bringing special focus on hints / important scenes by showing these scenes in a special 'how done it' frame on screen, it makes absolutely no sense to tell the viewer that a certain scene contains an important hint if at that certain point of the story, the viewer can't possibly see the significance of it. Why already show and say that something is important to the solution of a mystery, before the mystery itself is shown?! Like you would first show a mirror, or the twins, tell the public that this is important, and then show the magic trick of sawing the assistant in half! I think the production team should think a bit more about which scenes they can, and can not emphasize in this format, because this kinda kills the mystery before it even has the chance to shine.

Next week's episode is going to be awesome by the way! It's an adaptation of the final story of the original run of the comic, Young Kindaichi's Road to the Final Battle, a story I've always wanted to discuss. I might go read the comic version again just to get in the mood!

Original Japanese title(s): 『金田一少年の事件簿Ｎ』　サブタイトル「鬼火島殺人事件」

Never Ape an Apeman

「ははは、そいつはいい。真犯人はオラヌータンだったりしてな」 

「ははは、馬鹿な。そんな話は、仮にミステリとしても三流ですよ。そんな小説書く人がいたら、みんなの笑い物ですね、きっと」

 「・・・・・・・」久保はふと笑うのを止めた。「つかぬことを聞くが、君、本当に探偵小説研究部なのかね」 

『学ばない探偵たちの学園』

"That's a good one, an orangutan as the murderer"

"Hahaha, that would be stupid. That would be just a third-rate mystery. Anyone writing such a story would be the laughing stock of everybody"

"....." Okubo suddenly stopped laughing. "Just asking to be sure, but are you really a member of the detetive fiction research club?"

"The School of the Detectives who don't Learn"

Now that I think about it, I wrote more reviews of Dutch mystery novels than Japanese ones the last couple of weeks. Wow. To think this would one day happen.

Books by Jan Apon
Raoul Bertin series
Paniek op de Miss Brooklyn ("Panic on the Miss Brooklyn")
Een tip van Brissac ("A tip from Brissac")

Rudolf Temesvary series
Het gorilla-mysterie ("The Gorilla Mystery")

Non-series
Een zekere Manuel ("A certain Manuel")

Twelve years ago, Dr Cavelli was found guilty for the murder on Mrs Irene Baginsky, who had recently broken off their affair. Cavelli claimed they were attacked on the road, and while Cavelli managed to escape, Irene had less luck. The only witness who could confirm, or deny Cavelli's story was Irene's baby gorilla, but as animals don't talk, the police had to do with evidence like Cavelli's gun and glove lying around the crime scene. The baby gorilla was donated to the Budapest zoo after his mistress' death, and now, twelve years later, the gorilla is once again witness to a murder. This time, the gorilla's caretaker has been killed, and the gorilla taken away by some person or persons unknown. Inspector Rudolf Temesvary of the Budapest police force thinks there's more to this beast than meets the eye in the aptly titled Het gorilla-mysterie ("The Gorilla Mystery") by Jan Apon.

Het gorilla-mysterie was originally published in 1937 and planned to be the first in a series of stories starring inspector Rudolf Temesvary, it says in the foreword. Jan Apon never did write more Temesvary novels however (in fact, he didn't write any novels after World War II), so Het gorilla-mysterie is both the first and last appearance of the Hungarian police detective. Anyway, the biggest differences with Apon's Raoul Bertin series is that Temesvary is an official detective and the story is set in Budapest (instead of... mostly France in the Bertin series).

The mystery of the kidnapped gorilla is quite interesting: why would someone go the trouble of dragging a gorilla out of a zoo and even kill a man for it? The first half of the book, which is about the missing gorilla and two murders, is the best part of the book, with relevant plot developments and some neat deductions pushing the story forward. Especially the puzzle of the gorilla is fun and the somewhat grotesque problem, as well as its neatly hinted solution almost has a Queenian quality to it.

