Track of the Zombie

最大限界行きたいわ 

宇宙全体が手品いやい

「再生」（Perfume)

I want to go all out

The whole universe is just a sleight of hand

"Rebirth" (Perfume)

Now I think about, with Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet being postponed to 2021, I guess today's topic is the only new mystery movie I really planned to watch this year. I'll probably watch some more, but this was the only recent release (not older than a year) I absolutely wanted to see.

By sticking their noses in all kinds of incidents and occasionally even actually solving them, the duo of Akechi Kyousuke and Hamura Yuzuru have earned themselves the reputation of the Holmes and Watson of Shinkou University. One day, the two young men are approached by fellow student Kenzaki Hiruko, who too has assisted the police in criminal cases in the past. She tells about how the university's Music Festival Club has received a threatening note with the message "Who will be sacrified next?", and how it's likely related to the annual club trip to the Sabea Rock Festival. Many female members of the Music Festival Club were afraid to go because of the trip, so Hiruko was invited to come along to make up for the numbers even though she isn't a Music Festival club member. Hiruko wants Akechi and Hamura to join her to investigate into the meaning behind the note.  The trio joins the rest of the Music Festival Club at the Violet Villa, a pension owned by Nanamiya, one of the graduated members of the club. Each year, Nanamiya allows the club members to stay here, but Hamura quickly realizes Nanamiya's main goal is to get lucky with the female members. During the club's nightly visit to the Sabea Rock Festival however, they notice some visitors start to behave weird and before they know it, they're surrounded by a horde of zombies! Once a person's bitten, they turn into a zombie themselves, and it doesn't take long for the Rock Festival to change into a Fest of the Dead.

Not everyone makes it back alive to the Violet Villa, and the group of survivors barricade themselves against the waves of zombies still roaming outside. The group can only wait for outside help to arrive and they all retreat to their own rooms in the hotel, everyone making sure to lock their doors. The following morning, the Music Festival Club's president is found dead in his room and the horrible biting marks on his face leaves little doubt that his death came by the hands of a zombie, but there are also several problems to this conclusion: while only a zombie could've committed the murder in such a horrible way, only a human could've performed feats like somehow opening the victim's locked hotel room and leaving mysterious handwritten threatening notes in and outside the room! Was this the work of a zombie, a human, or both? Time is of the essence as more and more impossible murders occur while the zombies start to break down barricade after barricade in the 2019 film Shijinsou no Satsujin ("The Murders in the Villa of the Dead").

It's no secret that Imamura Masahiro's debut novel Shijinsou no Satsujin ("The Murders in the Villa of the Dead", 2017) immediately become one of my favorite mystery novels after I read it, and I also enjoyed the 2019 sequel novel and the prequel short story a lot. The brilliantly original manner in which the novel combined classic mystery tropes like the closed circle and the locked room murder with the style of zombie panic movie resulted in a true gem of the genre: it was a well-plotted fair play mystery story that incorporated a 'supernatural' element like the zombie to create unique mysteries to solve and Imamura didn't just use zombies as window dressing: these beings were absolutely essential to how the mystery plot worked. The novel was received extremely well in Japan, so it didn't really surprise me when the film adaptation was announced and I've been looking forward to it since. The movie was released in December 2019, while the home video release followed earlier this week.

One thing that made me really enthusiastic for the movie was the tone of the trailer: the distinct comedic tone with fast-paced dialogue and rapid shots reminded me of the classic comedy-mystery drama Trick, one of my favorite mystery television franchises of all time. Turns out that I wasn't imagining things: director Kimura Hisashi was the assistant-director on many projects directed by Tsutsumi Yukihiko, including Trick, and it's obvious Kimura took inspiration from that franchise. I only learned recently Kimura also acted as chief director on a lot of mystery drama I enjoyed in the past, like 99.9, IQ246 and Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo NEO, so I was sure his film adaptation of Shijinsou no Satsujin would be fun to watch. Actress Hamabe Minami, who plays Hiruko in the movie, has also been in a lot of mystery-related productions lately and I loved her in everything I saw of her work. I first saw here in the mystery drama Pure (also produced by people who worked on Trick by the way) where she played a hilarious lead as an idol who acts all cute in front of others but who's actually a connniving vixen, but she also starred as the main character Tokino in the excellent Alibi Kuzushi Uketamawarimasu and has a guest role in Detective Conan: The Scarlet Alibi (which has been postponed to 2021). Add in Kamiki Ryuunosuke (who played Kyuu in the drama of Tantei Gakuen Q) as Hamura and Nakamura Rinya (who plays the lead in Bishoku Tantei, based on the manga by Higashimura Akiko) and you have a whole trio of leads who get casted as detectives. At any rate, given the source material and the people working on the movie, my expectations for Shijinsou no Satsujin were pretty high.

And I am happy to say that Shijinsou no Satsujin is indeed a highly entertaining mystery film that any fan of the genre must watch. The story features some minor differences with the novel to smooth the narrative out (for example, some characters' backgrounds have been changed and the novel went slightly more in detail about the background of the zombies), but in general, Shijinsou no Satsujin is a fairly faithful adaptation of the original work, but with more visual impact (duh). That means you're in for a two-hour movie where you're treated to no less than three different types of locked room murders in a pension that is under attack by zombies, which is a pretty high number of impossible crimes for a single modern, blockbuster-type of movie. These incidents all have seemingly contradictory elements, as both a human and zombie hand can be felt, for example, a locked hotel room which was obviously unlocked by a normal human, while all the biting could only have been done by a zombie. The mysteries are cleverly written to make you wonder if a human could in any way direct a zombie to commit a murder, without putting themselves in harm's way. The brilliance of these murders is that they are only possible in this specific setting, with the zombies. You couldn't replace the hordes of zombies outside with a flood or anything, the whole story is built around the concept of the living dead roaming outside. The movie is pretty tight at two hours, and I feel that ten more minutes of runtime to flesh a few scenes out may have helped, but on the whole I'd say the screenplay does a great job at presenting what is in essence a fairly complex mystery story with multiple murders with impossible elements and the zombie panic side of the story, all within the limits of a two-hour movie. While a mystery genre movie can often feel quite static, Shijinsou no Satsujin is wonderfully dynamic because the zombies keep coming closer and closer.

