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. 

The Mill House Murders

The second translation of a mystery novel featuring Shimada Kiyoshi as sleuth also involves yet another unique building designed by the infamous architect, Nakamura Seiji. Indeed, the story is structurally similar to the previous novel, The Decagon House Murders, with alternating chapters that connected narrative halves of the tale. In this novel, the story alternates between the past murders and the present, when events are doomed to repeat at the Mill House. Our sleuth, Kiyoshi, visits the house a year after heinous murders/"incidents" and, of course, is eager to find out what really happened to an old friend of his who was blamed for the murders last year but vanished off the face of the earth. What transpires next is a mixture of suspense, detailed reviews of the killings from the previous year through narrative flashbacks in first and third person, and a denouement worthy of the great Agatha Christie. In fact, without spoiling the ending, we can say readers will find the reveal to be similar to one of Christie's most famous Poirot mysteries. This, of course, is intentional in honraku mysteries. The true highlight of this novel, however, is Shimada finally gets to do the big "reveal" and explain the case to the murderer and others. You will not see it coming.