The conclusion has that familiar Apon characteristic to it: the clue that comes out of nowhere (see my review of Paniek op de Miss Brooklyn for more about that). Seriously. If you are going to refer to hints in your conclusion, maybe you should consider actually writing them in the main story. To have a fair story. And beyond the question of fair play or not: it's usually good to have references refer to actual happenings. Apon's strange way of ending his novels each and every time kinda take down his novels. In general, I do like the events and plot of Het gorilla-mysterie, so I think it's really a shame Apon pulled of the same lets-conjure-up-some-evidence ending again.

You'd think that Poe's contribution to the genre (maybe contribution isn't big enough a word) would have resulted in more mystery fiction featuring animals, but that's not really so. I wouldn't say mystery fiction featuring animals are rare, but still... I remember once attending a presentation about cat mysteries (i.e. mystery fiction featuring cats), which was interesting (FYI, cat mysteries reviewed on this blog include Mikeneko Holmes no Suiri, Cat Food and Kanzen Hanzai ni wa Neko Nanbiki ga Hitsuyouka). The titular gorilla of Het gorilla-mysterie makes no real appearances in the story, but the animal is definitely at the heart of the mystery. I think Apon did something really fun with the animal for this story and I am definitely tempted to call this a gorilla mystery. Which is the title. Heh.

Het gorilla-mysterie is a fun mystery with a great premise and first half. While not perfect, definitely among the better of Apon's works I've read.

Original Dutch title(s): Jan Apon "Het gorilla-mysterie"

"Red...White...Blue"

「缶ジュースの自動販売機、どうしても欲しいものが2つあったとします。ホットコーヒーと烏龍茶、どっちを飲もうかって迷ってしまう時ってありますよね。 そういう時はこうやって2つのボタンを同時に押す。すると無意識のうちに本当に欲しい方のボタンを先に押してしまうって言うんですが…まあ、お試し下さ い。二者択一と言えば…」

『古畑任三郎：赤か、青か』

"Suppose you're standing in front of a drinks machine and you really want to drink something. Sometimes you just can't choose: hot coffee or oolong tea. At such a time, you push both buttons at the same time. They say you will push the button of the drink you really want most first unconciously. Please try it some time. Talking about having to choose..."

"Furuhata Ninzaburou: Red? Blue?"

I've always wondered why some comics are released on the same day. Take Detective Conan and Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo for example. You wouldn't believe how often these rival detective series are released on the same day. Of course, now that both series are serialized, it's not very strange new volumes are released close to each other (as their publication schedules obviously overlap), but even during the years Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo was an irregular series, it occured often that these series would arrive in the stores on the same day. You'd think that it would make more sense to have these two detective series, from two different publishers, released on different days...

Today: a Short Short featuring the two newest volumes of these series, released about two weeks ago.

Detective Conan 84 starts with Prologue of the Scarlet Detective, a flashback case about a murder in an aquarium. Shinichi (before he changed to Conan) and Ran happened to be there (not on a date, Ran emphasizes) and after some preliminary deductions by Shinichi, the police manages to get the suspects lists down from everyone in the aquarium to just three persons. But they all appear to have a solid alibi, because each of them had been taking pictures and movies with their phones. The alibi trick is ridiculous actually, in a sorta funny way, and it's a miracle it worked. Also, this case is supposed to be set in the past, but why is everyone using smartphones?  There was a time when Conan had to use a earring-shaped phone and bentou box fax!

The second story, The Person Behind the Devil's Voice, has the Detective Boys participating in a kite competition. During the competition, one of the contestants falls in the river as he backed up holding his team's kite. At first, this appears to be an accident, but Conan suspects someone told the man to back up all the way to the river. Problem: all witnesses say none of the suspects could have spoken to the victim because he was standing quite a distance from everyone. I actually liked the main trick behind the story quite much, but the rest of the story is disappointing, and it's not even because of the Detective Boys! The case is solved by an incredible stroke of luck, which kinda kills an otherwise okay story. Herb Tea, the Scent of Death on the other hand has a disappointing trick, but an interesting enough premise: a group of friends holds a tea party to cheer up their hospitalized friend, and one of them is poisoned during the party. But how? It's a simple story and setting, but it has a Christie-esque vibe to it. Too bad the trick depends on Obscure Knowledge That Wasn't Hinted At.