A few of the focused shots and changes in this movie do make it a bit easier to guess who the culprit is compared to the novel, I have the feeling. In that sense, the film is definitely being very fair and even if you know who the criminal is, there's still some interesting mysteries for the viewer to solve (I love the reason why the culprit went all that trouble for the second murder!). The movie also focuses less on the architecture of the pension (you only see the layout a few times and it's pretty hard to grasp where everyone's room is just by watching the movie), though I have to say the screenplay does a great job at using the visual medium to convey a certain piece of key information to the viewer, which was presented in a different way in the original novel. The method they choose fits better with the medium as it's easier to process, and a good example of how a film adaptation can change things around in a mystery movie to make the best of the medium's specific qualities.

I wouldn't be surprised if Shijinsou no Satsujin will also turn out to be the best mystery movie I'll see this year. It helps that the source material is good, naturally, but it is genuinely a well-produced mystery movie with at one hand a very classic approach with a closed circle situation, impossible crimes and a cast of suspicious characters and on the other hand the more visceral and fast-paced format of the horror movie. The comedic tone with minor parody elements may not be for everyone (Hah, creepy old lady in the bus is definitely a Yokomizo reference), but I absolutely love it and people who liked drama series like Trick will definitely like this film. Most of the changes do make sense as they fit the medium of the two-hour film better, so on the whole, I'm more than satisfied with Shijinsou no Satsujin: it's a fantastic detective movie that can stand on its own and which truly uses its original approach to the mystery genre to its fullest.

Original Japanese title(s): 『屍人荘の殺人』

Whispers In the Fog

"You are young yet, my friend," replied my host, "but the time will arrive when you will learn to judge for yourself of what is going on in the world, without trusting to the gossip of others. Believe nothing you hear, and only one-half that you see."

"The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether"

Talking about stories of the past: the new television drama based on Yokomizo Seishi's Yuri Rintarou series looks pretty good! Sure, the story has been moved to a contemporary Kyoto setting and assistant Mitsugi is now a novelist instead of a newspaper journalist, but it retains a light gothic and somewhat pulpy atmosphere befitting this series. It was about time we got more adaptations of Kindaichi Kousuke's older brother...
 

Today's book is a very strange short story collection and one could definitely argue it's not a "proper" mystery, though I did enjoy it a lot. Kujira Touichirou's debut work Yamataikoku wa Doko Desuka? ("Where is Yamatai-koku?" 1998) collects five stories that are all set in the small bar Three Ballets. Regulars of the bartender Matsunaga include the History professor Mitani, the lecture assistant Shizuka and the amateur researcher Miyata. Miyata and Shizuka have the tendency to always get into arguments about historical topics, and without any exception, it's because Miyata spouts some ridiculous theory about some major historic event, like the crucifixion of Jesus or the enlightenment of the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama. But while Miyata's claims always seem too absurd to even pay any attention to, he's always able to actually prove his outlandish theories based on historical sources, begging the question if you can trust any historical facts at all.

Yamataikoku wa Doko Desuka? is a really weird book to explain. The stories collected in this volume are not really proper puzzle plot mystery stories like the ones I usually discuss here, but I think they are best described as extremely well researched experiments in deduction with a history theme. In a way, they remind me of Kemelman's famous short story The Nine Mile Walk. The stories all follow the same basic formula, themed after the 5W1H questions: Who, What, When, Why, Where and How. At the start of each tale, Miyata will present a statement that sounds absolutely ridiculous at first, considering the consensus about historical facts, like claiming that the Meiji Restoration had been planned by one single man or that the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, in fact did not reach enlightenment while meditating beneath the Bodhi Tree. While both Shizuka and the reader will at first dismiss Miyata's claim as utter nonsense, Miyata then explains the reasoning process behind his claims, usually by focusing on contradictions in the actual historical sources presented and showing his own interpretation of those contradictions.

While the mysteries discussed in this book are not carefully planned fictional mysteries, I think Kujira does a great job at showing how the reasoning process in a mystery story should work, and that is why I think this is a good example of experiments in deduction, and why this is a book that should be discussed here. Obviously the theories proposed in this book are very likely not true at all and thus fiction: the theories proposed by Kujira are not meant to be taken as historical studies that want to bring forth a paradigm shift. But in these stories, Kujira does show how the deduction process in a mystery novel should pick up on all clues (in this case historical sources and the contradictions found there), how to interpret and explain clues/discrepancies and finally construct a theory that explains everything, while incorporating all the clues/sources. Each of these stories shows how you can construct the most fanciful, yet convincing tales as long as you build properly on the clues and use some imagination, and in that sense, I think it's definitely worth reading this book to see how a tale focused solely on the deduction process could work. The stories are also quite easy to read, as it mostly consists of banter between the four characters, with the discussion slowly, but surely providing the proof for Miyata's theories.

But as you may guess, the book does require you to have some historical knowledge to truly appreciate the tales here. The title story Yamataikoku wa Doko Desuka? ("Where is Yamatai-koku?") for example probably doesn't sound really interesting if you have never heard of Yamatai-koku, but if you do know it's the name of an ancient country in Wa (Japan) which was only referenced in historical sources and that historians still don't know/don't agree on where it exactly was, you can imagine how interesting this can be. Kujira quotes a lot of genuine historical sources in his stories, which can be a bit boring, but he uses those sources to show contradictions, and from there deduce what the real meaning of those texts must be. In the case of the Yamatai-koku story for example, the focus lies on the question whether the directions to Yamatai-koku as written in the historical sources were actually correct: Kujira quotes several different sources that help him establish how and why these sources could've been wrong, and then builds on that to arrive at his (Miyata's) proposed location of Yamatai-koku. While the final story, Kiseki wa Dono You ni Nasareta no ka? ("How Was The Miracle Accomplished?") is about the Biblical resurrection of Jesus, the other stories are about Japanese/Asian history and if you're completely blank on those topics, you'll have a very hard time getting through this book. Shoutoku Taishi wa Dare Desu ka? ("Who is Shoutoku Taishi?"), Bouhon no Douki wa Nan Desu ka? ("What Was The Motive For The Betrayal?") and Ishin ga Okita no wa Naze Desu ka? ("Why Did The Restoration Occur?") deal with major incidents/figures in pre-modern Japanese history, while Satori wo Hiraita no wa Itsu Desu ka ("When Did He Attain Enlightenment?") is about the historical Buddha, so Indian/religious history. The stories expect you to have some basic knowledge about these events, as the author quickly starts quoting historical sources to move on to the alternative interpretation (so it assumes you know the accepted versions). I do have admit that these stories do feel a bit alike after a while: they all follow the exact same story structure and with the abundant quoting of historical sources, they do sometimes feel a lot longer than they actually are.

