She Walks At Night

Unfortunately, She Walks At Night by Seishi Yokomizo, was a little underwhelming. Although the great sleuth with shaggy hair, Kosuke Kindaichi, is in the story, his role is quite marginal and he only appears significantly late in the story. Instead, the novel recycles an idea that was famously used by Agatha Christie in the 1920s. The narrator is a third-rate mystery novelist who is the belitted play-thing ("friend") of a man from a wealthy family which once ruled his peasant ancestors. Our narrator, who covers the series of gruesome murders (including decapitations) that take place in the Koganei and Okayama estates of his wealthy friend's family (Sengoku, but they were the actual power behind the Furugami, an old "feudal" clan), writes a report of the crimes as if it was a detective novel. There are some fun meta references to the mystery writer here and perhaps Seishi Yokomizo was poking fun at the way some may not have taken the genre seriously. But the real weakness here is the little screentime for Kindaichi's character. He has his moments, such as being regarded as a joke by the narrator and Naoki, and there is even an interrupted denouement that is taken in a different direction. But something was amiss here. The little "screentime" of Kindaichi is undoubtedly part of it, yet the actual case itself was not as developed as it should be. It was also difficult to understand why Tokyo cops let the family go to their rural estate without solving the first murder.

Tokyo Express

Seicho Matsumoto's Tokyo Express, translated by Jesse Kirkwood, is a fun (and short!) detective novel from the 1950s. Featuring an older provincial cop and a detective from Tokyo Metropolitan Police, this novel revolves around cracking a seemingly perfect alibi of the person who killed a key witness. The victim, a lower-level government employee important for the investigation into corruption of his government ministry, is killed (but faked as a love suicide). A waitress from a Tokyo restaurant, is believed by local police to have died with the government ministry employee. When a few things about the case don't add up, the local police officer does a little bit of investigating that raises more questions about what actually happened. In Tokyo, the younger detective also investigates the matter, which takes him across Japan from Kyushu to Hokkaido. In order to crack the suspect's alibi, timetables for trains and domestic flights becomes key. Perhaps to highlight just how common corruption was in 1950s Japan, with near impunity for higher level ministry officials like Ishida, the novel ends without a satisfactory conclusion for the sleuths, despite his success at cracking the seemingly impenetrable alibi). It is also somewhat held back by the bare details provided on the central characters. Mihara, for instance, is revealed to have a wife in the end of the novel. Exposition sometimes suffers from jarring transitions or lackthereof. But as a suspenseful and clever mystery novel, it is largely successful. 

The Ark

Overall, The Ark by Haruo Yuki is both fun and successful as a murder mystery. Set in an underground "ark" apparently used by a cult (with some nefarious purpose possibly predating this), the novel features a group of ten trapped underground after an earthquake. Someone then proceeds to kill three members of the group. In terms of the actual mystery behind the murders, there is a great twist at the end which truly changes the meaning of some of the earlier chapters. Nonetheless, we were able to guess the identity of the killer after the third victim's discovery. The novel's genius lies in its clever twist and reminding readers of the importance of understanding motive to solve a mystery. This novel's wannabe sleuth, Shotaro, the cousin of the narrator, builds a consistent logical chain of reasoning to identify the killer, but falls short on establishing a fully convincing motive for all three killings. Unsurprisingly, this will have terrible consequences by the conclusion of the novel. But along the way, the reader is treated by a suspenseful tale of murder and disaster as a group of university friends and the family that joins them turn on each other before the "ark" is completely flooded. One only wishes the novel explored more fully the background of the structure, only hinted at here or there with the appearance of torture instruments and cults. The old friends from their university days are also not fully developed here, but enough exists to establish the air of hostility between one character and the the narrator. 

Death Among the Undead

In our ongoing quest to read Japanese mystery or detective fiction, we finally caught up to the hyped Death Among the Undead. A succcessful fusion of the zombie/horror tale with a locked room murder mystery, the novel brought back fond memories of Isaac Asimov's successful fusion of mystery and science fiction. Here, of course, the reader is given a treat of a tale involving a zombie outbreak caused by a renegade researcher who targets a summer rock festival near Lake Sabea. Things spiral quickly out of control as the two members of a university's "Mystery Society" club are trapped with a number of other students, alumni and the villa manager of a country estate near the zombie outbreak. One member of this party then decides to take advantage of the zombies besieging the building to murder a few people in the group.

