Death on the Way

"I suggest you murdered your father for his seat reservation."

 - "I may have had the motive, inspector, but I could not have done it, for I have only just arrived from Gillingham on the 8:13 and here's my restaurant car ticket to prove it."

"Monty Python's Flying Circus"

Never been on a night train before, so I'd like to try it one day... night...

Former prosecutor-turned-private-detective Namba Kiichirou is requested by the lawyer Sakurai to re-investigate the mysterious double murder on the Funatomi couple, as his client, Takizawa, is the main suspect and will be tried soon. The wealthy Funatomi Ryuutarou and his wife Yumiko had been staying in The White Waves Inn in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, but one morning, Yumiko was found horribly murdered in their room, while Ryuutarou's body was completely missing, though enough blood was left in the room to suggest he wasn't among the living anymore. Suspicion soon fell on Takizawa, a young man who had until recently been the fiancee of Ryuutarou and Yumiko's daughter Yukiko, but recently, the parents saw more in Susa Hideharu, who was a close friend of Takizawa, but the latter probably changed his mind after introducing Susa to Yukiko and his own engagement to her was cancelled. The police soon set their eyes on Takizawa, because it was more than clear he had made his way to Shirahama that night: he left his work in Osaka early, claiming Ryuutarou had called him to discuss his engagement with Yukiko again and he was seen by taxi drivers going to the train station, and also arriving at Shirahama. Apparently, Takizawa had then met Ryuutarou, but the latter claimed he never called Takizawa, and he was extremely irritated by Takizawa's appearance, which in turn angered Takizawa, who felt embarrassed and insulted, and he stormed off into the arms of Bacchus. So when Takizawa was arrested, he claimed he had been so drunk he had no memory of the previous night, but that wasn't going to satsify the police of course, and now his trial is imminent. 

Namba agrees to look into the case one final time, and the lawyer Sakurai recommends Susa as Namba's assistant, though the former isn't too keen on having a related party helping him, so he only occasionally uses Susa as a soundboard while investigating the possibility someone might have manipulated Takizawa's movements that evening for some reason. But each time Namba thinks he has an idea who the murderer might be, a new death occurs, changing his views on the case, and as things develop more, Funatomike no Sangeki ("The Tragedy of the Funatomis", 1936) seems to head straight towards an unsolvable state, until the international detective Akagaki Takio appears in front of him...

Funatomike no Sangeki ("The Tragedy of the Funatomis") is one of the most important mystery novels in Japanese mystery history, as it is commonly seen as the very first Japanese mystery novel involving a railway schedule-based alibi trick. The author is Fujita Yuuzou (1909-1975), though he used the pen name Aoi Yuu, and it should be noted some sources say his given pen name was read Takeshi, so you'll see both Aoi Yuu and Aoi Takeshi when they bother to write out his name in hiranaga or romaji. Aoi was an engineer for a power company by profession, but was also a big fan of mystery fiction, and debuted in 1934 with a short story published in the magazine Profile. The following year, he decided to write his first full-length novel to compete in a competition for unpublished novel manuscripts. It was Edogawa Rampo who was a huge fan of the story which was originally titled Satsujinma ("The Murderer"), but retitled as Funatomike no Sangeki when it was published in 1936. And as I mentioned earlier, it is commonly seen as the first Japanese novel that involved an alibi trick based on railway tables in the spirit of Freeman Wills Crofts. Post-war authors like Matsumoto Seichou and of course Ayukawa Tetsuya were greatly inspired by Aoi's work.

As a first novel, and one in the context of 1930s Japanese mystery fiction, I'd this book is insanely ambitious, and while I don't think Aoi manages to pull off everything perfectly, it's genuinely impressive how Aoi does a lot of things authors like Ayukawa and Matsumoto would also do, only two, three decades earlier. The one thing I have to say first, is that Funatomike no Sangeki is packed. A lot happens, and Aoi really does his best to keep the reader entertained by having many story developments and twists and turns, and also revealing parts of the mystery little by little. Unlike Rampo's 1930s output, Aoi is obviously going for Croftian realism, and he meticulously explains how Namba is conducting his investigation, but a great advantage of that style is that you are constantly making progess in terms of unrafeling the mystery: like the Croftian police procedural, Namba keeps making small steps, solving parts of the mystery that allow him to move forward to find new clues that again allow him to make other discoveries. The scale of the story is huge, as we move from the western part of the main island of Japan to the central parts and visit many cities and towns, as take as many train lines on our way there. Namba is actively trying to locate the 'invisible' murderer is and it often feels like he's close on their trail, so there's always a feeling of tension, as for all we know Namba could only be a few steps behind the murderer.

At the same time... Aoi writes in a rather dry and slow manner, and I have to admit, while I think the overall plot was interesting, his writing did tire me a lot, and I felt the book could have been told in a much more entertaining manner (oh, how I wish Rampo wrote this based on Aoi's plot). Of course, I understand he was going for the Crofts style, but you do really need to be in the right mindset to be reading this, because while it's perfectly readable, sometimes you do wonder why the story is told in such a dry, and yet at times roundabout manner...

Aoi's talents as a mystery writer are clearly visible in this work though. While a lot of the ideas showcases in this book will feel outdated and too tropey for the modern reader, some ideas I genuinely find surprising to find in a 1935 Japanese mystery novel. And then there's of course the railway schedule-based alibi trick, apparently the first original Japanese one and one which would thus influence writers like Matsumoto Seichou, Ayukawa Tetsuya and Nishimura Kyoutarou. It's a bit sad how nowadays we can just use map and navigation maps to find all kinds of combinations of public transport modes to find the fastest way to get from A to B, because it takes a lot away from the surprise in these kinds of books. Here too some of the "the killer used this other route that was actually also available!" surprises feel a bit underwhelming partially because you can't shake the feeling it's a bit weird nobody thought of that earlier, but also because of Aoi's writing style,where he throws these reveals at you without much build-up ("Namba looked at the map and suddenly realized there was another route"), so you don't get the sensation of satisfaction when the solution is revealed. Still, Aoi uses the alibi tricks in a clever manner/for a clever purpose, so on the whole, I think the book works.