I suspect that people who like the Professor Munakata series, or Katou's Q.E.D. Shoumei Shuuryou and/or C.M.B. Shinra Hakubutsukan no Jiken Mokuroku will have a blast with this series though, as they all have similar stories, based on actual historical sources, pointing out contradictions between them and then presenting an alternative interpretation of historical events (often caused by very human motives). I personally have an enormous weak spot for these kinds of historical mysteries, so I really enjoyed this book, but I can imagine that people who like more conventional mystery stories will feel less positive about these stories.

Still, I think Yamataikoku wa Doko Desuka? is a good example of an experiment in deduction and it does a great job at recontextualizing (fantasizing about) well-known historical events. It's actually fun to see how the author uses the known historical sources to turn everything around and arrive at completely different conclusions than the accepted consensus and in that sense, it's a very unique type of mystery story. Personally, I think this is one that will become one of my highlight reads this year exactly because it's so different.

Original Japanese title(s): 鯨統一郎『邪馬台国はどこですか？』: 「悟りを開いたのはいつですか？」 /「邪馬台国はどこですか？」/ 「聖徳太子はだれですか？」 /「謀叛の動機はなんですか？」 /「維新が起きたのはなぜですか？」 /「奇蹟はどのようになされたのですか？」

Deadly Hall

"I’m on a list of murder suspects. Always thought that would be kinda cool. But it’s just tedious."

"Tangle Tower"

That upcoming open-world Sherlock Holmes game by Frogwares sounds interesting, but I don't have the hardware at the moment...

Detective Grimoire and his sassy assistant Sally are summoned to the titular Tangle Tower to solve the murder on Freya Fellow. Tangle Tower is located on an island in a curious lake with purple water and surrounded by cliffs and despite the name, Tangle Tower is actually a building with two towers, connected at the base by the main building. In the past, the manor served as the residence of a certain family, but after a few generations of marriages and deaths, none of the original family remain in Tangle Tower. Now it's inhabitated by members of the Fellow and Pointer families, who each live in their own tower (think Murder Among the Angells). The victim Freya was one of the younger generation and was working on a painting of her relative Flora in the top room of the Fellow tower. A horrible noise coming from the room attracted the attention of everyone in Tangle Tower, and when they kicked open the locked door, the inhabitants found Freya lying right in front of her unfinished painting, stabbed in her chest. No weapon is found in the tower and Flora refuses to say anything about what happened, but curiously enough, Flora seems to be holding a bloody knife in the painting and it turns out real blood was used for the red 'paint'. Detective Grimoire first fears that it's the painting itself that killed Freya, stabbing her while she was painting, but once he and Sally start to poke around and question the people at Tangle Tower, they realize that everyone has a secret to hide, and some of those secrets are not quite innocent.

Tangle Tower is a 2019 iOS/Switch/Steam mystery adventure game and the sequel to Detective Grimoire and Detective Grimoire: Secret of the Swamp. I haven't played any of the previous titles, but this title caught my attention the moment it was announced: the writing was funny, the artstyle unique and catchy and of course, it was a murder mystery! Having finished the game, I can say it's not absolutely necessary to have played the previous games, but it would definitely result in a more rewarding experience if you did: the game introduces some story-related elements near the end that I suspect are references/direct connections to Secret of the Swamp, and some of this is left a bit too vague for people who don't know anything about the other games.

Anyway, I guess the easiest manner to describe Tangle Tower is to call it a mix between Ace Attorney and the classic point & click adventures like Monkey Island. You control Detective Grimoire and Sally as they wander around the manor looking for clues and interrogate the suspects. Pretty standard adventure material here: question everyone about the murder, find clues, confront suspects with clues etc. The manor is a gorgeous place to explore: the cartoon art style reminds of classics like The Curse of Monkey Island and works wonderfully well with the witty writing: the larger-than-life characters who are just not quite ordinary remind of the characters in the Ace Attorney games (great animation!) and interrogating them is just fun. You can examine a lot in this game too, and you're always treated to some entertaning banter between Grimoire and Sally. The game is fully voice-acted too, adding to the cartoon style.

Tangle Tower looks and sounds absolutely fantastic, but how does it fare as a mystery game? Well, it's a bit uneven at times. My least favorite parts are probably the mechanical puzzles, as I seldom like them in mystery games. Like I mentioned in my review of The Testament of Sherlock Holmes, why does everyone keep important stuff (evidence/clues ) in little safes that can be opened by solving a mechanical puzzle!? Every person in Tangle Tower has something important hidden away in some mini-safe that is only locked by a puzzle, and not say, a key. The first half of the game can be quite monotonous for that reason: you're just asking all the characters about their alibis etc and solving little mechanical puzzles that always give you some very significant clue. This collect-everything-needed-before-we-proceed part of the game is quite long, and there are no real developments in the story or anything.

Once you have a better grasp on the case though, Tangle Tower starts to focus more on solving the murder mystery. After collecting enough evidence, you can start confront the suspects to make them reveal their secrets (everyone has something to hide). These segments include an interesting deduction system, where you have to make a statement (accusation) by constructing a sentence. The sentence follows the structure [noun] + [verb construction] + [noun] + [verb construction], and you usually are presented somewhere between five to ten options for each sentence element. The game will only proceed if you manage to construct the correct sentence, so it's an interesting way to test whether the player really knows what's going on and following the current line of investigation, as having to construct a full sentence is a lot harder than just picking one out of three options. This mechanic reminds of the one used in Trick DS, where you could combine three elements (objects, circumstances, location, persons) to form a hypothesis which could be used in various situations. While this mechanic can, theoretically, become quite complex by adding more and more elements, it's kept relatively simple in both Tangle Tower and Trick DS. In Tangle Tower, you shouldn't have too much trouble figuring out what the correct sentence is if you paid attention, but it's still a good mechanic to actually make sure you did pay attention. It's a shame that at other times, the characters of Grimoire and Sally seem to make deductions/interpretations of the evidence on their own, without the player's input. Perhaps the developers couldn't think of a way to 'test' the player first, but it's at those times that you feel a disconnect between the player and the characters, as things are done for the player, while at other points you do have to more thinking on your own.

