番外編：Death Within The Evil Eye

I'd better say this right away: don't expect another announcement next Friday. This post following my recent announcement of the upcoming release of The Mill House Murders is more-or-less just a coincidence... Let's not make this a habit!

2021 was a weird year, as two mystery novels I translated were published, but not only that, on the surface, they had rather similar, but unique themes. Publisher Ammo's YAMAGUCHI Masaya's Death of the Living Dead was about well, the living dead. The lengthy tale follows Francis "Grin" Barleycorn who has returned to the family home, the famous Smile Cemetery in New England, as his grandfather Smiley Barleycorn is terminally ill. Meanwhile, a strange phenomenom has been plaguing the world: the dead have started to rise. The scientists haven't figure out why yet, there have been several cases across the world where people simply "wake up" from their death and are still able to think, speak and act basically as if they were alive. It's amidst these circumstances that mysterious deaths occur at the Smile Cemetery, and it's up to young Grin to solve these deaths, which is easier said than done when the dead don't stay dead. The book was originally released in 1989 and is one of earliest and definitely one of the best Japanese mystery stories that utilized a supernatural setting to present a fair play puzzle plot detective. The other book I translated last year was also about mixing the supernatural with the classic puzzle plot mystery: Locked Room International published IMAMURA Masahiro's Death Among the Undead, an absolute hit 2017 mystery novel in its home country. It told the story of Akechi and Hamura, two students who make up the Mystery Society. The two of them are invited by Hiruko, a fellow student and accomplished amateur detective, to join a short trip organized by the Film Club of the university. Staying at a mountain-side pension overlooking Lake Sabea, the idea is that the members will film a short film as a club project. But on the first evening, the students are suddenly attacked by a mob of something very unlikely and very unnatural. They barricade themselves inside the pension with no hope of escape from this closed circle situation as the beings try to get inside, but then one of the students is killed inside his locked room during the night: at first they suspect one of the beings killed the poor man, but they soon realize that isn't possible and that a human, ergo, one of them must've done it. But how did the murderer manage to get in and out the locked room of the victm, and more importantly, why now, while they're being attacked by those things and don't even know whether they'll survive this? The book is an excellent example of how a mystery story can still utilize very irrational and supernatural elements, and yet be a completely fair, puzzle plot tale.

And for those who enjoyed Death Among the Undead, I have good news, for Locked Room International will be releasing its sequel too! Death Within the Evil Eye was originally released in Japan in 2019 as Magan no Hako no Satsujin and is the direct sequel to Death Among the Undead. Once again, I was fortunate enough to be able to work on this translation: I originally read the Japanese version of Death Among the Undead late 2018, so I was thrilled when I learned the sequel would be published just a few months later, and I loved the book, just like the first novel. While the book is a direct sequel, it does not directly spoil any big details of the plot of Death Among the Undead, so you could start with this book if you want to, though obviously, it is much more rewarding if you do read these two books in order. Death Within the Evil Eye brings the members of the Mystery Society to a remote community deep in the mountains as they trace a lead connected to the events of the first book. Some other people happen to arrive at that place too, and the party eventually arrives at a curious, block-like building where an old woman lives who is said to have powers of clairvoyance, capable of telling the future. But the bridge collapses, trapping everybody in the building, and it's then they learn that knowing the future is certainly not always a good thing, as what if it is foretold you will die?

Readers might be surprised on one hand to see how different the theme is this time compared to Death Among the Undead, on the other hand, Imamura does here what he did so well in the first book too: Death Within the Evil Eye uses a supernatural premise, in this case prophecies, to bring an incredibly original mystery novel. I'll be lazy today and simply quote myself from my review of the Japanese version: "In a way, the concept behind the prophecies isn't very different from what was done in the first novel: Imamura locks his whole cast up in a closed circle situation, and then has a supernatural/unnatural phenomenon threaten our cast. What makes his novels different from most other closed circle mysteries is that the threat isn't simply a force of nature, like a snow storm or the raging sea or something like that, but something out of the ordinary. What's more, Imamura is sure to make use of these unique special circumstances to come up with situations that can only exist because he's utilizing these unique ideas, resulting in mystery stories that are in the core recognizable, but also like something you have never seen before." For those who are curious now, my review of the Japanese version is here, but you could also wait until you've read the book yourself and compare notes later.

Oh, and what prompted me to write this post in the first place: Publishers Weekly has their early review up already, and they seem quite enthusiastic too with a starred review! 

And the big question is of course, when is the book out? ... I don't know exactly myself actually! At least, I can't give you an exact date, though I believe we'll still have wait a few weeks at the least as there are still some i's that need dotting in regards to the final release. So consider this just an advance announcement, and I'll be sure to make another announcement once you can actually purchase the book.

In the meantime, you could always read Death Among the Undead if you hadn't already!

Footnote to Murder

For want of a nail the shoe was lost. 

For want of a shoe the horse was lost.

Sometimes, people ask in the comments how I find/choose the books I read, and the answer is: I don't really know. I have a tendency to read novelists I already know, and stick with series I know/enjoy, but even then, the question remains how I first got started on them of course. Another matter that often pops up in the comments are people asking me to make lists, as they like to have some kind of guide to find books worthwhile to read, but I have to say, I don't look into lists myself too often, which might also be a reason why I am always very reluctant to make any lists. I think that when it comes to mystery fiction, the fact I like puzzle plot mysteries (i.e. the puzzle element), and not for example "locked room murders/impossible crimes" specifically, is related to my reluctance. People like to make lists of "best locked rooms" and analyze the trickery there, but it's for example harder to really analyze a good whodunnit puzzle plot in the same manner, and there's just so many ways in which a puzzle plot mystery can be pulled off, even outside familiar tropes like impossible crimes/closed circles/etc., so I myself seldom rely on such lists to find whatever to read, and it also doesn't really motivate myself to work on such a list. So how do I find the titles I want to read? Basically, very randomly. Sometimes it's just a title that's mentioned in a review of a book I liked, the other time it's part of a series I already know/writer I already know and the summary sounds interesting, sometimes it's just the title that convinces me to read the summary, other times it's for example through a link to a game or movie I like... I just find titles everywhere and see if they sound interesting.