Though I don't really get Aoi undermining Namba right from the beginning, because we have Namba in the list of characters, but then at the end we see the name of another detective in the list, and he's introduced as an internationally renowned master detective... The cast of characters is also rather limited despite the book's length, so it might be a bit easy to guess who the murderer is because not many people on the list are still alive at the end of the story... The book also makes reference to a certain 1922 mystery novel that is utilized in an interesting way in this story, though it's a bit of a borderline case whether mentioning the title out loud will spoil part of Funatomike no Sangeki's mystery, so I'll refrain from doing so now...

So while I do think some of Funatomike no Sangeki might feel a bit outdated now, both in writing and the mystery tropes it uses, it is a surprisingly ambitious first novel by Aoi Yuu and as it is commonly recognized as the first in a looooooong tradition of Japanese railway-based alibi-deconstruction mystery stories, I'd say it's worth reading it if you happen to come across it.

Original Japanese title(s): 蒼井雄『船富家の惨劇』

The Shadow of the Goat

"Cry havoc and let slip the goats of war."

"Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse" 

Houjou Kie has been a personal favorite of mine ever since she made her debut. While she initially focused on novel-length stories, she has lately also been releasing short stories serialized in magazines, which are then later collected in one volume. Next week will see the release of the sequel to the amazing Amulet Hotel, but today, I want to take a brief look at two new series by Houjou. At least, one of them is confirmed as a series, the other might be developed into a new series!

Maison Initier no Kai ("The Mystery of Maison Initier") is a 2025 short story published in All Yomimono and starts with a freelance writer on the occult going inside an apartment building in Hachiouji as he films himself. There are rumors that the elevator in this building connects to different worlds. While there are many of such rumors, with elevators often going down to the underworld, this rumor is connected to a more specific story: twelve years ago, a murder was committed in the hallway of the top, seventh floor. Rumor has it that if you push in a certain combination in the elevator, you'll be brought to that scene fifteen years ago. Our writer pushes the buttons accordingly and when he arrives at the seventh floor... he finds a dead body lying in the hallway, killed in the exact same way as the victim fifteen years ago, stabbed with a kitchen knife.

Superintendent Hachijou Miku is the crime scene investigator in charge of the case, though she immediately regrets this when she learns who discovered the body: for Ikoma Soramichi is only a freelance writer on the occult in his spare time, as he is a real police superintendent himself too. Only with a love for the occult. However, even he realizes he didn't go back in time, and that the body he found is in fact "fresh". The parallels to the murder 15 years ago however are clear: 15 years ago, the owner of the building had been stabbed with a kitchen knife on the seventh floor, and a priceless jewel was stolen. The new victim however has a note planted on his body, saying "Pay for your sins with your life", once again suggesting a strong connection between the two cases. While Miku is investigating the case however, Ikoma is intent on finding proof the occult is involved one way or another...

Whereas Houjou specializes in writing mystery stories with special settings (time travel, vr-worlds, a hotel for criminals, ghosts), she this time opted for a realistic setting: while Ikoma hopes there are ghosts and other occult occurences, as if this first story we don't really have any reason to believe they exist. In fact, Houjou mentions having to rely on her editor for knowledge on real police investigations/organization structure, as they usually don't really play a significant role in her other stories. The story is fairly simple in design, with the mystery revolving around why the two murders resemble each other. I don't think the story showcases Houjou's strenghts (densily plotted mysteries) very good, as the story is relatively short and the riddle of the two murders, and the clues leading to the revelation, feel not as meticulously plotted as her other stories. That said, the story is highly readable, and I think this story is probably more appealing to "non-hardcore" mystery fans than some of her other stories.The banter between "science is everything" Miku and "I wish there were ghosts" Ikoma is fun... because it's actually Ikoma who solves the case! In stories with these "science vs occult" setups, it's usually the science person who prevails, but this time we find it's Ikoma, in his quest to find real supernatural phenomena, who quickly sees through the human deception. I think the actual truth behind the case is pretty interesting though, and I'm curious to see how this series will develop further.

Houjou also recently wrote a piece of mystery flash fiction for the anthology GOAT, which has a very cute goat on the cover (even though the title actually refers to the acronym "greatest of all time"). She wrote this for a special on travel, and she was offered a stay at the Book Hotel Kyoto Kujo for inspiration, so unsurprisingly, her Rakugaki ("Scribbles" 2025) is actually set in that hotel.  The story is about five pages long, so I can't really write too much about it: a woman staying at the hotel finds someone has scribbled on her book while she was gone for a moment, and a... book sprite? helps her figure out who did it. Very short, kinda cute... and apparently, Houjou's editor liked it so much they are now developing it into a full series, with this story either being the proper "first entry" of the series, or it'll just be the prototype and be developed into a new story. I'm always into bibliophilic mysteries, so I'm looking forward to whatever may come!

This were pretty brief write-ups on these stories, so perhaps they feel a bit lacking in information on the stories, but... consider them more like previews, as we'll likely see more of these two series in the future. Next week is Amulet Wonderland, which I'm really looking forward to, so I'll try to read that and start on my review as soon as possible!

Original Japanese title(s): 方丈貴恵「メゾン・イニシェの怪」/「落書き」

Out of the Past

"That is where the rare plants and the butterflies are, if you have the wit to reach them.”

"The Hound of the Baskervilles"

While I like reading short story collections, I generally don't really like writing the reviews, because they take up much more time. For some reason I read four short story collections in a row, with today's book being one of those four, though I switched the order in which I wrote these posts.

Chou to Shite Shisu ("He Died A Butterfly", 2022) is a historical short story collection by Hanyuu Asuka, starring as its main detective Taira no Yorimori, half-brother of Taira no Kiyomori, who established the samurai-dominated administrative government in Japan. While Yorimori had military success in his career at one time, the centralization of power to Kiyomori's own men soon meant Yorimori was sidelined, finding his career hitting a stop and now living a peaceful life in Kyoto as the Lord of the Lake. Because Yorimori's sharp mind is not being used on the battlefield anymore, he intends to use his analytical skills to resolve incidents taking place in the place, as hoping to regain the favor of his half-brother. This collection holds five adventures for Yorimori, set in different parts of his life as he tries to climb back up the career ladder in a highly volitile military environment in the Heian period.