Needless to say, this novel succeeds by successfully bringing in suspense from the zombies gradually breaking through the steel doors and the serial murders taking place within the barricaded part of the villa. It also helps the reader with one member of the group having an encyclopedic knowledge of zombies via a film obsession with zombie apocalypse films. Indeed, we were not expecting that academic turn which even correctly traced the zombie film genre's origins back to Haiti and White Zombie. But here it all serves the purpose of establishing the 'rules' for zombie behavior so that their actions can be used to help interpret the killings and who/what orchestrated them. Likewise, Hamura, our narrator, elucidates to the "real" student detective, Hiruko, the conventions of the locked room mystery novel in a way that it useful for readers. It may seem pedantic at first, yet it actually shows that the author was perhaps trying to show that he was respecting both mystery and horror as genre fiction.

Overall, it is done quite well with a few red-herrings that initialliy scared us, particularly since we feared that the novel was going to follow an old trope established by Agatha Christie nearly 100 years ago. Fortunately, we were pleasantly surprised by the revelation of the murderer's identity and methods. The novel also pays homage, at least from what we could tell, to The Decagon House and the history of the locked room mystery in Japan. In fact, Akechi's character was reminiscent of one of the better (and more annoying!) students in the classic Yukito Ayatsuji mystery. One only wishes that Death Among the Undead utilized the notebook found by Shigemoto more thoroughly to make the forces responsible for the bioterrorist attack causing the zombie outbreak more interesting or less peripheral. That must have been put aside for a sequel, but it struck us as strange how marginal the notebook turned out to be in this case. Even with the use of scientific jargon or words from other languages, one would think that a group of university students might have been able to get more out of the notebook...

Invisible Helix

We found Invisible Helix to be somewhat similar to the final Kaga novel. Both rely heavily on themes of mother-child relationships, abandoned children, and "messy" revelations about the background of their sleuths. In this case, however, there is a layer of deception added to one of relationships that leads Yukawa to intervene in the case for his own reasons. There wasn't too much of a mystery in the case involving the murder, but it was actually endearing to see some of the personal and admirable traits of Yukawa. Readers also glimpsed that side of his character in his willingness to teach a child about science and his involvement in that case, or even his involvement in the murder in Silent Parade. It was likewise endearing to see Kusanagi learn more about Yukawa's family. The two seemed to have become friendlier again, with even Utsumi also seeming closer than usual to Yukawa. 

Silent Parade

Keigo Higashino's Silent Parade was full of the plot twists and suspense one expects from the mystery genre, but is a more meandering effort than usual. It was perhaps extended for an extra 50 or so pages longer than necessary, although this case has a more meaningful resolution than A Mid-Summer Equation. Anyway, this time Yukawa, or Detective Galileo, has returned from the United States and is working out of a Tokyo neighborhood or suburb called Kikuno. Whilst there, he reconnects with his old friend, Kusanagi, and his subordinate, Utsumi. As we all know, Yukawa gets dragged into yet another case. This time, it involves a remarkable criminal whose refusal to speak allows him to get away with murder on two occasions. Although this requires suspension of disbelief to accept (but Japanese criminal law is perhaps quite different here), the killer, Hasunuma, eventually becomes a murder victim himself. The identity of the killers is not quite a mystery here, but rather the question of how the murder was done and by whom in a large group leads to some surprising revelations! Throughout his involvement int he case, Yukawa actually became, to some extent, part of the Kikuno community. As a regular at the Namiki-ya restaurant run by the family of one of Hasunuma's victims, one begins to appreciate Yukawa's community involvement and his unique sense of justice. For fans of the series, Yukawa even refers to one of his earlier cases in which he helped Kusanagi close another baffling case. This shows what may be some kind of emotional growth in Yukawa whose presence in the community of Kukuno shows another side.