Disclosure: I translated Shimada's 1985 short story The Running Dead.  

Shimada Souji's Kisou, Ten wo Ugokasu ("A Fantastic Thought Can Move The Heavens", 1989) is a title I had seen mentioned a lot basically everywhere. Sometimes people point at it as one of their favorites from Shimada, it ranked in at a very respectable 51st place in the 2103 edition of the Tozai Mystery Best 100 and it has a neat title. The book features Inspector Yoshiki Takeshi and this was actually the reason why I actually first started reading the Yoshiki novels back in 2020: Kisou, Ten wo Ugokasu wasn't available as an e-book yet (still isn't at time of writing), but they had released the first three books in the series already, so while I actually wanted to read Kisou, Ten wo Ugokasu, I started with the first three novels. Mind you, I didn't really know what the book was about, just that people often seemed to mention it, and as I am familiar with Shimada's work, I figured it'd be worth taking a look at it. The book isn't only published in 1989, but also set in 1989, when consumption tax (VAT) was introduced. Shop owners knew their customer weren't going to like having to pay consuption tax, but nobody could've guessed it would lead to murder! An extremely short, elderly homeless man wanders around the streets of Asakusa and buys a bag of snacks, but doesn't pay the consumption tax. He quickly makes off, but is chased by the proprietress of the shop who yells at the man to pay the tax. But when she finally catches up to him, the man stabs the woman, and she dies on the spot. Plenty of people are witness to this murder, and the man is quickly arrested, but the man doesn't say anything to the police. Of course, with all those witnesses around, and testimonies of people who had seen the old homeless man wandering around Asakusa for about a year, just playing the harmonica to entertain people, make it an open-and-shut case: there's probably something with the man's mind, and he lashed out over the consumption tax. But when Inspector Yoshiki has a look at the man, he can't shake the feeling the man isn't quite what he seems to be. It takes some time for Yoshiki to discover the man's name, but when he learns that the man had been in prison for thirty years for a murder and only recently released, he can't believe the man would just commit another murder so easily, knowing how harsh life in prison is. Yoshiki also stumbles upon a few short fantasy stories the man wrote while in prison, about white giants lifting trains up, and about a clown in a train in Hokkaido who shoots himself in the head in the toilet of a running train, but when the conductor closes the door, but a few seconds later re-opens the door, they find the clown's body disappeared. Yoshiki then learns that the events in these stories actually happened about forty years ago in Hokkaido and he suspects that somewhere in the past, somewhere in these stories lies the reason why this old man killed the shop proprietress.

The Yoshiki series started out as a way for Shimada to combine the puzzle plot mysteries he liked, with the so-called "travel mystery", a subgenre usually associated with writers like Uchida Yasuo. The travel mystery is, obviously, often about travelling, especially by train and has a distinct touristic angle, with the mystery set in popular tourist destinations/regions often outside the capital Tokyo. Travel mysteries are generally seen as a rather "light " sub-genre within the broader mystery genre. Kisou, Ten wo Ugokasu still has elements of the travel mystery, with a story about a disappearing clown body on a running train in 1950s Hokkaido, but overall, Kisou, Ten wo Ugokasu can be best described as an attempt to fuse the puzzle plot mystery (with travel mystery elements) with the social school of mystery fiction as championed by Matsumoto Seichou, with its emphasis on commentary on social problems. I say attempt on purpose, because I have to say I thought the narrative feels a bit disjointed, with neither side feeling fully realized, and with little synergy between both sides. 

The investigation Yoshiki launches into the homeless man's history is the vehicle for the social commentary in this novel. As Yoshiki digs into the man's past, he learns the man has been the victim of great injustice done to him, not only by individuals, but also by the whole system of law and order of Japan itself. A whole lifetime of suffering was forced upon the man at various moments of his life, often without great fault of his own, but simply because people in positions of power at various levels of the Japanese society decided to screw him over.  Yoshiki is apparently completely oblivious to a lot of Japanese history, even "recent" periods like during military rule and the immediate post-war period, which may be Shimada's way for Yoshiki to act as a reader proxy, but this part of the story is obliviously not directly "mystery-plot" related, it just paints the background of why the old man ultimately did what he did. The title A Fantastic Thought Can Move The Heavens in that sense means that certain unforeseen or out-of-the-blue events can ultimately lead to big changes anywhere, and in this novel, the homeless man is shown to have been the plaything of a lot of social injustice which, in a chain reaction, brought him to his final destination. 