But the previous story and Bourbon's Piece to Solve the Puzzle are actually set-ups for a bigger story. There is the story about a teacher being attacked by an unknown assailant at school and it's a fairly good story (though a bit hard to do without some cultural knowledge, though not nearly as obscure as the previous story). But the story is also about the Black Organization spy Bourbon, who has been hanging out around the heroes of story for a long time (even though his cover was blown ages ago), who is investigating a certain important event that happened back in volume 58! In fact, these stories are branded as the Prologue to Scarlet and it appears that the next volume will feature a long story resolving several storylines that have been going on for years, similar to the volume-length stories in volume 42, volume 58 and volume 78.

Detective Conan 84 was an okay volume, but it was probably just a 'silence-before-the-storm' volume and I can't wait for the next!

Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo R 2 first gives us the conclusion to The Snow Demon Legend Murder Case (which started in the first volume). Now that I've read the complete story, I think it's an okay story within the annals of Kindaichi Shounen. Like I mentioned in the review of the first volume, the first half is quite unique in the sense that you don't actually get the confirmation that anything has happened to the people who disappeared because of the Snow Demon. There is a pretty daring trick used by the murderer that seems a bit hard to pull off, but that has been often the case in the series (in fact, the solution to one of the disappearances reminds strongly of a certain early case). At times The Snow Demon Legend Murder Case does feel like a repetition of earlier stories at certain points, but it I definitely like it more than most of the 20th anniversary series.

Volume 2 also brings us the start of The Murder in the Phantom School Building, which is going full throttle into nostalgia lane. Hajime, grandson of the great detective Kindaichi Kousuke and his childhood friend Miyuki participate in a treasure hunt tour on the isolated Kogane Island, still the home to ruins of an old mining town. Inspector Kenmochi and his superior Akechi are also present, because Takatoo Youichi, a professional 'planner of crime' and Hajime's nemesis, has hinted at some event happening on the island. And of course, one by one the participants of the treasure hunt are killed by seemingly the ghost of a teacher...

An isolated island? Check! Treasure hunt? Check! Maps and conveniently unusable passages? Check! A large number of the cast students? Check! Excluding Hong Kong, the last time Kindaichi Shounen featured a story on an island, or a water-related place was actually back in 2010. The Murder in the Phantom School Building actually feels fresh, despite it being a fairly classically built story. The use of Takatoo in the story also attracts attention, especially considering his last appearance, but Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo R 2 only features half of the story, so we'll have to wait for the next volume to see how this story turns out.

And yes, I will probably discuss Conan and Kindaichi Shounen together in Short Short posts as long as they are released close to each other. Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo R 3 is already scheduled for half September, so let's hope Conan 85 will also be published around the same time!

Original Japanese title(s): 青山剛昌　『名探偵コナン』第84巻; 天城征丸（原）、さとうふみや（画）『金田一少年の事件簿Ｒ』第2巻

Rhythm and Police

Ik vrees dat dit ook op Bertin van toepassing is. hij lost een vraagstuk op, verbluffend snel en brillant (sic), of in het geheel niet. Dan verveelt het hem en schuift hij het van zich af. Zijn roem heeft hij hoofdzakelijk te danken aan het spoedig doorzien van raadselachtige situaties, die door anderen langs de weg van logische redenatie niet tot een oplossing konden worden gebracht. Met wat overdrijven zou je kunnen zeggen dat Bertin begint, waar anderen ophouden en omgekeerd.

"Paniek op de Miss Brooklyn"

I'm afraid that is the case with Bertin too: he either solves a conundrum, astoundingly fast and brilliantly, or not at all. Then he is bored with it, and pushes it away. He acquired his fame by swiftly seeing through enigmatic situations, which others couldn't solve through logical reasoning. One could say, with a bit of exeggeration, that Bertin starts, where others stop and vice versa.

"Panic on the Miss Brooklyn"

Sometimes, it takes months before you've finally found that one old book. And sometimes, it's a lot easier. For some reason, I managed to find about four old Dutch mystery novels within the span of two weeks, even though I had been checking for them regularly for about half a year.