The core murder mystery plot however is not particularly memorable. The way it uses one element that is unique to the enviroment of the setting of Tangle Tower is clever and well-foreshadowed as is the use of the painting, but at the core the truth behind how the locked room murder was committed is fairly basic. I also imagine that many players will find the conclusion rather rushed and understated. The motive is not really convincing as it is shown now, and like I mentioned before, some elements involved with the conclusion of the story are somewhat related to the previous game. Other elements are kept vague as possible hooks for future games I suspect, but because of that, some scenes and character motivations don't feel convincing enough, and on the whole, the murder mystery plot seems just one or two steps away from something much better.

I did enjoy Tangle Tower on the whole though. As a standalone mystery story, it could have been fleshed out more, but the journey of discovery itself is fun, with witty writing, memorable characters and a great visual style. The sentence-based deduction system is interesting and I'd love to see a more robust and comprehensive version of it in other games. Tangle Tower is not that long, so perfect if you're looking for something short to squeeze between games with a larger scale.

The Secret of the Fiery Chamber

From that chamber, and from that mansion, I fled aghast. The storm was still abroad in all its wrath as I found myself crossing the old causeway. Suddenly there shot along the path a wild light, and I turned to see whence a gleam so unusual could have issued; for the vast house and its shadows were alone behind me. 

"The Fall of the House of Usher"

>> The spambots have been very active lately in the comments, so I'll have to manually moderate comments for the moment. I'll try to approve comments as soon as possible. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Bluuuurgh, Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet has been moved to a 2021 release definitely! The first time in almost a quarter-century there's been no new annual Conan film...

The cover art of today's work is fairly straightforward in terms of concept, but I really like the actual artwork. It was actually the cover art of this book which first attracted my attention, back when the publisher first announced it on Twitter.

Tadokoro Shinya had always wanted to become a detective himself, but then he realized his classmate Katsuragi Teruyoshi was, in fact, the most gifted detective he ever saw. Born as the son of a rather wealthy family, Katsuragi grew up surrounded by people who are always keeping up appearances and trying to act as nicely as possible, which made the boy especially sensitive to being told lies. This helped him hone his deductive skills, which have also been used to solve actual crimes. Tadokoro on the other hand has also been dabbling with writing mystery fiction, and it was through his editor he learned that the famous veteran mystery author Takarada Yuuzan was living near the place where his class would be staying for school camp that summer. Takarada is one of the giants in the genre, but he's been silent for the last five years due to his age. As both Tadokoro and Katsuragi are big fans of him, they quickly agree that they'll use their free day during school camp to sneak away and make their way to the Takarada manor in the mountains. While climbing the mountain path however, the two are surprised by a sudden thunderstorm, which causes a mountain fire. With the path down blocked by the fire, the two make their way to the Takarada manor together with several other people who too seek refuge, like the neighbor living down the mountain. The son of Yuuzan is at first reluctant to let people inside, but given the emergency and the pleas by his own two children, he decides to let everyone in as they await the emergency workers to make their way to the house. The guests learn that the cliff-facing Takarada Manor is full of gimmicks like hidden rooms, flip-wall closets and even a drawing room with a double ceiling, which can be lowered all the way down to the floor.

Yuuzan himself has been bedridden for some years now, but Tadokoro is surprised to see another familiar face: the insurance agent who was visiting the neighbor and who fled together with him is Asukai Hikaru. They only met once ten years ago, when Asukai as a high school student solved a murder case right in front of him, inspiring him to become a detective too. Ten years later, she seems to have lost all interest in detection, which highly disappoints Tadokoro. However, the following morning, it seems that having both two detectives (Asukai and Katsuragi) at the scene may have been tempting fate, for in the morning, they notice some blood in front of the drawing room. When they can't open the inwards-opening doors, they realize the double ceiling must have been lowered, preventing the doors from opening. When they go check out the winch system, they find it the wirings have snapped loose from the winch, which must have dropped the ceiling instantly instead of gently lowering it. After a quick repair, they enter the drawing room to find a horribly crushed victim inside. At first, it's assumed to be an unfortunate accident as it doesn't seem likely nor practical that someone could've timed the ceiling to drop on someone inside the drawing room, as the inside of the room is not visible from the winch control room, but Katsuragi isn't completely convinced it was an accident. But is it wise to start accusing people of murder here and now, given that they are all trapped in a house with a mountain fire closing on them? It's a battle against both fire and setting the right priorities as the timer counts down in Atsukawa Tatsumi's Gurenkan no Satsujin ("The Murder in the Fiery Red Manor" 2019).

Gurenkan no Satsujin seemed to garner a fair amount of attention when it was released last year as a very classically-styled puzzler, which is of course quite clear when you read the summary above: a motley crew trapped inside a manor in a closed circle situation due to a mountain fire, two detectives working on the same case, a house owned by a veteran mystery author full with gimmicks, hidden passageways and a death-trap murder with the double ceiling which has slight impossible elements to it, and as the story continues, we'll also learn a serial killer from the past has also has cast their shadows over the house and a lot more happens too. In a way, this reminded me of my first review of this year, of Houjou Kie's excellent Jikuu Ryokousha no Sunadokei ("The Hourglass of the Time-Space Traveller"), which was also a novel absolutely brimming with classic tropes and set mostly inside an isolated manor with a time limit to destruction upcoming (but it was also a story which included a scifi element because of the time travelling aspect). The time limit aspect is emphasized in this novel, as each story section is not only accompanied by a title, but also a timer which counts down to the eventual fall of the house (starting at 35 hours before the end).