Hanyuu Asuka won the 2018 Mysteries! Newcomer Award with the short story Kabane Sanemori ("The Corpse Sanemori") included in this book, but even though this award of publisher Tokyo Sogensha is meant for unpublished authors, they were not really one: Hanyuu had been active since 2010 as a writer of children's fiction under the name Saitou Asuka, but after winning and publishing enough stories with Yoritomo to collect in a volume, they changed their name to Hanyuu Asuka, perhaps also to differentiate between the actress and former Nogizaka46 member with the same name. Before winning in 2018, Hanyuu had also made it to the final judging round of the Mysteries! Newcomer Award in the previous year with Kaburo-Goroshi ("Murder of a Kaburo"), which serves as the opening story of this collection. The citizens of Kyoto have been complaining about the kaburo Kiyomori has set loose on town: these boys with a page cut serve as his spies in the city, reporting all the on-goings to him. When one of these kaburo is found murdered near a temple, the people in the neighborhood are afraid they'll be blamed for the death of one of Kiyomori's men, so they send someone to warn Yorimori: they hope the Lord of the Lake will solve this case for them, as they know Yorimori is waiting for any chance to do self-promotion to his half-brother. Yorimori swiftly examines the scene, and soon finds out the murder on the kaburo might be hiding something bigger. This story introduces the format all stories in this collection follow, with a rather lengthy introduction that provides the historical context, followed by a rather short mystery and Yorimori swiftly solving it, and then ending with a historical contextualization of the case. This story has Yorimori solving the murder on the kaburo surprisingly easily, with the major clue being simple, but quite fair, but I have to admit I found the process a bit too short. But I do really like the historical contextualization of the case, and that is in general where these stories shine: Hanyuu is excellent at presenting history and using tidbits like the kaburo to create mysteries that only could have happened in that time period, in that specific cultural/political environment. So the act of the murder of the kaburo wasn't very memorable on its own, but the way it builds on actual history to provide unique motives and other parts of the mystery, is great.

Aoi-no-mae Araware ("Pitiful Aoi-no-Mae") has Yorimori investigate the death of Aoi-no-mae, a former servant who had been loved by the emperor Takakura, but died a mysterious death. When Takakura learns about a certain poison, he realizes the symptoms resembles the one Aoi-no-mae showed before she died. He asks Yorimori to investigate her death, as he has no idea how Aoi-no-mae could have been poisoned, as they ate and drank together. This impossible poisoning case is a bit simple to solve, as not only does it revolve around something you'll often see in poisoning stories, it basically only works due to the (lack of) knowledge back in the Heian period, while you'd be far more likely to think of it in this day and age. So while it works as a historical work, and very well as that, as a detective story read now, it might lack a real surprise.

In Kabane Sanemori ("The Corpse Sanemori"), Yorimori is asked to identify the body of general Saitou Sanemori, a warrior who fought in the Gempei War and died on the battlefield at age 73. During their retreat, his men had buried his body in a make-shift grave as they weren't able to bring his body along during their retreat, but when they later returned to retrieve the body, more bodies had been buried at the same place. Now Yorimori has to identify Sanemori's body out of five candidates. I was not too big a fan of this one, as it felt a bit too... clinical? Like, a clue being Sanemori's age, so an obviously younger looking corpse being ruled out and things like that. While one clue is good, because it is rooted in actual history and Saitou Sanemori's character, I felt the mystery was less important than the surrounding historical story. While these stories generally manage to get the right balance between history lesson and mystery, I felt this one was the one where the mystery felt a bit tacked on, even though the problem itself (the difficulty in identifying a specific person on the battlefield) is one I like, like the one in Kokuroujou (AKA The Samurai and the Prisoner).

The fourth story is Tomurai Senju ("Thousand-Armed Mourning"), which I have already discussed when it was featured in the anthology Honkaku-Ou 2021, so I will be skipping it here. Please refer to that post to hear about that (pretty good!) story.

Rokudai Hiwa ("The Secret of the Sixth") is set much later in Yorimori's life, after the Taira are basically defeated by the Minamoto clan. The Minamotos are hunting for the grandson of Taira no Kiyomori, Taira no Takakiyo, who is also known as the Sixth as he was the sixth generation since Taira no Masamori, who facilated the rise of power of his clan. The hunt leads to Yorimori's manor: Yorimori is leading a retreated life now, having converted himself to being a monk and having cut ties with the Taira. However, the Minamotos suspect Yorimori has hiding the grandson of his half-brother, by having Takakiyo pose as one of his own sons. Yorimori of course denies the accusation, but how can he prove that? In essence, the problem is one that is similar to the aforementioned problem with Sanemori: in an era with no real identity records or photographs, how do you prove a person is actually that person, and not someone else? While I am not a big fan of the main proof provided by Yorimori to show he's not hiding Takakiyo, I do like the minor tricks he plays on the Minamoto hunters to put them on the wrong trail. 

Chou to Shite Shisu dives deep into actual real history and each story starts with basically a history lesson (and you'll be looking up a lot depending on how much (little) you know about this era), so while some might love this book for that, others might find it a bit tiring. While the core plots can be a bit simple at time, Hanyuu does a great job at linking these cases into actual historical context, and you're almost inclined to be believe it really happened like this, because it all fits so nicely. Yorimori is also an interesting detective, someone who is really trying to prove himself, not because he is a believer in truth or justice, but because of the political background, and seeing him trying to manouver himself into certain social positions in a volatile and often outright hostile environment is interesting, especially as we know he ultimately never really managed to arrive at where he wanted to be. Hanyuu has written a scond volume in this series, a full-length novel, and I will probably read that one in the future too!