When Yoshiki asks his superior for more time to investigate the homeless man's past, he is asked whether he thinks it'll lead to a different murderer. And Yoshiki is of course aware that nothing will change whether he learns more about the man or not. The man was witnessed by countless of people on the streets as he stabbed the woman. So the mystery of the novel lies not here, but in the why, and most of that is found within the old fantasy-esque stories the old man wrote while he was in prison earlier. Several of his stories are set in the 1950s, in Hokkaido and involve trains, and Yoshiki learns that there was indeed some funny business going on on a Hokkaido train at that time, involving not only the body of a clown who committed suicide in a toilet of a running train and disappeared when the conductor closed the doors for a few seconds and opened it again, but there was apparently another disappearing body on the train, of someone who had been overrun by the train earlier that night and that same train eventually had a big crash and people never found out how that train derailed in the first place. Yoshiki is convinced the old man was involved with those mysterious events 40 years ago and that's the reason why he wrote stories about them and is determined to solve these fantastical crimes. And... I think the reader will be able to solve a lot of them too, because most of the events are rather easy to see through. I think what I think is a shame is that most of the mysteries in this novel feel very discrete, like seperate events A, B and C, and each individual event hsa a rather obvious solution to it. Often mystery writers combine "simpler tricks" together to make events look more mysterious, but in the case of Kisou, Ten wo Ugokasu, I don't think there was really an attempt to do this. The fact all these events occured after another feels a bit forced (not coincidence per se, but still artificial) and the motivation for the culprit to do all of this seems rather farfetched, but ignoring that, the seperate mysteries just feel like seperate, simple mysteries, and it's quite easy to guess how the clown disappeared, to guess where the other body went to, to guess how the train derailed. The fantasy stories by the old man present these events as alluring mysteries, but the moment they are examined by Yoshiki as actual events, they become rather predictable surprisingly fast. Had these events been more intertwined, I think these mysteries could have been more impressive at a technical level, but now they just felt like a string of easy to solve problems.

But like I said earlier, I have a feeling that the more fantasical crimes in the past don't really work well together with the more realistic, socially conscious tone of the narrative revolving around the homeless man's past. Kisou, Ten wo Ugokasu feels like a combination of a lot of ideas and concepts that can work perfectly in mystery fiction, but I don't feel like they work really well in this particular novel. Neither side benefits really from the other side of the spectrum, it's not like the fantastical crimes feel "extra" fantastical, nor the realism "even more realistic" by juxtapositioning the two, it just feels like there were two books here that were crushed together. Personally, I think the tone of the series as seen in earlier Yoshiki novels could easily have worked for books that focused on either side, but this particular book just feels a bit disjointed. So nope, this is not my favorite Shimada novel, nor my favorite entry in the Yoshiki series. People seem in general to be fairly positive about, so your mileage may very well vary.

Original Japanese title(s): 島田荘司『奇想、手を動かす』

番外編：The Mill House Murders

Better make an announcement in advance, before I am too late...

Two years ago, Pushkin Press re-released The Decagon House Murders, a slightly brushed-up version of the translation I originally made for Locked Room International in 2015. 1987's The Decagon House Murders is of course historically an important work, as it was Yukito AYATSUJI's debut novel was also the first novel in the so-called shin honkaku (new orthodox) movement in Japan, which was a call for authors and reader to return to intelligent puzzle plot mysteries. Readers of the blog are very likely to be interested in shin honkaku fiction and hopefully, they have read some of the other shin honkaku novels I have translated like Death of the Living Dead, Death Among the Undead and The Moai Island Puzzle. But I think most people can also understand me when I say I consider The Decagon House Murders also a work important to me personally: it was the full first full novel I translated and it was the positive reception that has since allowed me to translate more Japanese mystery novels. The Dirda piece in the Washington Post back in 2015 must have been one of the first mainstream publications to use the word honkaku and it's been very interesting to see that word develop since in the English-language word. The more recent release by Pushkin Press of The Decagon House Murders gave the book renewed attention worldwide too, so it was great to see the book mentioned and referenced more and more as time passed by.

I believe this has been officially announced by Pushkin Press already, or at least, you can already find entries for the book and pre-order it at all the big bookstores, so some might be aware already, but Pushkin Press will be releasing the sequel to The Decagon House Murders next year. The Mill House Murders was originally published in Japan as Suishakan no Satsujin in 1988, and once again features a classically-styled tale of murder and mystery. The English translation is scheduled for a February 23rd, 2023 release and I am happy to say that author Ayatsuji and Pushkin Press wanted me on this project again, so yes I reprising my role as the translator for this second novel featuring an architectural creation by the architect Seiji Nakamura, and of course something bad is going to happen in the titular house. The Mill House is a castle-like structure with three gigantic water wheels that power the building. It is the home of a recluse and his beautiful young wife. One year before the present, a horrible murder case happened here while a small party of guests visited the house to view an exclusive, prviate collection of paintings on display here. Exactly one year later, most of the same people have once again gathered at the Mill House, but perhaps they should have known that would be tempting fate, and indeed, new deaths occur at this creepy house...

I know a lot of readers were curious to the further adventures revolving around the buildings created by Nakamura after reading The Decagon House Murders, either back in 2015 or more recently with the Pushkin Press release, so it's great to be able to say their wishes will come true soon. People who liked the first book will find a lot to love here, as we once again explore an unsettling, closed-off location where curious, bloody murders occur and where a surprising solution awaits at the end. At the same time, I'd say this is also a transitional book: The Decagon House Murders was of course written as a standalone book, inspired by Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, but this book does feel like it opens up a bit, marking the transition to a series and upon hindsight, it's an interesting book to look at as a "link" between The Decagon House Murders and the books that would follow later. I read the book back in 2012, and if you're curious to my thoughts, you can find them here, or you could just wait and read the book first in a few months and then come back to check. By the way, Ayatsuji has recently announced he's finally getting started on the tenth novel in the series, and he announced the title last week...

Anyway, I could probably write more about this book, but I better save that for when we're closer to the actual release of the book in a few months! If you haven't read The Decagon House Murders yet, you still have plenty of time to read that one and be ready for the sequel, and otherwise, there might be some other translated honkaku novels out there to read while we wait for The Mill House Murders to arrive in stores, right?