The mountain fire trapping the characters in a manor in the mountains is of course a device that is very reminiscent of Ellery Queen's The Siamese Twin Mystery, though I'd say that the comparisons do stop here (we don't have a plot revolving around a dying message for example). In fact, what I think surprised me the most about Gurenkan no Satsujin is how the story often moves in a different way than you might expect. For example, the murder in the room with the double ceiling is mostly solved (save for some details) in the first half of the book already. It's really weird, as at the least, you'd expect it be only the first in a series of murders which will make use of the unique gimmicks in this house, but yeah, it really doesn't go the way you'd expect. This horrible murder where the victim was crushed by the moving ceiling gimmick is used in a very clever way: obviously it's not about the direct question of how the murder was committed, but Atsukawa addresses a lot of points, using the opposing detectives Katsuragi and Asukai, to explore the matter whether it was an accident or murder: it's here where Atsukawa shows his careful plotting, as both characters will point out countles of clues to support their own theory, and which really allow the reader to think along. Early on for example, the characters argue that if the doors to the drawing room were closed, the murderer could not have known whether someone was inside the room and who, and if they were open, the ceiling would've been held up by the doors, making it impossible to crush someone with it. While the idea of a ceiling coming down seems simple enough, Atsukawa cleverly makes it a truly mystifying murder as no theory seems to fit completely with the facts, making this a very alluring problem. It's not a true impossible situation, but it's definitely surrounded by contradicting facts, and they ultimately do point towards the cleverly thought-out, but truly horrible truth of what actually happened in that room.

But like I said, most of this is handled in the first half of the book already. So what happens next? Well, I'm not going into details, but basically, Atsukawa has been laying many trails of bread crumbs in the first half of the story that aren't even directly related to the murder, and he starts following them to their respective conclusions. Character dynamics change completely in this second half as Katsuragi starts peeling away the layers of deceit that have been covering up the truth in this novel, setting up the finale and truly revealing who committed the murder in the manor. I'm a bit torn on this part, to be honest. Katsuragi starts pointing out a lot of contradictions that occured earlier in the story, but a lot of them are so... uninspired, they don't really make an impression on their own even if their ultimate implications are important to the plot. Sure, the fact that character lied is of course important, but when the lie is uncovered because of classic tropes of the type of Ye Old They Said They Were Right-Handed But Used That One Thing With Their Left Hand Clue, you can probably understand why I say it can be a bit underwhelming. What I do like is how Atsukawa has really laid out a lot of crumb trails all across the story up until the second half and it's quite satisfying taken as a whole process to see everything come together, but some of these puzzle pieces just seem too familiar. The plot also relies heavily on coincidences, which can be a bit dissapointing: Tadokoro meeting the one woman who inspired him to try become detective himself at this manor right during a mountain fire even though they had only met once in a completely different place is actually one of the more realistic coincidences that occurs in this story compared to what is revealed later in the novel. Regarding the mountain fire though, at first I felt it didn't really add that much to the plot, but Atsukawa actually ties it to the core puzzle plot in multiple ways, and cleverly too, and I think it's actually more important to the plot than it ever was in The Siamese Twin Mystery.

Gurenkan no Satsujin is on the whole a capably plotted mystery story that really loves the classic tropes. I think that lovers of Ellery Queen especially will appreciate the book, as a lot of plot-pushing deductions are based on the interpretation of either physical clues or observed facts or following them to their logical conclusions. The book does suffer a bit from the author's intention to include so many ideas though. It's a very long novel, that also jumps between perspectives at times and even includes a rather meta discussion between what a detective ultimately ought to be, but that together with the already beefy mystery plot results in a book that takes its time to unfold. That said, Gurenkan no Satsujin is a story I myself did not find absolutely extraordinary, but still a very cleverly, and skilfully plotted mystery novel that's well worth a try.

Original Japanese title(s):  阿津川辰海『紅蓮館の殺人』

Fairy Tale Killer

ほら ti ta ta ta ガラスの針 

十二回の刻を打てば

 聖なる夜の七頭の影が

 無力な人形に手を伸ばす

「Marionette Fantasia」（Garnet Crow）

Look ti ta ta ta When the glass hands

strick the time twelve times

Seven shadows on the holy night

Reach out to the lifeless figurine

"Marionette Fantasia" (Garnet Crow)

Last year, I read the complete original series of Professor Munakata, which I absolutely loved. The series revolves around legends, fairy tales and folklore, and the anthropological research into the origins of these stories. The stories in this series are often based on actual historical and anthropological studies into the origins of stories of for example the Asian dragon, the archetype fable of the Swan Maiden told across the world and Momotarou, and author Hoshino manages to present these historical studies as very accessible tales that entertain on their own too, even if you're not immediately interested in the idea of historical research.

That said though, sometimes it's also fun to just accept fables and legends as is, and not try find the historical (and often awful) truth hidden within the allegories. And to those who like to indulge in the fantastical, look no further than Aoyagi Aito's Mukashi Mukashi Aru Tokoro ni, Shitai ga Arimashita ("Once Upon A Time, There Was A Body", 2019). As the title probaby suggests, this highly entertaining short story collection is based on Japanese fairy tales, but of course retold with a deadly twist. Everyone in Japan knows the five fairy tales explored in this book by heart, but while the opening scenes of the stories will remain very familiar, Aoyagi adds a twist each time by introducing a mysterious murder. What makes this an exceptionally satisfying read is that each of these variations are firmly grounded within the framework of the original story. So that means, yes, there are fantastical monsters walking around, there are mystical crane birds, talking fish and magical tools in these worlds, but Aoyagi uses these unique elements to create very entertaining, and also very fair puzzle plot mysteries which should satisfy even the most critical of mystery fan, even if it's so heavily steeped in supernatural imagery. Another point of interest is that each of the five stories in Mukashi Mukashi Aru Tokoro ni, Shitai ga Arimashita is not only based on a different fairy tale, they are also built on different tropes of the genre. One story might be about a locked room mystery, while the other provides an inverted mystery tale. The sheer variety found within these pages is fantastic, making it a must-read.