Original Japanese title(s): 羽生飛鳥『蝶として死す』: 「禿髪殺し」/「葵前哀れ」/「屍実盛」/「弔千手」/「六代秘話」

The King's Club Murder

The king is dead, long live the king! 

Huh, now they went for the color yellow for the book title for the third time in a row.

Disclosure: I am a member of the Honkaku Mystery Writers Club of Japan. I didn't vote for any stories this year as always. But I did manage to go to the Honkaku Mystery Award ceremony for the first time! Finally got to meet some of the authors I have translated and also met some other authors I have been a fan of for a long time!

I have been reviewing the annual summer anthology Honkaku-Ou ("The King of Honkaku") since it started in 2019, so long-time readers of the blog should be familiar with the series now. The pocket-sized anthology collects the best honkaku short stories published the previous year, as selected by the Honkaku Mystery Writers Club of Japan. It practically functions as a companion release to the Honkaku Mystery Award, which is awarded to the best published book (novel or short story collection) each year. Short stories are still often published in magazines and other time-limited (paper) publications in Japan, so sometimes it can be difficult to trace a short story xx months after the magazine it originally appeared in was released. Anthologies like this help in keeping this stories easily available. Honkaku-Ou 2025 ("The King of Honkaku 2025") follows the same format as always, consisting of six stories, as well as a short introduction by the current president of the Honkaku Mystery Writers Club of Japan (Maya Yutaka) and an afterword by Inui Kurumi.

Occasionally I already know some of the stories collected in this book and if I'm lucky, I even have discussed them already on the blog. While I had already read two of the stories in this year's anthology, I haven't actually written the review of that story yet, so I guess I'll do it here... But the story I have already read, and have already discussed is Hayami Shirou wo Oikakete ("Chasing after Hayami Shirou") by Mamon Kouhei, which was included in Bokura wa Kaishuu Shinai ("No Pay-Off for Us", 2024), so I refer to that post for the write-up on that story. The tale was actually not my favorite of Mamon's book, but it has some interesting clues so I can see why it'd get high praise.

Gainen Tantei ("The Concept Detective") by Shiotani Ken starts with the strange tale of Manami, who explains that when she was a child, she saved a spider-like creature at the beach, which turned out to have god-like powers. Grateful for her help, it says it will grant Manami one wish. She wishes for a great detective like from the novels. As it would be a bit weird to just "give" her a living person, the being grants her a special power, that allows her to turn anyone she wants into a great detective, complete with amazing deductive powers and the police willing to listen to the lengthy explanation scenes. Fast-forward to a grown-up Manami, who is now in university. She's still a huge mystery buff and hopes to film a mystery film. She also has her star in mind: Houga Hiromichi, a fellow member in the university's mystery club. She's been trying to get an OK from him, but he's reluctant, saying he's not suited to be a great detective. One day, after a party with most of the members of the club, the members return to the club room, only to find two of the members lying dead at the table: the couple had taken poison together and died. The Romeo and Juliet couple came from fueding families, which is why their fathers were against their dating at first and the two had made up their mind to elope. So why did they commit suicide togehter? But was it really a suicide pact? If only there were a great detective around...

This is an interesting premise for a series, so I'd like to see Shiotani develop this further. It has some parallels with Ooyama Seiichirou's Watson-ryoku, where everyone within the radius of the Watson Force becomes a great detective, but here it's Manami who (unconsciously) can turn a specific person into a great detective, so it'd be cool to see how that'd work out in a series with recurring characters. The story itself is a solid puzzler whodunnit, that follows Queen-esque deductions of determining certain characteristics of the person who could've poisoned the two star-crossed lovers and then determining which of the suspects fits the bill. 

Steam Dragon no Kisou ("The Enigmatic Ride of the Steamdragon") by Kasumi Ryuuichi stars the private detective Kurenaimon who is hired to keep an eye out during the maiden ride of the illustrious steam locomotive C63 0, also known as the Steamdragon. The C63 0 was a  steam locomotive that had been designed, but never built. Decades later used car mogul Aratani Goichi and his two sons (of different monthers) Sentarou and Reiji have used their fortune to build the locomotive and have it run on their own private railway in Hokkaido, a surprisingly large network of rails which was purchased after it became obsolete. Some great train anoraks have been invited to be on the maiden voyage too, but because sometimes such enthusiasts can become a bit too intense, Kurenaimon was hired to keep an eye on things. Reiji has a rather unique train fetish, so he likes to... get naked and meditate to become one with the train, and he has a luxurious carriage all to himself to indulge in his pleasures: it is the very last carriage. Kurenaimon and his friend see Reiji enter his carriage and the two hang around in the carriage before that. When after a while, Sentarou comes looking for his brother, but when they enter, they find only Reiji's head. This is fairly short story, with most of the story dedicated to the set-up rather than the investigation after the discovery of the murder, but it features an interesting train-based locked room mystery with a solution that is just believable enough while also a bit silly when visualizing it. The good kind of crazy!

Aosaki Yuugo's Nawa, Tsuna, Rope ("Cable, Line, Rope") was written especially for an anthology to celebrate Arisugawa Alice's 35th anniversary as a novelist, and is a pastiche of Arisugawa's Writer Alice series. In the foreword featured in this anthology, Aosaki actually says it feels weird to him this story was selected, as he tried to mimick Arisugawa's style the best he could, so did the story win on his merits, or those of Arisugawa? I do really understand why this story would be picked though, as it's a really solid whodunnit. Criminologist Himura Hideo and mystery novelist Arisugawa Alice are assisting the police in the investigation of the murder of a woman, Yasumi Nodoka, who was found washed up on the shore, with clear signs of having been tied. A witness saw a figure carrying something tied up in rope to the waterfront in the night, so it is quickly determined Nodoka had been killed in her apartment and her body dumped in the sea. The motive appears to be a rare trading card Nodoka owned, but is now missing. However, security footage also helps determine the murderer must be someone inside the apartment building, i.e. one of the fellow residents. Because the witness saw Nodoka had been tied up, the police guess the culprit must have thrown the rope that was used away, as it was garbage day for burnables the following day. They examine the security camera footage of the garbage collection site of the building and determine three persons threw away ropes/lines/cables. But which of these three residents killed Nodoka?