The Night of the Tiger

"Wax on, wax off"

"The Karate Kid"

People who read this blog will probably know that I am of the opinion mystery fiction doesn't need to be realistic to be great. In fact, many of the best mystery novels I have read the last few years utilize distinctly unrealistic elements, from time travel to spirits, alchemy, magic and parallel worlds. That doesn't mean they are not well-written and planned, fair play mysteries though. The books with supernatural elements I have read in fact are often pour much more effort than stories with "normal" settings to ensure they are providing a fair play puzzle plot and therefore usually feel more well-planned too. Many people seem to think that "realistic" is a prerequisite for a mystery story to be fair, logical consistent or even satisfying, but that's of course a very limited view on what mystery fiction is and can do.

Momono Zappa's Rouko Zanmu ("Dreams Are All That Remain To The Tiger Who Has Grown Old", 2021) features a theme I hadn't seen used in a mystery story before: wuxia fiction. People in the West probably best know the fantasy martial arts genre through films like Chrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and... I guess Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings, but it's probably not a genre you'd immediately associate with mystery fiction, and I definitely think it earns bonus points for the original idea alone. Set in medieval China, Rouko Zanmu introduces us to 23-year old Shion, a young woman who has been trained in martial arts by her elderly master Ryou Tairyuu, an accomplished martial artist who is especially well-versed in the arts of internal qi, allowing him feats like walking across water for extended distances. Shion is Tairyuu's only disciple and has been trained by him since her teenage years, so she is quite shocked when her master tells her that he has invited three martial artists and that he'll convey his ultimate art to one of them. Shion doesn't quite understand why she isn't the one to inherit the art, though deep within her she fears that Tairyuu knows Shion and Tairyuu's adopted daughter Renka are lovers and that that's the reason why she will not be conveyed the ultimate art. On the designated day, the three guests arrive at their home: Gaku Shouten is a childhood friend of Tairyuu and they trained under the same master, making them "siblings", Sai Bunwa is a fellow disciple of the same martial arts school, and Imon is a warrior-monk whom Tairyuu became acquainted with many years ago. On the first night, the three martial artists are treated to a feast, after which Tairyuu retreats to his special dojo: the octagon building stands on a small island in a large lake, and the only way to reach the island is either with the one single boat, or by walking across water, but the distance to the island demands so much mastery of internal qi that only Tairyuu and his disciple Shion can manage this feat. The following morning however, Shion finds her master's dead body in the dojo, and due to the snow around the lake, she quickly deduces that the murderer must be someone on the premise. She brings the three martial artists to the island, and declares she will find out who the murderer of Tairyuu is and avenge her master. Which is easier said than done perhaps, because Shion's been under the weather since the morning, and has not been able to harness her qi in any way, making it impossible for her to fight back against any of the three skilled martial artists who can easily walk across walls, throw qi-guided projectiles or enhance their bodily strength. But with her master dead, Shion has no choice but to avenge her master despite her current state,  but which of these three could have made their way on and off the island and murder her master?

Rouko Zanmu is the 2021 debut novel of Momono Zappa (yes, he's a fan of Frank Zappa) and the winner of the 67th Edogawa Rampo Prize, and I have to say, this is a very unique book. It is less a mystery novel with wuxia elements, but really a fusion between the mystery and wuxia genre, with equal importance. So some parts of the story feel a bit "off" when looking at them from a "mystery point of view", but I am familiar enough with the wuxia genre to know those elements are pretty normal for a wuxia story, so I think that people who mainly read wuxia fiction, with no particular interest in mystery fiction, can also enjoy this novel and see it as a fair fusion between the two. There's plenty of talk about martial arts, about schools, and bigger themes like honor, fighting for the country, internal politics and Chinese history, and of course extensive parts that detail fights using fantastical martial arts where qi is used in various forms, but it's definitely the core mystery of Tairyuu's death that drives all of this.

And as an impossible crime, Rouko Zanmu definitely has its unique features. The impossible death of Tairyuu essentially revolves around two problems. One is access to the murder location: the only boat on the lake was found moored at the island on the morning, meaning the boat was not used by the murder to return to the lakeside house after killing Tairyuu. But how did the murderer make it across the lake? Interestingly, the story shows that theoretically, anyone could "walk over the lake" because mastery over one's internal qi allows a person to walk across water for extended periods. But the story is clear by stating that both Tairyuu and Shion are prodigies in that regard and that only they can walk that long a distance across water, and futhermore, Shion's been feeling sick all this time and is unable to harness her internal qi herself. The other three martial artists on the other could not possibly have walked that distance across water as they are not that talented when it comes to using internal qi. The second problem regarding Tairyuu's death is the fact he was poisoned to death... which again is basically impossible: a master of internal qi can theoretically not be poisoned, as their body will automatically work to counter-act the poison and at the very least, ensure consumption will not be fatal either by physically countering the poison's effects on the body, or automatically make them throw up. The fact Tairyuu is dead, and the boat is found near the island, indicates a person with intricate knowledge of internal qi is involved with this, but between Shion, Renka and the three martial artists, only Shion herself would come remotely close to that profile. And she's quite sure she didn't kill her master. Another mystery is the motive behind Tairyuu's death, as he was about to convey his ultimate art to one of the martial artists, so why would he be killed before such a thing happened?