The opening story Issunboushi no Fuzai Shoumei ("The Alibi of Issunboushi") is a great example how this book subverts expections. The first few sections follow the familiar story of Issun-boushi:  the "one-inch" man who despite his length is quite brave. Trying to defend a princess, he's swallowed whole by an Oni (ogre-like monster), but then defeats the Oni by attacking its from its stomach. The Oni surrenders, and offers a magic hammer, which can enlarge the objects it hits. The mallet's magic changes Issunboushi into a man of over 1,80m tall, he marries the princess and they live happily ever after. Well, not really, for after the wedding, one of the other guards is approached by a man claiming to be from the prosecutor's office, who confides with him that Issunboushi is also a suspect in a murder case. The problem however is that Issunboushi has a perfect alibi: during the period the murder was committed, Issunboushi was inside the stomach of the Oni, and all the other guards were busy trying to get him out of the Oni pushing him back up from the stomach out of the Oni's mouth. So not only is the hero of the fairy tale recast as the villain of the piece, one of the best-known episodes of the fable is changed into the perfect alibi of the culprit! What follows is a very entertaining story in which the real hero of the story tries to break down Issunboushi's perfect alibi, and the trick pulled off is set wonderfully within the framework of this fable. And yes, there's an element of magic/the fantastical involved, but it's perfectly hinted at and the limitations/'rules' behind magic are clearly stated, so it's a completely fair, and most importantly fun tale.

The narrator of Hanasaka Shitai Dengon ("The Blossoming Dying Message") is a dog: the second dog adopted by the old couple that stars in the original Hanasaka Jiisan fairy tale. Their previous dog had found the old couple a treasure, but when their horrible neighbor stole their dog and the dog led him to junk, he killed the dog. In a dream, the dog then told the couple to make a mortar out of the three he was buried at, and the rice put into that mortar turned to gold. The neighbor stole the mortar, but it didn't work for him of course, so he set fire to it. The ashes of the mortar then allowed the old couple to make withered trees blossom again, which pleased the local landlord, but once again the neighbor stole the ashes. It's at this point our dog is adopted by the old couple, but only four days have passed when the old man is found murdered one early morning, lying on a small hill just outside the house. It appears multiple persons had a "grudge" with him, even if most would agree none of that should've led to murder. The only clue available appears to be the plant the old man had grabbed in his dying moments, but what does it mean? On the whole, this story is perhaps not as impressive as the first story: the clue pointing to the true murderer is a bit too obvious (and you know it's not a 'fake' clue as the story tries to ignore it for far too long) and the meaning of the dying message is a bit unfair, but once again, the manner in which Aoyagi uses the fantastical elements from the original story to create a murder situation (including clues and solution) completely unique to this world is immensely fun and it even did a good job at using the dog as the narrator!

As the title suggests, Tsuru no Toujo Gaeshi ("The Crane's Inverted Return") is an inverted mystery story. It's kinda hard to explain this one, as the whole story revolves around the reader not really understanding what's going on. On the face, this story starts out like the famous story about a crane who wants to return a favor to the man who rescued her by weaving cloths from her own feathers. In this version however, the crane's visit to the man is just moments after he has killed the village headman, who wanted to the man to return the debt of his deceased parents. And when the crane, disguised as a woman, first enters Yahee's house to weave clothing, she's told to never open the closet in the back of the room, but as time passes by and Yahee becomes lazy and dependent on selling the cloths woven by the crane, the happy world of the fairy tale seems to fall apart. I can't really tell more about this, but it's a wonderfully plotted tale that plays with the inverted style of mystery stories and it really invites you read it a second time.

Misshitsu Ryuuguujou ("The Locked Dragon Palace") is based on the tale of Urashima Tarou, a fisherman who saves a turtle and is taken to the underwater Dragon Palace of Princess Otohime in return. The few days he spends at the palace feasting however are more than a hundred years in the 'real' world, and when he returns to his home, he finds time has left him behind. This story starts in a similar manner, with Urashima Tarou being brought by the turtle to the Dragon Palace, where all the sea creatures can take on human forms. He becomes the guest of Otohime, but then a murder is committed inside one of the rooms in the palace. There's only one door to the room (the windows are covered in thick coral), and the door was, of course, locked. Humans are considered to be smarter than fish, so Urashima Tarou is asked to solve this locked room murder, which turns out to be much craftier than appears at first. For this is an excellent locked room mystery with a magical twist, set in a world where fish and other sea life can take on human forms, sing and dance and everything. The solution requires you deduce how certain fantasical capabilities of this world work, but this is clewed very capably and no reader should ever claim this is an unfair story because of its use of magic, as Aoyagi does a great job at setting the solution up. Again a very solid example of how the fairy tale framework is explored in the best possible manner to provide a good mystery story.

Personally, I didn't like the last story, Zekkai no Onigashima ("The Island of Oni in the Distant Sea") that much, even if it's not bad. The story is set on Onigashima, the island of the Oni from the Momotarou fable: some generations ago, a few ruthless Oni from this island attacked the humans across the sea for food and treasure, but the whole community of Oni on the island had to pay for their crimes: the hero Momotarou, joined by his entourage of a dog, monkey and pheasant, arrived on the island and massacred everyone here, taking back everything that had been robbed from the humans. At least, that's how the legend goes, but a small group of Oni survived, and now two generations later, thirteen Oni are still living a peaceful life on Onigashima, though quite aware of what mistakes had led to their current lifestyle and the children especially afraid that Momotarou might return to finish the job for good. And the Oni's peaceful life is indeed halted one day, when one of the Oni is brutally murdered. One after another murder follows, but what puzzles the survivors the most is that the manner in which these murders are committed seems to suggest it's not an Oni, but Momotarou and his henchmen who are killing everyone, even though there's not a single sign of any outsider having arrived on this island. The story unfolds in an And Then There Were None manner, with in the end all the Oni dead on the island, but no sign of the murderer. I kinda like the idea behind the truth of this story, but some of the story development seems far too hasty, making the events feel rather artificial. Had this been a longer story, the build-up could've been much better, though I think novella length (or just a few pages more) would've done the trick, as it's also not really an idea fit to fill a whole novel.