Books by Jan Apon
Raoul Bertin series
Paniek op de Miss Brooklyn ("Panic on the Miss Brooklyn")
Een tip van Brissac ("A tip from Brissac")

Non-series
Een zekere Manuel ("A certain Manuel")

A small party to celebrate the engagement of Lord Bill Takony and Sheila Craighton is held on the private yacht the Miss Brooklyn, somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea. Among the LP records brought aboard to spice up the party, is a mysterious LP which was taken along by mistake. It was a record made by famous anthropologist Dr Bonavita, recording the incantation of a curse by the African M-bu-ti tribe. It seems that everybody involved with the expedition has died under curious circumstances after their return to the civilized world, including Bonavita. Interested by this story, the party decides to listen to the record. In the dark of course, to set up the mood. But a cry later, the party regrets its sinister party activity: one of the guests claims to have seen a ghost and what's more important: Sheila has disappeared from the yacht. Because there are clues that Sheila was not taken by an African curse, the narrator decides to ask his old friend Raoul Bertin, former member of the Sûreté, to help find the missing fiance in Jan Apon's Paniek op de Miss Brooklyn ("Panic on the Miss Brooklyn")

Paniek op de Miss Brooklyn (1934) was Dutch writer/translator/radio script writer/actor Jan Apon's first attempt at writing mystery fiction and also the first book starring his series detective Raoul Bertin. A lot of the characteristics of Apon's other mystery novels can be found in this origin point.

If anything, Paniek op de Miss Brooklyn is definitely a thrilling adventure. Starting with the cursed LP record and the mysterious disappearance of Sheila, the story moves at a great pace. New developments (among which murders) keep piling up and the story never bores the reader until the very last page. Especially the plot point of the cursed LP record is fun, as I'm not familiar with many Dutch mystery novels with a supernatural tone. But Paniek op de Miss Brooklyn is also a story with a lot of coincidences helping the plot. In many ways, I'd say this novel feels a bit like Christie's The Secret Adversary, with a spy-thriller format that is definitely fun to read, but things don't always make sense when you take a time-out and think about it (by the way, I actually quite like The Secret Adversary).

I do find it frustrating Apon's novels always disappoint at the end. I won't say all of his novels have horrible endings, but for some reason Apon's detective always seem to pull out decisive evidence and crucial pieces of information out of nowhere during the denouement. The ritual with Apon I have now is: 1) detective points out he found a hint that points to murderer X, 2) I turn the pages back to where the detective said he found the hint, see it's not written anywhere 3) Aaaaaargh!. The thing is, these pieces of evidence and hints the detectives conjures out of nowhere would have been totally fair, even if a bit obvious, hints to the identity of the murderer. So why not, I don't know, actually write them in the story instead of just refering to them as if they were written there. Because Apon's detectives always obtain these decisive hints at the end of the story (the reader never sees them before the detective refers to them...), it always seems like Apon added the hints and evidence as an afterthought in the conclusion, and then forgot to write them in the main story too...

Of course, not all detective stories need material evidence / hints. A lot of Christie stories for example work despite of a lack of 'evidence', because they work by turning one's view upon a certain situation up side down. What seemed black, turns out to be white and vice-versa, which in turn is the answer to the problem. And for some of Apon's stories (this story and Een zekere Manuel), I think Apon tried to do something like that, especially if you consider the description of detective Raoul Bertin's way of thinking as quoted at the start of this post. But the feeling of turnabout is never pulled off really well (as in the 'suddenly-everything-falls-into-place-as-soon-as-you-realize-everything-was-the-other-way-around' feeling you get with some Christie stories), and the retconned evidence in the conclusion doesn't really help these conclusions either.

Paniek op de Miss Brooklyn was not as good as Jan Apon's later efforts, but certainly fun enough if you've read other Apon novels: it shares a lot of both the strong and the weak points of his other novels.