It's in fact the motive which becomes a central focus of the investigation, which by the way feels pretty tense as everyone is locked up with each other in the dojo with Tairyuu's body, and Shion is willing to give her own life if necessary to kill the murderer. It's this focus on the motive where you can feel the wuxia elements strongest, as we dive deeper in the backgrounds of all the characters and here's where all the wuxia tropes come alive the most, with backstories that are intertwined with actual Chinese history (Southern Song dynasty), with character histories that revolve around mentor-disciple interactions, their reasons for being martial artists and much more. It's here where the story becomes something much "bigger" than the isolated dojo setting and where the mystery side of the story feels a bit sidelined, though much of what is mentioned here is actually intricately involved with the true motive behind Tairyuu's death. The impossible crime element on the other hand feels a bit... I wouldn't say underdeveloped, but it was handled rather more swiftly than I had expected and it did take a long time for the story to focus on that part of the mystery for a longer time/more intently. The solution is, as you may expected, unique to this novel, as it does only work in a wuxia world where people can control their qi and can walk across water and do other feats like that, but the solution, while a bit simpler than I had expected, is clewed and signalled fairly, and works perfectly within the unique context of this book, so it is quite satisfying as a proper wuxia impossible crime. Again, I think that had this been a book that was more obviously "mainly a mystery novel, with wuxia elements" I would have wanted to see like "one extra step" to really make it impressive, but as I feel this book really tries to strike an even balance between the two, I think Rouko Zanmu works perfectly fine and provides an entertaining read that focuses equally on mystery and wuxia.

Rouko Zanmu is definitely not the kind of mystery story you're likely to come across often, and for some, the wuxia elements might even feel too alienating, but I think it's definitely worth a read, especially if you're like me and the moment you heard it was combining these elements you started to get excited, imagining all the possibilities. On a very personal level, I think I would have preferred if this novel was balanced more in the favor of the mystery side, but that's not really a complaint about this book: it strikes a surprisingly fair balance between the mystery and the wuxia elements, and whatever you're looking for in this book, it's likely you'll walk away a satisfied reader.

Original Japanese title(s): 桃野雑派『老虎残夢』

A Murder of Crows

"People once believed that when someone dies, a crow carries their soul to the land of the dead."

"The Crow"

Another mystery manga post in the same week!?

Thirty years ago, in 1992, comic readers were first introduced to 17-year old Kindaichi Hajime, a seemingly not-so-bright high school student who'd rather sleep than study, and his childhood friend Miyuki. However, we soon learned there is more than meets the eye. For Hajime was in fact the grandson of Kindachi Kousuke, the famous detective created by Yokomizo Seishi, and while not apparent as first, the moment Hajime found himself trapped on an island with a mysterious murder who could commit crimes under impossible circumstances, we saw how he definitely inherited his grandfather's mind for tackling mysteries. Ever 1992, Hajime, Miyuki and detective Kenmochi have been part of Japanese popular culture, with many adaptations based on the manga ranging from live-action and animation on both the small and silver screen, video games, audio dramas, net dramas and more. Unlike Detective Conan however, the manga series has not been running (more or less) consecutively or at a regular schedule. After two initial series, there was a hiatus between 2000 and 2004, after which the Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo franchise has continued in the form of several irregular short series, sometimes only running for three months a year, sometimes in a regular weekly schedule and sometimes in a monthly. In 2018, a new series started titled Kindaichi 37-sai no Jikenbo ("The Case Files of Kindaichi, Age 37"), set twenty years in the future and focusing on a 37-year old Hajime, who has grown very tired of solving mysteries, but who finds himself tackling more mysterious murders again. However, fans of the series of course that sooner or later, we would see the familiar 17-year old Hajime again, and what better occassion than the 30th anniversary of the series?

Earlier this year, the first volume of the new anniversary series titled Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo 30th, or The Case File of Kindaichi 30th was released, which seems to be replacing Kindaichi 37-sai no Jikenbo for the moment.The second volume followed in October, and the two volumes together contain all the chapters to the story The Yatagarasu Vllage Murder Case, which is clearly intended to be a "classic" Kindaichi Shounen story, with Hajime, Miyuki and Kenmochi as the main characters, a story about a series of murders in an isolated setting that involves a creepy local legend and of course impossible crimes and locked room murders. Kindaichi 37-sai no Jikenbo occasionally had stories with a more urban setting, which you don't see as often in the older series, but having this new series start with a story set in a creepy old village in a place that is about to be disappear off the charts feels kinda like returning home. Due to a nearby dam project finally finishing, the tiny village of Yatagarasu will be erased from the maps next week. Almost all villagers have moved out to their new homes already, and the few remaining villagers are those who help coordinate the final days of the old village, like the proprieter of the last inn, the shrine maiden of Yatagarasu Shrine and some former council members. Inspector Kenmochi has brought Hajime and Miyuki along to this village as a favor for a recently deceased friend: even on his dying bed, this fellow police inspector regretted he never managed to solve a strange disappearance case in Yatagarasu Village six years ago, where the man had been threatened and given police protection, and yet the man disappeared from his inn. Arriving at the same inn, which had been actually been quite busy with tourists wanting to have one look at the village before it would disappear. 

Kenmochi, Hajime and Miyuki are also invited to attend the last ritual visit to Yatagarasu Shrine. The Yatagarasu, the mythological three-legged crow, is worshipped in this village, and for centuries, there's been a monthly ceremony at night, which involves a visit to the deepest quarters of the shrine. The participants all have to walk in procession as they go deeper and deeper in the shrine, which consists of five chambers. The doors to the first four chambers are locked by two different keys, carried by two different important figures of the village, while the last door is sealed with special ceremonial paper by the shrine maiden. But when they arrive in the inner chamber after unlocking the previous five doors, they find a decapitated head on the altar for the Yatagarasu. The victim is the secretary of a former village council member, but how could the killer have placed this head here despite the five locked doors? Kenmochi calls for police reinforcements, but the road is blocked. During this wait, Hajime and Miyuki decide to help the villagers clean the village before it'll be flooded, collecting everything in garbage bags,but then another decapitated head is discovered, despite everyone in the closed-off village having an alibi. It is then they realize that according to legend, the Yatagarasu eats humans, but always leaves the head...