A Midsummer's Equation

A Midsummer's Equation by Keigo Higashino was an intriguing read. More ambitious than the previous entries in the Detective Galileo series for its huge cast of characters, it also features Yukawa visiting a small town on the coast. Therefore, a task force involving the local police, prefectural detectives, and Tokyo detectives Kusanagi and Utsumi are working to solve the murder of a retired detective from Tokyo in the town of Hari Cove. In addition, several other characters, including a 5th grader and possible suspects in the case have short chapters showing their perspective on events in the novel. In some cases, it felt a little excessive, although the use of Kyohei, the 5th grader, was humorous and included a number of important clues to the mystery. We will never forget Yukawa lecturing this child about science or helping him with his summer homework, either. Overall, this is yet another Detective Galileo mystery in which the detectives must search deeper in the past of those involved in a murder to close the case. In this novel, things are not so cut and dried, and there is a deeper meaning to many of Yukawa's interactions with Narumi, Kyohei and others. The largest flaw was perhaps never divulging a more plausible motive for one of the characters heavily involved in the case. It would probably have been even more effective if fewer characters received their short chapters detailing their actions...Of course, we were glad to see the author avoided one of the easier endings possible for a heart-wrenching tale such as this one...

Salvation of a Saint

After reading Keigo Higashino's Salvation of a Saint, we are still unsure of our commitment to reading all of the Detective Galileo series. Like the previous novel, it is quite clear who the murderer is, but Kusanagi and other Tokyo detectives consult physics professor Yukawa to uncover the "trick" used by the killer. In this case, unlike The Devotion of Suspect X, we were able to correctly guess at least part of the method used by the killer to hide crucial evidence. So, in some respects, Salvation of a Saint was less suspenseful. Moreover, Yukawa only appears in the novel almost 1/3 of the way through, making Kusanagi and junior detective Utsumi even more important for carrying the plot. Fortunately, Utsumi as the bright female detective who, in some ways, is more observant than her male superiors yet still draws on "feminine intuition" at times, challenges Kusanagi's urge to clear the only real suspect from suspicion. It's similar to Kishitani in the first novel in the series, but Utsumi seems to be much sharper and intelligent. Indeed, her competition of sorts with Kusanagi over the primary suspect responsible for the poisoning of Mashiba is what actually draws Yukawa into the narrative. Yukawa, who is a bit distant from Kusanagi, is hilariously condescending and relentlessly logical to great effect. But it is ultimately something done by an emotional Kusanagi which actually helps resolve the case. Overall, this is far less shocking or clever than The Devotion of Suspect X, but we will continue reading the series.

The Devotion of Suspect X

Keigo Higashino's The Devotion of Suspect X has kindled our interest in his Detective Galileo series. After reading the somewhat depressing last Kaga mystery, this series promises some interesting twists on the mystery genre. Like Malice, the reader quickly learns who is the killer, but the twist at the end about how the crime's true nature was hidden was quite ingenious. Careful attention to details from the beginning of the novel, of course, would make it rather obvious what transpired. But as a character study and intriguing investigation, The Devotion of Suspect X is full of suspense and intriguing turns. One only wishes Yukawa, the physicist friend of the lead detective and the titular Detective Galileo, was a stronger presence. We prefer mystery novels with the sleuth more foregrounded. Nonetheless, the novel succeeded overall, even if the ending was rather predictable. As usual, its prose is rather straight-forward, the narrative is engaging, and the city of Tokyo or its various wards feels like another character in the story. The only problem was the typos in the English translation, although none were enough to mar understanding. There may also be an inconsistency with Ishigami's character. We swear that in one of the early chapters, he said that he did not have a cellular phone. But in the second half of the novel, he uses a cell phone to make a call while on the campus of the high school he teaches at...

The Final Curtain

Keigo Higashino's The Final Curtain was actually somewhat underwhelming. Like his other mysteries featuring Kaga as protagonist, this one emphasizes emotional trauma and turmoil. The big theme here is relationships between parents and their children, with the allure of The Final Curtain coming from its revelation of Kaga's own past. This was, naturally, a major reason we had to read the entire novel. But, the actual mystery here was less interesting. There was only one real suspect(s?), but uncovering what actually happened in the case of a double homicide in Tokyo forces Kaga, and his son, to delve into the past of Kaga's mother and a theater director. Perhaps due to the personal emphasis on Kaga's mother, this novel was a little longer than the other ones we have read by Higashino (about 390 pages). Instead of the suspense driving us to read it all in one go, we actually found our interest waning as it became increasingly predictable how the case would close. 