This is a very solid story, both as a pastiche and a standalone whodunnit. Aosaki mimicks the style of the Himura stories perfectly with the familiar banter between Himura and Alice and the type of deductions Arisugawa often uses for his stories. As a whodunnit, well, what do you expect of the "Ellery Queen of the Heisei period"? It is a great logical problem, which is solved by logically following all the actions the murderer must have taken based on the evidence and from there, the reader can "easily" determine the identity of the murderer, at least, if they're clever enough. I love the way the story plays with the Japanese language by the way, with nawa, tsuna and the loanword "rope" all refering to, well, ropes, but all just slightly different enough.

Housoubu ni wa Horobasenai ("I Won't Let The Broadcasting Club Fall") is the first time I read a story by Tsubota Yuuya, and it's actually his debut story. The story revolves around a school's broadcasting club, which is preparing for the upcoming sports festival of the school. They have a suggestion box for playlist requests, but one day, they find an anonymous letter from someone who writes they don't like the sports festival and hopes they can cancel it. The narrator is of course not able to do so, but curious to the reason why, he decides to write a letter back to the writer. What follows is a series of short letters between the two, where the narrator tries to determine why the writer wants the festival cancelled. There are some nice clues hidden within this cute story with a bittersweet conclusion, and I really like it as a school mystery.

Dare mo Yomenai ("Unreadable") by Shirai Tomoyuki was written for a shogi ("Japanese chess) special and therefore revolves around the sport: Chiyokura Hinode is a professional shogi player who has trouble getting into the absolute top, but he's now playing one of his important promotional games. It's becoming late with the game still going on, so the game is paused for a moment, with Chiyokura having to write his next move in advance, which is then sealed so they can continue the game the following day (this to ensure Chiyokura doesn't have a full night to contemplate his next move). When he's alone, he's suddenly abducted by a man and a woman. Chiyokura recognizes neither of them, but it turns out he once played a game with the young man seven years ago, when the latter was still a child. Chiyokura had seen potential in the kid, and had given him his business card. Now the young man has grown up to be... not a shogi player, but a member of the organized crime. And he's in trouble, as last night, two "business contacts" were killed, and he is the main suspect. He, his captain and the big boss were staying in a hotel nearby to meet their business contacts, but early this morning, these two contacts were found dead in their villa. The murderer escaped with the car that belongs to the gang and parked at the hotel, and the three of them all have a key, so any of them could have committed the crime... if not for the fact the captain and the big boss have alibis, having been seen by others in the hotel. Because the 'kid' (and his girlfriend) swear he didn't do it, they decided to abduct Chiyokura (who had been playing his promotion game nearby), because Chiyokura is the cleverest man he knows. Can Chiyokura clear the name of his 'shogi disciple' based only on his testimony?

Okay, I have to admit I was first surprised by how this Shirai tale had nothing really gross, grotesque or off-putting in it. Guess that was because it was written for a shogi special. The problem itself is interesting, as we apparently have two suspects with a perfect alibi, and one without one. The solving of this conundrum is cleverly modelled not after physical evidence, but around reading the actions of each character: not in a psychological manner, but focusing on whether each character is taking the most logical action in their situation as we know it, and if not, can we therefore extrapolate something else might be going on? While the "main" trick used by the culprit might therefore not be incredibly surprising, the way they camouflaged it through their actions, and the way Chiyokura manages to unveil this, does make this a great story to read.

Overall, I'd say Honkaku-Ou 2025 may even been the best iteration of the anthology until now, providing variety, but also a very high level of quality. I basically like all the stories included this year, and they all have some clever original set-ups or techniques to use to show off how even within the confinements of the short story, you can do very clever mystery plots. If you have never read these anthologies, I would really recommend this one, not only because it's the most recent, but because it's honestly the one with the most bang for your buck.

Original Japanese title(s): 真門浩平「速水士郎を追いかけて」/ 潮谷験「概念探偵」/ 霞流一「スティームドラゴンの奇走」/ 青崎有吾「縄、綱、ロープ」 / 坪田侑也「放送部には滅ぼせない」 / 白井智之「誰も読めない」

The Border-Line Case

"Space, the final frontier."

"Star Trek"

This has nothing to do with the book of this post, but: Mu is one of my favorite characters from Saint Seiya, and I love his attacks Starlight Extinction and Stardust Revolution.

Hase Homare is a tour attendent on a special monitoring trip for the first low-cost space carrier: a group of guests have been selected to come along to spaceship "Hope!!", which will bring them to the space station hotel Stardust, where they'll enjoy a few nights before heading back to Earth. The service will start officially soon, so this special trip is one last check to see if everything will go as planned. There are just a handful of guests coming along, most of them who have paid a lot of money to be able to see Earth from space (and one student who just happened to win a contest), so there are only two staff members on Hope!!: Homare and the captain Itou, a former astronaut, who after a period of seeing the bottle too often, has gotten his life on control again, eager to prove himself to his family and the rest of the world. The trip to Stardust goes perfectly, with all the guests arriving safely at the hotel, where they are greeted by the hotel staff who had arrived earlier. The hotel resembles a cone with a halo around it: the main cone building, with the dock, storerooms and all the equipment and machines, has mainly zero or low gravity, so people are advised to use the special belts they have to anchor themselves, though there's is gravity in the halo part of the building, which is where the guests rooms and lobbies are. While Homare goes off to write up a report on the trip for headquarters, Itou starts carrying out rations they brought on their ship to the storerooms, but when Itou doesn't return, Homare goes looking for the captain, only to find Itou dead in one of the storerooms. However, the scene is bizarre: it looks like Itou hanged himself with a belt... only you generally can't hang yourself if there's no gravity. Staff members all have special smartwatches that monitor their movements, and it appears nobody of the staff came even close to the storeroom around the death of Itou, so that seems to clear them, so does that mean one of the hotel guests is the murderer? Or was it suicide. The management back on Earth however order Homare to continue as planned, as too much is at stake on this first test trip. When a second death happens however, the hotel staff members use escape pods to return to Earth, citing their legal work conditions (only allowed x hours in space), leaving Homare and the guests alone in the hotel. Homare can operate "Hope!!" all by himself up to a degree, but the guests all seem reluctant to return to Earth now, as they have just arrived, so it's decided they stay in Stardust as initially planned, but then more deaths occur while trapped up in space in Momono Zappa's Hoshikuzu no Satsujin (2023), or as the book also says on the cover: Stardust Murder.