A rather busy story, like we are used to from old Kindaichi Shounen stories: there's a disappearance in the past, and as things develop in the present, we are presented to three different locked room or impossible crimes: the decapitated head in the inner chamber of the shrine, another decapitated head inside a room (with paper doors!) of the inn and a decapitated head found in a place despite everyone having an alibi for the period the head was placed at that location. The latter is of course also a staple of the series: the "impossible crime" due to every suspect having an iron-clad alibi for the period the crime must have occured. In form, The Yatagarsu Village Murder Case is everything you would expect of a classic Kindaichi Shounen story and vibe-wise, it's a welcome return to these kinds of stories, as you simply didn't get them as often in the series with the older Hajime. While you don't get to see too much of the village itself, the idea of the whole village (and all the evidence!) disappearing in just a week is pretty depressing, and seeing the remaining villagers doing mundane things like gathering all the remaining garbage to ensure the village is "clean" when the time comes and to leave a good "imprint" on nature is touching.

But I have to admit, overall I was a bit disappointed with the story, though perhaps this story was just a bit unlucky in that regard. The first murder, where the decapitated head is found behind five different doors inside a long shrine, four of them locked with two different keys, and the final door sealed with ceremonial paper used signed by the shrine maiden. I like the idea behind the trick... but I already know the same trick from a different mystery manga, and it even uses a very, very similar setting (temple/shrine), so it came to me rather quickly. I have read that one, well, not "recently" as in these last two years, but still recent enough to recognize it almost immediately, and that did disappoint me, as both the idea and execution here are very close to the first instance I read of the same trick. The two other impossibilities in this story in comparison are far simpler, and obviously just there as "side-dishes" to the main that should have been the shrine mystery.  They are not really memorable on their own, and especially the last one is hint-wise quite disappointing, as a lot of the physical clues Hajime points to at the end aren't visible on the pages despite him saying so. Yes, it would have given the trick away too easily perhaps, but now I feel like this story is cheating a bit, something this series doesn't really do often. The second impossible crime, where everybody has an alibi for the time the decapitated head was placed at where it was found, is good in concept and execution: I just really don't like the clewing applied here. It reminds of a similar instance of bad clewing in one story in Kindaichi 37-sai no Jikenbo, where "an important hint" is introduced very late by having someone mention something out of the blue about a topic completely irrelvant to the rest of the story, but that somehow applies to crime. Of course, an "unrelated remark" functioning as a clue for the detective is very normal in mystery fiction, so it's not the action that bothers me, it's just how awful this "unrelated remark" is introduced in the story. Like, if the "unrelated remark" is about the stars or something like that, have a character be interested in stars from the start and mention things like that throughout the story. Here it just feels like Amagi couldn't think of any way to "naturally" introduce a clue, so the whole section feels very artificial.

So I wasn't too big of a fan of the first two volumes of Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo 30th, or The Case File of Kindaichi 30th  that tell The Yatagarasu Village Murder Case: I think that in terms of dynamics and atmosphere, it's a fine return to the old, classic set-up of Hajime, Miyuki and Kenmochi tackling the type of cases we have learned to expect from this series, and in terms of scale/length, it's also the type of story we haven't really seen for some years now. But the main mystery of this story is just too similar to a different mystery manga I read relatively recently, so despite the cool setting, it just felt a bit disappointing, especially as the other murders in this story just feel like "extras" to what should have been an impressive main act. Nonetheless, it's not a bad story, and I for one am glad to see 17-year old Hajime again. The next volume is scheduled for next year, though I assume it will only have part of the next story, so it's very likely my next review of this series will only be once the fourth, or perhaps even fifth volume is released.

Original Japanese title(s): 天樹征丸（原）、さとうふみや（画）『金田一少年の事件簿30th』第1, 2巻

Murder, She Spoke

"Follow me to a place where incredible feats are routine every hour or so"

"Arabian Nights" (Return of Jafar ver.)

Before the television, and before comic books were widely available, one of the major sources of entertainment for children in Japan was kamishibai, or "paper theatre". As the name implies, kamishibai artists were storytellers, who used big illustration boards to accompany the tales of adventure and mystery to told to children on the street. Often, these storytellers would sell candy to these children to make a living, and their stories were often basically serialized stories with many chapters. By ending each session with a cliffhanger, they could entice the children to come back the next time to listen to the continuation of the story. Kamishibai is an important, and direct predecessor of manga and anime, as you basically had these storytellers "live-dubbing" scenes of a story using those big illustration boards. Many of the manga artists post World War II also had a history as a kamishibai illustrator, with manga legend Mizuki Shigeru being one of the best known nowadays. Kamishibai were still around after World War II during the time the allied powers occupied the country, but with the rise of the comic industry, and later televisions (and anime), kamishibai eventually became a just interesting oddity of the past you might come across somewhere by chance now.

In 1947, Japan is of course still under the control of the allied powers, commonly referred to in Japan as GHQ (General Headquarters). Date Hoshirou is a kamishibai storyteller who is always welcomed by his young audience, who have given him the nickname Powarou (which incidentally sounds almost like "Poirot"). The children are always waiting to hear what happens next to Sherlock Holmes and the other detectives he tells about, but quite often, Date ends up being picked up by the Military Police. Not because performing on the street is illegal though: Date taught Colonel Wayne of the GHQ the Japanese language, and he also happens to be a former Pinkerton detective. Colonel Wayne often hires Date as a private detective when the military police get involved with mysterious cases that require specifically a Japanese person, for example when the case involves local beliefs or legends. To people who meet him for the first time, Date might not look particularly smart, but more often than not, he manages to solve the cases no other person can in the manga Powarou - Yakeato Tanteichou ("Powarou - Tales of Detection In the Ashes of War").