Newcomer

Keigo Higashino's Newcomer was yet another mystery novel we devoured in a day. Featuring the brilliant detective Kaga working out of the precinct in Nihonbashi, the book consists of a series of chapters offering vignettes into the lives of various residents and businesses in the neighborhood of the victim. Kaga appears to be loving his new neighborhood as he investigates various tiny details about the victim, her background, and the places in the area she frequented. Along the way, Kaga helps with the emotional impact of the murder on the people who knew the victim and those who barely knew her. This novel features some rather strong scenes or chapters in which the victim's ex-husband and son discover things about themselves and their family that they never knew. It was suspenseful and written in a way that truly highlights the uniqueness of this Tokyo neighborhood. However, the novel could have added more clues along the way for the reader to more easily guess the identity of the killer. It wrapped up nicely and made sense, but because not all characters are introduced earlier in the novel, it feels a bit cheap when the killer's identity was revealed...

Malice

Keigo Higashino's Malice is a whydunit page-turner we read in one night. Short, breezy yet very suspenseful, this murder mystery focuses entirely on motive. It's pretty clear who the culprit is in this story, but understanding his motives for killing Hidaka becomes a mystery in itself. The culprit has constructed a series of lies and planted evidence about why he committed the deed. In uncovering the truth of this case, our sleuth, Kyoichiro Kaga must confront his own demons from his stint as a teacher and explore the theme of bullying and pure "malice" that accompanied it in the childhood of the victim and killer. Like the other novel by this author that we've read, we suspect that a keen interest in the emotional and psychological state of murderers is a key part of the writer's interest in the genre. It allows him to deconstruct the murder mystery and focus on other elements like the "why" of it all. In this case, it largely succeeded, despite our initial reservations. The story is full of just enough misdirects, intrigue, suspense, and emotionally-charged episodes to retain our interest.

The Clock House Murders

We were a little underwhelmed by the latest translation of a Yukito Ayatsuji mystery novel. Despite featuring the shaggy sleuth, Shishiya, again, in yet another murder mystery involving a house designed by Nakamura Seiji, this one was a little too predictable as so many of its central characters were killed off. It also lacked the macabre humor in The Decagon House Murders. Don't get me wrong, however. It still has its suspenseful moments and "works" as a whodunit with interesting digressions on time and clocks. Unsurprisingly, part of the killer's "trick" involves time, too. But this novel felt a little excessive in length and our sleuth, now a successful mystery writer based in Tokyo, is greatly "aided" in the identification of the killer by the fact that one of the victims lived to identify their assailant. 

Murder at the Black Cat Café

Murder at the Black Cat Café is one of the lesser works of Seishi Yokomizo. Ostensibly written in reference to the common mystery novel of the faceless corpse, the gruesome tale hardly features Kosuke Kindaichi. Indeed, the story felt rushed and hardly developed one of the suspects in the homicide(s). It certainly began as a promising tale set in a seedy part of Tokyo with a faceless, decomposed woman's corpse discovered near the eponymous Black Cat Cafe. But as one likely expects, the case features a trick surprise that ultimately elucidates the whole affair in a rather silly way. The short story also included in this translation is scarcely any better. Another gruesome case involving elite families of a village, only one of these rich families has managed to maintain its status by the end of World War II. A daughter of this group sends letters to her ill brother about a possible case of fake identity for Daisuke, her brother who returned from World War II. It is unclear if he is who he says he is, so Tsuruyo must piece together what happened and find out who committed two murders in her household. The twist is a bit cheap and not particularly interesting. And as in the previous case, Kindaichi is barely in this. Fortunately, there are no silly near-death experiences for our sleuth in this short story. Let us hope that future translations of novels featuring Kosuke Kindaichi focus on her superior works instead of lesser duds.

The Man Who Died Seven Times

The Man Who Died Seven Times by Yasuhiko Nishizawa is a very well-written mystery tale using the concept of a time loop. Our protagonist, Hisataro, a high school student, has suffered from the Trap, or the experience of being condemned to repeat 9 days of his life periodically. He just happens to experience it during a moment of heightened tensions as his wealthy grandfather is planning to name a new heir. Dysfunctional does not even begin to describe the Fuchigami family's conflict, resentment, pettiness, and willingness to do whatever it takes to inherit the family patriarch's wealth and leadership of his profitable company. Hisataro, however, has no interest in inheriting his grandfather's fortune or leading his company. He does, however, want his grandfather to survive and must shape the timeline to ensure that his grandfather survives the final loop. Although he usually fails to ensure his grandfather's survival, repetition of the day with his memories intact allows him to use the incrementally-increased knowledge and experience to better plan for the day. As one might expect, there is a good "twist" here and the novel ends in a way that accentuates the family's ongoing feuds despite all that Hisataro achieves. In other words, this novel does a great (and humorous) job depicting a totally dysfunctional family and the benefits (or curse) of a time loop. One can change one's fate, but perhaps only slightly...