Momono Zappa is a game scenario writer who made their debut as a novelist in 2021 with Rouko Zanmu ("Dreams Are All That Remain To The Tiger Who Has Grown Old"), a cool mystery novel that utilized a wuxia fiction background. Hoshikuzu no Satsujin similarly has a mystery set in a rather unique location: a space station. At the same time, we're not talking about the super far future: the world portrayed in this book is certainly quite close, with low-cost space carriers probably appearing soon, and the setting is far closer to our current society than say the mobile suits in Gundam Wearwolf, also a mystery set in space. So for a great part, a lot of the setting of Hoshikuzu no Satsujin will be almost the same as ours, with people needing Wi-Fi to do livestreams for back on Earth. In fact, Momono does a great job at portraying the practical difficulties of operating such a space station, occasionally touching upon the technical and scientific details about how things are working at Stardust. At one point, the space station also loses its contact with Earth, leaving Homare unable to call back to headquarters and inform them about the subsequent deaths after Itou's death, and the idea of just... being stuck in space without a way to call for help is just horrible. Of course, they have escape pods they could use, but Homare does emphasize that the escape pods just shoots them towards Earth to the ocean, so it could take days before the pods are actually retrieved and they're saved, so it's a last resort. So there's a lot of mileage to be taken from the concept of a closed circle situation... in space.

Like in Rouko Zanmu, Momono does like focusing on their characters and what drives them: each of the guests, but also the staff members have their own specific reasons for wanting to come to space, and it's what also informs their actions while being confronted with their predicament. Like a lot of these And Then There Were None-esque stories, you'll be looking out for motives in each character's backstory for wanting to commit murders while being in a closed circle situation (and in space, no less!), and the interplay between the various backstories does allow for a bit of going back and forth between suspects, though I'll be honest and say that motive-looking is seldom my favorite part of a mystery story. Those who want a more introspective mystery however, might find something they'll like here, as of course, the dream of going into space is one that has mesmerized people since ancient times, and you can easily imagine how everyone holds very different thoughts about what space could mean to them.

As for the mystery, a lot of the immediate riddles Homare and the rest of the guests are confronted with, are about howdunnits: whether it was a suicide or murder, how could Itou have been hanged, if there's no gravity to do the hanging? Another guest is nearly suffocated in his room, even though they locked the door before going to sleep (i.e.a locked room), and more such curious incidents happen. The tricks behind these occurings are... perhaps not surprisingly if you think about it, but I have to admit I was surprised how technical some of these tricks were. In a way, Momono does hint at these tricks, but the jump from being presented clue A and me deducing that could result in trick X was way too far for me, so I personally didn't always feel as impressed with the trick as I could've been: perhaps a more science-minded reader will love what Momono does here, as the tricks utilized by the culprit does make good use of the space station setting. I wouldn't say this is hard science by the way, just some things aren't as intuitive to my feeble humanities mind as for the author.

There's a direct sequel to this book by the way, Rousoku was Moeteiru ka (Is the Candle Burning?), which focuses on one of the guests of the hotel after returning to Earth. I have no idea whether the semi-scifi setting of this book is continued in the second book, so in that sense, that is kinda what interests me.

Anyway, Hoshikuzu no Satsujin uses a unique setting, but without going overboard or alienating readers with the lite scifi setting. While mystery-wise, I felt some of the tricks were a bit too technical for me to feel intuitively clever, as a book about people being trapped in a space station under deadly circumstances, I found the book quite captivating, and I blazed through it in no time, because I wanted to know how it'd end. I will probably pick up the sequel in the future too, so expect a review of that book too. 

Original Japanese title(s): 桃野雑派『星くずの殺人』

Fishing for Clues

"Unagi is a state of total awareness. Only by achieving true unagi can you be prepared for any danger that may befall you."
"Friends"

The Roman Hat Mystery. The French Powder Mystery. The Japanese Christie Mystery. The Japanese Carr Mystery. The Japanese Larsson Mystery. The Swedish Carr Mystery. The Chinese Carr Mystery. The American Christie Mystery. The...

Bruno Fredner is a wealthy man, who owns farmlands (and the farms on it) as well as forests in Småland, Sweden. He controls the land on which the people live in this region, and not surprisingly, that notion starts to get to certain people, and Fredner himself isn't doing much to help the brewing tension between him and the local people by being a womanizer who uses his money and influence to get the women he wants. That things have become only grimmer becomes immediately clear to Lasse, who has recently returned to his home village. The economist grew up here, but left for Stockholm, leaving his brother and mother to tend to the farm they rent from Fredner. Learning about the latest gossips, he learns how Fredner has now seduced his brother's girlfriend Eivør and that they have announced their engagement, even though his brother, Eivør's ex-ex-boyfriend and her aunts (her guardians) absolutely despite Fredner, along with the rest of the townspeople. So were people really surprised when Bruno Fredner was found murdered one day... inside an eel box? Well, probably, because that's not a likely place to die. Bruno Fredner owned a piece of land along the Nissan river, and he had placed a trap along a small dam to capture eel, a box which lets water (and eels) in, but where the eels are prevent from swimming out. Bruno Fredner was found inside his own eel box, but more curiously enough, the box' lid was locked with a padlock, and the only key was found on Fredner's body! Furthermore, Fredner's body was completely dry, meaning he wasn't 'swallowed' into the box via the river itself. This curious case of the locked eel box asks for the mind of Inspector Bertil Durell in Jan Ekström's Ålkistan ("The Eel Chest", 1967), which was translated to Japanese as Unagi no Wana ("The Eel Trap") in 2024 by Mizuki Sayako.