But even though I was less impressed with the final story, I still think Mukashi Mukashi Aru Tokoro ni, Shitai ga Arimashita is a great short story collection that truly manages to convey a sense of wonder to the reader, by transforming famous fairy tales into something that is at one hand still very recognizable, but also perfectly plotted as a mystery story. It's actually surprising how good these fairy tales lend them for mystery parodies, but I assume it's Aoyagi's writing talent that makes it seem oh-so-easy rather than actually being so simple. The concept seems simple, but Aoyagi really went all-out into working the concept out to a genuinely good mystery story collection. Obviously, the stories are more fun if you're familiar with the original fairy tales, but I didn't know Hanasaka Jiisan myself for example, and it still worked for me, so you can definitely also enjoy this book without any prior knowledge.

Original Japanese title(s): 青柳碧人『むかしむかしあるところに、死体がありました』：「一寸法師の不在証明」/「花咲か死者伝言」/「つるの倒叙がえし」/「密室竜宮城」/「絶海の鬼ヶ島」

Home Sweet Homicide

"There's no place like home."

"The Wizard of Oz"

Countries all handle the pandemic in different ways, and while Japan's state of emergency in certain prefectures did not lead to a true lockdown like seen in Italy, it's still advised to remain home as much as possible. This has also led to new creative projects that came to be due to these circumstances. As an Animal Crossing: New Horizons fan for example, I loved seeing the StayHome performance of the main theme.Earlier this week, I reviewed Mitani Kouki's little project to lift the spirits of the people in these times: I truly enjoyed how Mitani used his weekly newspaper column to revive his hit mystery series Furuhata Ninzaburou.

I mentioned in that same post that Amagi Seimaru (AKA Kibayashi Shin), the writer of the Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo ("The Young Kindaichi Case Files") series was also working on something special and the result is a very memorable one as it's a genuine #StayHome-inspired murder mystery, a story that could only have been produced because of the current situation. Story-wise though, it may not be very special. Stay Home Satsujin Jiken (The Stay Home Murder Case) starts with the police knocking at the door of the mansion of Komatsuzaki Akane, a middle-aged woman who made a fortune with her own company. The dog's been barking for days now, which alerted the neighborhood. When the patrol officer opens the door, he first notices a broken wine glass with some spilled wine on the floor, but in the next room, he finds Komatsuzaki, strangled to death. Inspector Kenmochi is put on the murder case, but he catches a nasty fever, and he is forced to self-isolate, even though he already asked Hajime and Miyuki to go to the Komatsuzaki mansion. Kenmochi hopes Hajime can solve the case for him, so Hajime has no choice but to meet with the three suspects: the housekeeper, the victim's niece and the Uper Eats delivery guy. While Komatsuzaki's housekeeper would swing by three times a week, and her sommelier niece also brought wine on the day before her death, it appears they couldn't have committed the murder as they wouldn't be able to get inside the house: while the locks of the Komatsuzaki mansion can be opened with a code number, Komatsuzaki always changed the code whenever someone had come, and the code had indeed been changed again after both of those women had left. It is therefore believed the Uber Eats delivery guy was the final person to have come to the mansion. While he's questioning the suspects however, Hajime seems to realize which of the three suspects is the murderer.

And the attentive reader will of course also have noticed the screenshots in this write-up are a bit weird. That's of course what makes Stay Home Satsujin Jiken so special: it's a live-action murder mystery drama filmed over Zoom, broadcast via Youtube. It might take a second before you really grasp what that is. Creator Amagi Seimaru employed the help of family and friends to create Stay Home Satsujin Jiken: the actors all filmed/recorded their parts in their respective homes via Zoom/other methods, thus respecting the #StayHome advice. Amagi's own older sister Kibayashi Yuuko (a manga writer herself) for example was cast in the role of the victim Komatsuzaki Akane. The individual parts were then edited together, allowing everybody to 'play together' in one scene without actually being physically together. On top of that, the actual voice actors of Hajime and Miyuki from the television series reprises their roles too. The end result is a live-action drama which of course feel very much home-made (the lagging voices!), but it's still a genuine Kindaichi Shounen mystery.

The first part was broadcast today (May 31) via Youtube, while the second half (with the solution) will follow next Saturday (July 6) as paid TwitCasting content. This obviously means this write-up isn't meant to be a full review: I have only seen the first part of this story, and I am not even sure whether I'll purchase the second half. Mystery-wise though, I think I have picked up enough clues to have an idea where this will be going, and if I'm right, the plotting is what you would expect from this series, with a lot of visual clewing. Which is therefore surprisingly well done as everyone had to to film their own parts via Zoom etc. But despite this being early, I felt I really had to write something about this production, because it's just such a unique piece of mystery fiction.

For Stay Home Satsujin Jiken does feel like a real Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo short story, and that's quite impressive given the way this thing was produced, with live-action actors filmed in sub-optimal environments, and odd talking shots of Hajime and Miyuki. If my hunch is right, Stay Home Satsujin Jiken may perhaps not be extraordinary if one looks only at its merits as a mystery story, but I think I will forever remember it as a special piece of mystery fiction, a memento of that period in 2020 when the world was different, a detective story where you absolutely need to understand the context in which this was produced. It's an immensely odd murder mystery, created in immensely odd times. And yet, it is exactly what you'd expect from this series. People will find a way to create something fun, even if they have to find new methods.

Original Japanese title(s): 『金田一少年の事件簿STAY HOME殺人事件』

Murder: A Self Portrait

"Now are there any more questions? No? Well, if you don't mind, since my column for tomorrow is put to bed, I would like to do the same thing for myself."

"Ellery Queen: The Adventure of the 12th Floor Express"

Memo to self: don't forget to watch the special Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo #StayHome Youtube live-action mystery drama filmed by the writer of the series/the original anime voice actors this and next week! Pretty nuts how they created that with Zoom and stuff and really looking forward to watching it!

While fans of series like Detective Conan and Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo are probably quite aware that these series are published in a serialized format, with individual chapters being published in weekly/biweekly magazines first before a number of them are collected in one single volume, some might be surprised to hear that the serialized format is also still used for "normal" literature. While direct-to-book is still the most prominent form of publication, there are still a number of books that have seen serialization in some form or another: whether it's a "classic" serialized form with installments being published at a steady schedule or for example short stories being published seperately in magazines at random times before they are colllected in one short story collection. With the aforementioned manga, I only buy the volumes and with books, I always buy the individual release, so I usually don't notice much of the serialization process of a certain work, though there are exceptions. I followed the serialization of Madoy Van's Gyakuten Saiban - Jikan Ryokousha no Gyakuten ("Turnabout Trial - Turnabout of the Time Traveler", 2017) for example, because when it started, I was not sure whether this Ace Attorney spin-off novel would actually receive a standalone release in the first place.