Powarou - Yakeato Tanteichou was a short-lived mystery manga by artist Endou Taiga and writer Kaneda Shoutarou, originally serialized in Big Comic Spirits between 1996 and 1997. There are only two volumes collecting the individual chapters, but the second volume ends with an announcement of the release window of the third volume, which was never actually released. Considering this third volume was properly announced, I suspect there are a few chapters of this series that were serialized in the magazine already, but never collected. Anyway. I first heard about.... no, the only place I ever heard about this series was in 2018's Honkaku Mystery Comics Seminar, the fantastic resource on the history of puzzle plot manga. The reason it attracted my attention was the mention this manga featured a Challenge to the Reader: each tale would end with a Challenge to the Reader in the penultimate chapter, daring the reader to figure out whodunnit. While I was very interested in this series right from the start, the manga had been out of print for decades and the series itself is not available as an e-book unlike The Case Notes of Father Sakura for example (also a manga I found via Honkaku Mystery Comics Seminar with a Challenge to the Reader), so for some years, the title had been in my "Oh, one day, I'll try to locate the books... Oops I forgot about it for some months. Again." mental shelf. But I finally got around to obtaining the two volumes, and I have to say, it might not be actual gold, but it was a fun series that really could, and I truly feel should have grown into a longer series because the potential was there.

Being set immediately after World War II and featuring cases that often involve local beliefs and legends, the series is definitely going to appeal to people who like the adventures of Kindaichi Kousuke, and if there's one thing to praise Powarou - Yakeato Tanteichou about, it's definitely the atmosphere. The opening story for example has a man killed in a storehouse which was locked from the inside, and the man is found with the decapitated head of a statue of Shuuten Douji on his stomach, a mythical demon who was defeated by Minamoto Raikou and his retainers, the statue being in the possession of one of the descendents of those retainers. The visual of a man lying beneath the head of Shuuten Douji is pretty gruesome, and considering the relative short length of these stories (two or three chapters), most of them do a fairly good job at fleshing out the local legends, ghost stories and beliefs that often play in the background of these stories. One of the better stories is collected in the second volume, and involves a series of deaths that follow the lyrics of centuries old song, which definitely invokes a Kindaichi Kousuke vibe, right?  Most of the stories also make use of the historical setting, with some focusing on Americans living in Japan or with motives being based on notions/habits/mores of those times. 

After reading the first volume, you'll be tempted to assume this is a series focusing on impossible crimes, as the first story is about the aforementioned man lying beneath the head of a decapitated statue in a storehouse locked from the inside, the second about a girl student whose throat has been sliced open while she was alone in a car of a ropeway and the final one not exactly "impossible", but if the obvious suspect isn't the killer, the other suspects all have an iron-clad alibi for the murder of a priest in a temple far away from the location the others were. The second volume however has three more stories that aren't as focused on any impossibilities, though the murder of a noh-actor in his room stabbed by the horns of a hannya-mask and a blood trail leading to a painting of a hannya-mask comes close. As mentioned, one important characteristic of this series that each story features a genuine Challenge to the Reader by Date. And I have to say, these stories are quite fair, perhaps to a fault. While sometimes aspects like motive aren't properly hinted at, it's usually more than possible for the attentive reader to solve whodunnit and how, as most of the time, the stories are very fairly-clewed. To a fault, I said, as most of the stories are also pretty easy to solve too: often the mystery plots are just variations of familiar tropes and other 'twists' in mystery fiction, and while I do have to say the execution is always more than passable, they do sometimes lack a real surprise factor. Though I guess that is because these stories were written with those Challenge to the Readers in mind, and in that regard, it is fair to say those Challenges are done really well: most of the stories are properly clewed, some through clever visual clues, others with simply well mystery writing and you never feel cheated. If you'd compare to the earliest Detective Conan stories for example, I'd say that quality-wise, Powarou - Yakeato Tanteichou is never worse, and often better than those stories, so it's a shame the series stopped after two volumes already. The two or three chapter structure of the stories are also a shame, as some of the stories feel like they could've been worked out into much bigger and deeper, as the base idea and the atmosphere are good. That coupled with the Challenges really makes this a series that feels like it lived far too short.

I mentioned how the second volume ends with an announcement for the third volume which was never released earlier, but as a bonus, these collected volumes also included a short five page prose story, which of course also featured a Challenge to the Reader. The first volume had the first part of a bonus story, which ended with a Challenge, and the solution to the story was included in the second volume. The second volume also included the first part of a new bonus prose story and a Challenge, and the solution was scheduled to appear in the third volume... but that one never came, so they never printed the solution. These stories are pretty easy to solve though, so even without the third volume, I am fairly certain I managed to solve the second story too.

Powarou - Yakeato Tanteichou is a series that really should have gone on for a few more volume, as there was the potential to become something much more memorable, even if it's worth a look even now if you happen to across the volumes. It is rare for a mystery manga to have a proper Challenge to the Reader each time, and the very atmospheric stories are well-clewed and fun to read. The biggest "fault" the stories have now is that they tend to be on the simple side, obviously building on familiar twists and solutions of the genre, and that coupled with the generous clewing means the stories sometimes undersell the "surprise element" of mystery fiction. Had the series gone on for more volumes, I can imagine the writer trying to go beyond these safe zone: truly a shame this series stopped at two volumes. The two volumes can be found for very little in the used manga market though, so if you happen to be interested, I think it can be worth it to take a look at this series.