The Japanese version describes Jan Ekström as the Swedish Dickson Carr, a nomer which probably has lost all its meaning as everyone is [Nationality] [Different Author Name] nowadays. As this is the only book by Ekström I have read, I can't really comment to the accuracy of that nickname, but if Ålkistan is anything to go by, I assume the nickname comes more from the fact he wrote a locked room mystery, than actually being close to John Dickson Carr in terms of writing style/atmosphere. While small villages with colorful characters are also seen Carr stories, this one is a bit mundane in terms of setting and we certainly don't get spooky ghost stories that have been told for centuries in those neighborhoods or anything like that.

Though some of the melodrama comes close, I suppose. The book follows several characters, jumping between them as we see things brew slowly: we see how everyone seems to hate Bruno Fredner, from the aunts of his future wife to spurned boyfriends of Eivør and people who find their futures endangered by the rent they have to pay to their landlord. The love... square? between Eivør, Bruno, Lasse's younger brother Magnus and farmer Jacke (who dated Eivør before Magnus) naturally creates one of the biggest motives for the murder on Bruno, so we follow the relevant characters a lot in this tale. The jumping between the various POVs adds variety, but at the same time does tend to make things feel a bit slow, as not all segments are really relevant to the mystery plot, and we just see the people react to the murder and the ensuing investigation. Which I know some readers will appreciate a lot, but I personally tend to feel like they slow down the main plot too much. Though I suppose that a lot of the depictions of rustic life in 1960s Sweden might come across as familiar and genuine to a Swedish reader? Perhaps? Okay, I'll admit I know nothing about Sweden...

I do like the bizarre and unique crime scene though. It's also a weird inversion of a locked room mystery, as the eel box wasn't locked "from the inside": the padlock was on the outside, locking the lid of the box which allows one to climb inside to retrieve captured eels. However, the key was found on Bruno's body and you can't reach his body from the top of the box. There is another "entrance" to the box via the dam, which is the inlet through which eels are supposed to swim into the box, but the dam opening was closed, and Bruno's body was also completely dry, meaning he didn't get in via the water. The trick itself is fairly original, but it is nearly impossible to guess how a certain object was used to create this locked room situation even after the introduction of the relevant clues. The basic idea behind the locked room situation itself is interesting, though oddly enough I have come across a similar trick a while ago so it was already half on my mind. What I perhaps like better is how the situation is then also used to figure out who the killer is: a lot of the clues that start pointing towards the killer arise from examining the unique crime scene and the question of why the killer had Bruno Fredner killed inside a locked eel box, and I like the quasi-Queen-esque deductions that spring from this.

I think the utterly bizarre crime scene is what really sells Ålkistan, and for that I think it's definitely worth a read, as the core mystery is competently built and it's a well-rounded detective story on the whole. It certainly made me curious to Ekström's other output, and then I remembered I had one in possession actually: The November 2024 issue of Hayakawa's Mystery Magazine featured a "John Dickson Carr and His Successors in the World" special, and following the relative success of the Japanese release of Ålkistan among mystery fans, this issue featured a short story by Ekström: the story was I believe originally titled Dnr 94.028.72- Mord, translated to Japanese as Jikenbangou 94.028.72 ("Case File 94.028.72") and it too stars Inspector Bertil Durell as he tackles a locked room murder mystery.

This time the mystery set in a laboratory, where they conduct experiments in sub-zero conditions. Durell is asked to investigate the very curious death of a scientist in one of the experiment rooms: he had been in the room to conduct an icey experiment, but didn't appear out of the room after one hour, the maximum a person is allowed to stay in the freezing experiment chamber. When his superior goes check on him, the scientist was found stabbed in the room. But how did the murderer escape? The window on the ceiling was locked from the inside, while the 'normal' door was open, but it leaves a record when the door is opened during an experiment, and the two observers in the control room noticed nothing wrong about the door. 

The story is pretty short, but I do really like the lab setting of the story, which is pretty unique. The story is... not the same as Ålkistan, but it does have some similar ideas behind it. I kinda skimmed through the story, so perhaps it was just me misreading things, but I wasn't completely sure whether it was clear how certain things worked in the experiment room which allowed for the murderer to create their locked room murder trick, but it was alright considering the limitations of this story, even if I probably shouldn't have read it after Ålkistan. This story is available in English by the way. And Ekström has more books available outside of his native Swedish (which I can't read), so perhaps I will try them out in the future.

Translated Japanese title: ヤーン・エクストレム『ウナギの罠』

Castle Skull

The abbey was amply provisioned. With such precautions the courtiers might bid defiance to contagion. The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime it was folly to grieve, or to think.
"The Masque of the Red Death"

I read this book late last year and I actually wanted to post a review soon after reading it... but I forgot to actually write a review at the time, and I had been procrastinating since...

The French revolution had widespread effect on the views on aristrocracy all throughout Europe, so also on the people living in the Hereditaqua Peninsula in Central Europe. The narrator, Quello, is a young man raised as the second-in-line of a not-too-wealthy aristocratic family. When he was young, he came across a boy snooping around his family's grounds, but the boy assured Quello he was not just a vagrant: he introduced himself as Nagate, one of the Tuigo triplets. Stardio, Nagate and Orcida, who lived at the nearby San Georgius farm, were the well-known product of a scandal: their mother, a noblewoman, had become infatuated with a minstrel, but when she became pregnant with his children, he disappeared. The Tuigo patriarch of course became furious at his daughter, so she and her children were sent away from the capital to live at the farm until she died a few years ago, leaving the farm to the triplets. Quello became friends with the triplets and the four grew up together. Because Quello was not likely to inherit anything in the future, he holds ambitions to obtain a diplomatic post in the capital: however, in order to get such a prestigious job, he needs the personal recommendation of a higher nobleman, and so he becomes the scrivener of Count D, ruler of the D-region on the peninsula. As the scrivener, Quello is expected to be at his master's side all the time, to preserve everything Count D does and says for later generations. That is why he is right on the scene when his childhood friends make a proposal to the count: they will restore one of the decrepit fortress in his terroritory to serve as a line of defense, and rule it for him. As it is wise to have a proper running fortress along the Yana river in these times of political chaos, the count commands the the Tuigo triplets to do as proposed. For the Tuigo triplets, this is a chance to earn an actual aristocratic title: as bastard children, they have been shunned and denied their own title, but they are ambitious, and willing to work hard to earn a title themselves. The triplets have been educating themselves for such a task since they were children, with each of the brothers focusing on a different task (military leadership, diplomacy and architecture). 