Original Dutch title(s): Jan Apon "Paniek op de Miss Brooklyn"

ReturN: File 2

One of the main reasons why I decided to do reviews of the new Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo NEO ("The Young Kindaichi Case Files NEO") TV live-action series was because it would allow me to discuss older stories in the series that I hadn't reviewed yet. At least, that was my intention, but this week's episode and that of next are based on stories I've already reviewed...

Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo NEO
Pre-series TV Special 2 (January 4, 2014: The Prison Gate Cram School Murder Case
Episode 1 (July 19, 2014): The Murderer of the Silver Screen 
Episode 2 (July 26, 2014): The Game Mansion Murder Case
Episode 3 & 4 (August 2 & 9, 2014): The Will-o'-the-Wisp Island Murder Case
Episode 5 & 6 (August 16 & 23, 2014): Young Kindaichi's Road to the Final Battle
Episode 7 (September 6, 2014): The Yukikage Village Murder Case
Episode 8 & 9 (September 13 & 20, 2014): The Rosenkreuz Mansion Murder Case

Hajime, grandson of the great detective Kindaichi Kousuke, and his childhood friend Miyuki miss the last bus back from an entertainment park, but manage to get into a different bus. A bus that offers knock-out gas as a special service to its clients. Hajime, Miyuki and the other people in the bus find themselves in a strange white room the next time they wake up, each of them wearing a strange mask. A strange voice from a TV tells them that they are all guests of the Game Mansion and the only way to escape from the mansion is by playing games. Fun games like quizzes (and if you don't solve them in time, you die), and wire puzzles (and if you don't solve them in time, you die). Anyway, games and death. Can Hajime and Miyuki escape the mansion and stop the Game Master?

The second episode of Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo NEO is based on 2011's Game no Yakata Satsujin Jiken, which I already reviewed back at the time of the original release (read that review for more thoughts about the story). This episode is a fairly faithful adaptation and I think that my feelings for the story haven't changed much. The series often features closed circle situations (the first episode of NEO not, strangely enough), but the more exciting and 'structured' (sequential games) Saw-esque set-up does give Game no Yakata Satsujin Jiken something to set itself apart from the rest of the series (note: I have never seen a Saw film). And despite the horror-esque first half of the story, it's still a classical murder mystery, and I can still appreciate how the hints are hidden within the sadistic games. I also think this story made for a good TV adaptation: it was originally a short long story, so it fits perfectly within one hour (nothing  of importance was lost from the original story) and the more dynamic plot also fitted the medium good, I think. I probably enjoyed the story better as TV adaptation, than the original comic version.

I do have to say I was kinda disappointed at how easy the story has been made. I can appreciate the scriptwriters added one scene, which serves as a crucial hint (this scene was not present in the original story and actually made it slightly unfair), but the way it is added to the plot is incredibly crude. In fact, whereas I kinda liked how the first episode gave emphasis on important scenes by 'framing' them in special borders saying "how done it", it's gone too far already in the second episode, I think. They are literally saying "THIS IS IMPORTANT AND JUST TO SHOW HOW IMPORTANT IT IS, WE FRAMED THE SCENE". I don't mind if they do want the viewer to pay attention to certain scenes (for example, the discovery of the crime scene), but doing close-ups on every single thing that is important sucks away the fun of trying to deduce the case yourself.

It took me kinda long to associate this story with real-life escape-the-room games that have become quite popular the last few years. I have never played one of them, so I am not completely sure how they go, but from what I understand, you go around (in real-life) in rooms and stuff, solving puzzles and quizzes, gathering 'evidence' and eventually 'solve' a case / ecsape from the room / whatever the goal of the game is. Several of these games have been held in Japan with a Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo theme the last few years (and also of Conan and Gyakuten Saiban, to name a few more). These games allow the participant to actively take on the role of a detective in real-life, so it's kinda funny to see that Game Yakata no Satsujin renders the escape-the-room device back to a passive medium.

Next episode is based on the novel The Murder Case of Will-'o'-the-Wisp Island, which I have already reviewed too. Let's see how a revisit to that story turns out!

Original Japanese title(s): 『金田一少年の事件簿Ｎ』　サブタイトル　「 ゲームの館殺人事件」