The last few weeks however, I've had a lot of fun with a very special serialized mystery short story. I've mentioned the hit mystery drama Furuhata Ninzaburou quite often here. This comedic inverted detective series about the somewhat peculiar and occassionally very petty Lieutenant Furuhata of the Tokyo police ran for three seasons and one final special season between 1994-2006 and was heavily inspired by Columbo. Like in Columbo, each episode the viewer was shown who committed the crime and how and the mystery presented to the viewer was figuring out how Furuhata was going to solve the case. The series also took inspiration from the Ellery Queen television series, as each episode, Furuhata would turn to the audience and challenge them to guess what put him on the murderer's trail in the first place or how he was going to nab them before the episode would continue into the final act. The series was a creation of playwright and film creator Mitani Kouki. He started out with writing comedic plays for the stage, but his heartwarming comedy films with ensemble casts have also been very succesful in Japan. In a way, his style works perfectly with the inverted mystery, where you follow the murderer before and after the deed: most of Mitani's movies are comedic pieces about all kinds of silly problems happening 'backstage' at for example an hotel (The Uchouten Hotel) or a live radio play performance (Radio no Jikan). He also directed two amusing Agatha Christie adaptations by the way: Murder on the Orient Express was interesting as a two-piece production and the second part was sheer genius: it told the story of Murder on the Orient Express from the point of view of the murderer(s) in a comedic tone. Kuroido Goroshi, an adaptation of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd on the other hand was truly a very accomplished adaptation of a book many deem very difficult to adapt.

Mitani has been writing the weekly column Mitani Kouki's Mundane Life for the Asahi Shimbun newspaper since 2000, but with the current pandemic going on, he decided to do something very special: bring back Furuhata Ninzaburou in a short story! The television series Furuhata Ninzaburou stopped in 2006 (there was a spin-off prequel special in 2008), so it's been about 15 years since we saw the somewhat annoying, but sharp detective, and I think nobody had even dared to dream Furuhata would ever return (especially as Furuhata's actor, Tamura Masakazu, isn't very active anymore). The story Isshun no Ayamachi ("A Moment's Mistake") started in the evening edition of the Asahi Shimbun of April 23rd 2020 and ended with the fourth installment published on May 28th. And this is a special occassion, Mitani decided to go with a very special murderer this time: himself! We follow screenplay writer Mitani Kouki as he plans to kill the actor Ooizumi Myou: a talented actor with whom Mitani has worked often. One day, Ooizumi and his family visited Mitani at his home, when Mitani had to leave suddenly. As a polite gesture, Mitani told them they could stay in the house and relax a bit, but he never thought they would actually take him up on his offer. When Mitani returned home, he found the Ooizumi family still hanging around and that they had watched Frozen on DVD. Even though he himself hadn't seen that movie yet. It was the moment he decided Ooizumi Myou must die.

Mitani plans to kill Ooizumi with a home-made pistol at an event for Ooizumi's latest film, with a reception held at a hotel. Mitani is a surprise guest so few people are aware he's in the hotel in the first place. Mitani makes his way to Ooizumi's hotel room, shoots the actor and returns to his own room, where he has also prepared an alibi in the form of a new script he was working on. It doesn't take long for the murder to be discovered, and Mitani soon finds Lieutenant Furuhata in front of his door. Furuhata instantly starts poking holes in Mitani's story, but even so, Mitani is utterly shocked when Furuhata points out the one vital mistake Mitani made during his murder which told Furuhata who the murderer was the moment he met Mitani. But what was that mistake?

Despite the limitations this story has as it's written in the limited word space of four columns, I have to say I really enjoyed this short inverted mystery. It has everything you'd want in a Furuhata Ninzaburou story, the comedic tone, Furuhata 'poking around' until he unveils his ace, the Challenge to the Reader. The fatal mistake Mitani (the murderer) made is a bit silly, but it works in the context of this specific release, as a funny side-story to entertain people during the pandemic. And don't get me wrong, this is still a decent, well-clewed mystery story and not just a purely comedic piece. I could definitely see a full episode being built upon this, though on the other hand, I think the mistake is easier to overlook in its current prose form as opposed to if this had been an actual episode broadcast on television, but it's genuinely a cleverly set-up mistake of the murderer that most readers will never think of.

By the way, people familiar with the Japanese entertainment world will probably have noticed Mitani didn't only have fun using himself as the murderer for this story. The victim Ooizumi Myou is of course a veeeeeery thinly disguised Ooizumi You, with whom Mitani has worked a lot in his films. Ooizumi plays the unnamed detective in the films based on the novel series Tantei wa Bar ni Iru and is also the voice actor of Professor Layton, but for this specific story, it's of course interesting to note that Ooizumi played the Watson-character of Dr. Shiba (Dr. Sheppard) in Mitani's adaptation of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Apparently, Ooizumi You did actually once watch Frozen at Mitani's home, though we may assume the real Mitani isn't considering killing off Ooizumi You. Probably. Furuhata Ninzaburou has a history of featuring 'real' people as murderers by the way: last year, I reviewed the special where Furuhata had to take on the Major League baseball player Ichiro (played of course by Ichiro himself) and Furuhata has also crossed paths with the boy band SMAP in the past (also played by the members of SMAP themselves).

Anyway, it was very fun to have these serialized installments of a mystery story to look forward to these last few weeks, and Isshun no Ayamachi didn't disappoint a bit. While it may have been lean because it was written as part of a newspaper column, it feels 100% like a genuine Furuhata Ninzaburou story and I also found the story entertaining as an inverted detective tale with a nice twist. While the series is formally ended, it's nice to see the creators willing to do something special in these times. And who knows, perhaps it's the first step towards getting one new, final production with Furuhata....

Original Japanese title(s): 三谷幸喜　『古畑任三郎　一瞬の過ち』