The restoration of the fortress enters its final phase when the triplets get a shocking letter: it's from their father Adallo, who disappeared at their birth. According to the letter, he traveled the world and eventually ended up working for a French merchant who became a parliament member. Now he's going to travel to the Hereditaqua Peninsula and he hopes to see his estranged offspring. The triplets don't feel much for seeing him, as they have never met them and all they know is that he left their mother after she got pregnant, but they also don't want to look petty. Because Adallo is connected to the French parliament, they ask Count D whether they could meet Adallo with Count D as a witness at the restored fortress, now dubbed Four-Head Castle, to make it clear they are not collaborating with a foreign government. The Count agrees, and on the promised day, they all await the arrival of Adallo. However, the triplets seem nervous and they storm out of the fortress on horseback to calm their nerves. It is during their absence Adallo arrives and he walks around the courtyard guided by an old friend, who heard of Adallo's return to the peninsula. However, suddenly a figure emerges from the waterway crossing the courtyard and uses a pistol to shoot Adallo. The figure escapes via the waterway, which leads back to the Yana river, but all the witnesses agree on one thing: they all recognized the assailant as... one of the Tuigo triplets, but which one? The triplets are eventually found in a hut, having been knocked out via a drug mixed with the drink they all had. The conclusion seems clear: one of the brothers wanted to kill their estranged father and drugged the other two so he could commit the murder, and then returned and pretened he had been knocked out too. But how can they find out which of the three is the murderer, especially in this age, when there are no forensic techniques available? That is the driving mystery in Shiotani Ken's 2024 novel Hakushaku to Mittsu no Hitsugi ("The Count and the Three Coffins"). 

I can't be the only one who thought this would be more of a John Dickson Carr-inspired story when they first heard of the title, right? There's no real parallels with The Three Coffins though, and there's not even a real impossible crime going on here, so that's perhaps something worth pointing out to someone who's looking to read this book...

But don't let that be a negative point, for Hakushaku to Mittsu no Hitsugi is a really awesome mystery novel. I first heard about this book when I happened to be visiting Kodansha (the publisher) about a month or two before the book released: I heard editors hyping the "upcoming Shiotani work" up... but not to me (an outsider), but among themselves, as in, they were having private conversations and they were all gushing on the book! So it was obviously not "marketing" that made them all seem so excited for this release, so I decided to pick the book up myself too when it released, and I am glad I did as it is definitely one of my favorite reads of 2024 (yes, this review is posted late). 

The book does start very slowly, as it takes its time to set the historical scene: while the actual peninsula might be fictional, the book is firmly set in the European political reality of the time, with the French revolution and its societal consequences playing a major background role in the motivations of all characters. It is also surprisingly how deep Shiotani paints the fictional kingdom, even portraying traditional clothing and other cultural characteristics. It all makes the setting feel real and convincing, which is necessary, as while the core mystery might sound simple (one of the brothers shooting Adallo), there is of course a lot more going on in the background, and all of that is tied to this specific location in this specific period in history. The book is actually presented as a written account by Quello, who wrote the details of the case down decades after it happened. This account is presented to the modern-day reader, and thus includes historical footnotes by the editor to really sell the "historcal" setting. This is the first time I read a novel by Shiotani, but he definitely makes full use of the fictional setting set within a non-fictional Europe, and it makes me interested in his other works, as I know he always uses unusual settings and premises in his books, and if he can use them as good as he did here...

But as I said, the core mystery is quite simple at first sight: a classic Ellery Queen style "one of the three suspects". However, a bombshell revelation is made soon after the murder, which sends the investigation into chaos. Count D, hoping to demonstrate his leadership and talents to the people he rules by commanding the investigation himself, does the best he can, though he soon has to admit his own Court Investigators, who usually do the criminal investigations, are better suited to the task. However, even they must admit this is a tricky task: the three brothers all claim they were knocked out while they were having a drink before returning to the castle, and none of the witnesses saw something distinguishing about the assailant who shoot Adallo, making it impossible to visually determine who the murderer was. The story starts with an introduction by Quello written well into the nineteenth century, explaining how they didn't have access to the scientific investigation techniques in the late eighteenth century so the investigation might sound amateurish "now". However, as he also points out, this mystery can be solved by pure logic, and Shiotani shows himself to be a great plotter of mysteries, as he indeed does not need to resort to fingerprints, DNA analysis or other modern techniques to determine which of the three brothers shot Adallo. The strands of logic are well-hidden, but not overly complex and quite satisfying. The build-up to the ultimate reveal of all that went on at Four-Head Castle is also fantastic, slowly revealing information that seems to be positive on first sight, but upon second thought suddenly turn things around. Mystery-wise, there are some spots I really like, but I can't really go into them without spoiling too much. The bombshell revelation I mentioned earlier halfway the book already changes a lot of the dynamics of the mystery, making it much more complex, but I think it's more fun to arrive at that point yourself rather than me revealing that early here.

So yeah, I really enjoyed Hakushaku to Mittsu no Hitsugi a lot, and I can't recommend it enough. It starts off really, really slow though, so that is something to keep in mind perhaps, but it is well worth the pay-off. Oh, and I can't finish this post without mentioning that sick cover art, right? The physical book looks really cool on a bookshelf...

 Original Japanese title(s): 潮谷験『伯爵と三つの棺』