A Death in Tokyo

Keigo Higashino's A Death in Tokyo was not exactly what we expected. Although well-written and effective for demonstrating how a murder tied to the Nihonbashi has calamitous repercussions on the lives of various people, the actual unveiling of the killer was somewhat disappointing. We were expecting something more akin to a whudunit with more clues for the reader to guess who the murderer was. And in that regard, a character who should have been a potential suspect is not even included as a character. Upon reflection, there are hints to the identity of the true killer, but the ending deprived the reader of any real chance of participating in the deduction. Nonetheless, we shall continue or incessant consumption of Japanese mystery novels. The Man Who Died Seven Times will likely be our next read.

The Lady Killer

AI-generated depiction of a 1960s Tokyo bar

Masako Togawa's The Lady Killer was certainly a suspenseful reader. However, the whodunit aspects of this mystery were rather easy to predict. After all, there were really only two viable suspects of the serial killings of Honda's lovers. Fortunately, the author's experiences in the nightlife world of 1960s Tokyo lend a rather realistic setting for this gruesome novel. Dive bars, cheap restaurants, brothel Turkish bathhouses, gay bars, and other elements of the seedy underbelly of Tokyo feature prominently in this tale. Ichiro Honda's escapades across this urban landscape in search of new women to "hunt" eventually instigate a series of quite chilling murders designed to frame him. Togawa uses as one of the "detectives" a lawyer at a firm eager to defend Honda once he's arrested and framed for the murders of some of his past lovers, juxtaposing a more solidly middle-class conventional person exploring the criminal and sordid nightlife of Tokyo to investigate the truth of what occurred. The ultimately disappointing unveiling of the murderer was predictable, although striking at the heart of the matter of Honda's problems with marriage.

The Labyrinth House Murders

The Labyrinth House Murders is a better novel than The Mill House Murders and an entertaining read for all fans of the mystery genre. With mystery writers, editors, critics, and our amateur sleuth, Shimada Kiyoshi, a series of killings takes place at a house designed by architect Nakamura Seiji. As one might expect, the building alludes to the myth of the Minotaur whilst also paying tribute to the mystery genre. In addition, the novel is structured as a story within a story with a surprise revelation at the end that I did not foresee at all. Indeed, it was something "cheap" and silly in some respects, but only if one forgets to always pay close attention to how the narrator of a murder mystery describes characters or scenes. Overall, this mystery has rekindled our interest in Shimada Kiyoshi as a 'great detective' worth paying attention. The creative use of prologues and epilogues and the meta-ness of the narrative were additionally great touches.

Murder in the Crooked House

Soji Shimada Murder in the Crooked House was a little underwhelming. Our sleuth, Kiyoshi, doesn't appear until the final third of the novel. And while his entry into the mysterious case of the serial murders at the odd Hokkaido home built on a slant is hilarious, one cannot help but feel somewhat disappointed. Furthermore, there are no astrological, alchemical or occult themes that our astrologer-sleuth must confront (unless one considers the Golem from Jewish folklore). It's certainly less occult and graphic than Tokyo Zodiac Murders, but also more convoluted and somewhat absurd. The big reveal at the end also fell a little flat since one of the victims, a lecherous older man, is turned into a war criminal during World War II in Burma. Needless to say, the novel is a bit of a mess, involving an unbelievable concept to elucidate the locked room murder(s). 

The Tokyo Zodiac Murders

Soji Shimada's The Tokyo Zodiac Murders was a fun whodunit. Using an astrologist as the sleuth who quickly solves the case of a serial murderer several decades after the killings was interesting, provocative, and amusing at the same time. And, as with all the best of the genre, the unveiling of the true killer was a huge surprise. And Kiyoshi as our astrologist Sherlock and Kazumi as his Watson were a fun pairing. I suppose if one remembers that it is important to always look at who benefits from the killings, the revelation makes a little more sense. But this was very well-done. The only disappointment was that Kiyoshi Mitarai, after insisting that they take their investigations to Kyoto, disappears from the narrative for several short chapters featuring his "Watson" attempting to solve the case. We prefer our sleuths to be more in the limelight and to have more interactions with the list of suspects and witnesses, etc. Nonetheless, this was an engaging read that we could not put down.