Original Japanese title(s): 円堂たいが (画), 金田正太郎(作)『ポワ郎　焼け跡探偵帖』第１～２巻

The Voice in the Dark

I can open your eyes 

Take you wonder by wonder

"A Whole New World" (Brad Kane, Lea Salonga)

I think I have mentioned it before when discussing historical mysteries here, but I am not particularly strong in the subject of history. And I am even worse when it comes to details in history. However, ever since I was young, I was always interested in myths like the mythology of the ancient Greeks and the Romans, and also unsolved historical riddles and/or hidden meanings behind historical events etc. I loved watching documentaries talking about the "truth" behind topics like the pyramids, Stonehenge and Atlantis, or reading about interpretations of myths and folktales and learning what they (presumably) were really about. Of course, you can easily see the overlap with my love for mystery fiction here, a genre that is often about the appearance of "a story" (the apparent happenings of a crime) and a hidden truth behind that appearance. 

It is a reason why I really liked Kujira Touichirou's Yamataikoku wa Doko Desuka? ("Where is Yamatai-koku?" 1998) when I read it two years ago: it was a short story collection that wasn't like any other typical mystery book. The stories collected here were about historical mysteries, like the question of where Yamatai-koku was located or even how Jesus manage to rise from his grave. But while the questions were not typical of mystery fiction, the way the characters discussed these "cases", came up with theories and built on these theories to arrive at a "logical" conclusion would have felt familiar to any mystery reader. The fun part of these stories was that the conclusion was always completely bonkers from a historical point of view. When you were done with a story, you knew the "truth" they arrived at was absolutely not true because it would be incredibly far-fetched, yet at the same time it would have parts that sounded really convincing, precisely because the theories were built using actual historical sources, and then examined through the deduction process as we know from mystery novels: highlighting all clues (in this case historical sources and the contradictions found there), how to interpret and explain clues/discrepancies and finally construct, through the process of proposing ideas, examining and if necessary rejecting them) a theory that explains everything, while incorporating all the clues/sources discussed. While the book was about real history and used real clues and sources, it was an excellent case study to show that mystery fiction doesnt need to be realistic to be amusing.

It shouldn't come as a surprise I was interested in reading more of this series, so today we have Shin Sekai no Nanafushigi ("The New Seven Wonders of the World" 2005), the second book to bring us to the little bar Three Ballets. Here we find the bartender Matsunaga, the historian Shizuka, the reporter Miyata with a knack for coming up with outrageous theories and this time, we also find Shizuka's guest Professor Hartman: he's visiting Japan for a congress, and Shizuka has promised to go with him to Kyoto. However, every time some other reasons pops up to prevent her from going, so she keeps meeting with Hartman in the evening at Three Ballets, promising they'll definitely go tomorrow. Hartman is very interested in Japanese culture, but his presence at the Three Ballets always leads to discussions between Miyata, Shizuka and Matsunaga about Western history, and especially, unsolved mysteries. For example, where lies Atlantis? But was also the purpose of Stonehenge, and why do so many cultures have a myth of a Great Flood? Every time they argue about these topics however, it's Miyata who ultimately arrives at a completely crazy, but strangely convincing hypothesis about those historical mysteries...

In a way, this is the exact same book as the first collection. Sure, the first book focused more on Asian history and this one more on history outside Asia, but the way each story unfolds is basically the same between both volumes. Some idle chat early on leads to the characters focusing on a specific historical mystery, they discuss various theories and interpretations regarding that mystery and finally Miyata comes up with an entertaining, but rather far-fetched explanation. For those not familiar with Asian history however, this second volume is a more accessible work, considering its topics like Noah's ark, Stonehenge, pyramids and the Nazca lines. Some minor knowledge of Japanese history and culture is handy, as often Miyata does refer to those, but considering we also have Hartman as a non-Japanese proxy character, you'd almost think this book was written for an overseas audience in the first place, as a variant version of the first book. Not that I am complaining, as both books are very entertaining.

I am not going to discuss the seven stories seperately here because they are all quite short and all you really need to know is that each story is about a major historical mystery like the aforementioned Stonehenge, Altantis or something the Yellow Emperor and his terracota army or the Moai statues. What is great is how Kujira utilizes methodology from mystery fiction to come up with batshit insane theories that somehow sounds somewhat convincing, even though your mind tells you it can't be true in anyway. What's really clever is that Kujira even manages to find a common theme between these various historical mysteries, even though they come from completely different places in the world and are set in completely different time periods. It's bonkers, but oh-so-much-fun! 

I mentioned it the review of the first book, but 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 love this series too, I think. Sure, these stories look at "big history" so may lack the human drama angle of Katou's manga series, but the way these tales play with interpretation, and reinterpretation of a historical event should be very recognizable.

Shin Sekai no Nanafushigi might not be improving in any way on the first volume, but it's still a very entertaining short story collection that brings a lot of romanticism to these well-known historical mysteries and riddles, and it does that using methods we all know very well from mystery fiction. The book shows us once again that mystery fiction needs to be amusing and entertaining, and not necessarily realistic and that the joys of mystery fiction can be found anywhere, even in "hard history."

Original Japanese title(s): 鯨統一郎 『新・世界の七不思議』:「アトランティス大陸の不思議」  / 「ストーンヘンジの不思議」  / 「ピラミッドの不思議」  / 「ノアの方舟の不思議」 / 「始皇帝の不思議」  / 「ナスカの地上絵の不思議」  / 「モアイ像の不思議」