tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57038422224047671402024-02-08T20:00:46.569+01:00混沌の狭間On the Threshold of Chaosmousoukyokuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00755066580829504834noreply@blogger.comBlogger67125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703842222404767140.post-13317866530375299982012-07-16T06:39:00.003+02:002012-07-16T15:27:10.500+02:00The Adventures of Ellery Queen<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/adventures.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/adventures.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
As TomCat also mentions in his recent <a href="http://moonlight-detective.blogspot.de/2012/07/sealed-rooms-and-ghoulish-laughter.html">worshipping post</a>, the more Carr you read the more you appreciate him and that's certainly what happened to me in the last months. I don't really prefer either him or Queen as an author anymore and I've gotten attuned to the duo of Merrivale and Masters, but as a detective figure I still enjoy Ellery a lot; in contrast to certain other readers it seems. Maybe I was primed by arrogant, eccentric detectives in Japanese novels already even without reading anything with Philo Vance in it. Anyway, I was kind of reluctant to pick up <i>The Egyptian Cross Mystery</i> due to the prevalent opinion it would have been more suitable for a short story frame, which is comparable to how I felt about <a href="http://kontonnohazama.blogspot.de/2012/03/dutch-shoe-mystery.html"><i>The Dutch Shoe Mystery</i></a>. So I decided to finally read the first of Queen's short story collections instead and here are my own two cents about the stories.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The collection starts off decently with <i>The African Traveller</i> in which Ellery and three students from his Applied Criminology course investigate a murder of a man in a hotel room, prompting them to spot and interpret the clues for themselves and tell him their solutions later. The structure is entertaining from the start and even though I didn't really like the way he discarded the other theories as the elimination process isn't much more logical than the other discarded theories, the solution was pretty satisfying overall.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Unfortunately, the following 3 or 4 stories were rather disappointing for me. <i>The Hanging Acrobat </i>feels rather silly as not only the solution is extremely obvious once a certain aspect becomes apparent, but the idea of the culprit is incredibly stupid thinking he could get away like that. It was a shame because I really anticipated something more rewarding from the question why someone should choose not to shoot, stab, gas or bludgeon his victim but hang her with an old rope, even though all the other weapons happened to be in that exact room. I've read something much more satisfying by Ayukawa Tetsuya, when Hoshikage Ryuuzou had to ask himself why the culprit chose to batter the victim to death with a sandal instead of using strangulation as a method with hanging ropes specifically designed for that purpose.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Maybe <i>The One-Penny Black</i> isn't a weak story after all, as the deductions were logical and all, but there wasn't anything surprising about it and in the end it was much ado about nothing with just a robbery of valuable items and without any murder. But this might just be my personal preferences speaking. <i>The Bearded Lady</i> features a dying message, but it's such a simple one it's boring even for a short story frame and again there's absolutely nothing surprising about the solution. What I liked was the role of the detective figure in the development of the case, as it can also be seen in a similar way in another story of this collection. <i>The Three Lame Men</i> was slightly better as you could at least appreciate the whole thing as something decent even if the explanation for the footprints of three lame men was rather obvious.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I was wondering why the cousins were acclaimed for their short stories by now, but fortunately <i>The Invisible Lover</i> was the first really rewarding story and I liked it even more than the first one. It's difficult to sum up the premise of these stories as most of them are only about 20 pages long. In this one, Ellery is asked to prove the innocence of someone whose weapon's bullet is found in the murdered victim's body in a boarding house. This was the first story with really logical deductions and an inevitable solution and encouraged me to finish this book.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>The Teakwood Case</i> is one of my favorites. It's a great multi-layered puzzler in the vein of <a href="http://kontonnohazama.blogspot.de/2012/02/french-powder-mystery.html"><i>The French Powder Mystery</i></a> where Ellery deduces, learns more, delves deeper and nearer the core of the matter and finally arrives at the only possible solution, which was guessable but extremely satisfying in this case. <i>The Two-Headed Dog</i> again features a rather obvious solution but it's one of the most entertaining stories as it actually goes to the trouble of creating a gothic atmosphere despite the short frame it's told in.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>The Glass-Domed Clock</i> is another one of my favorites, even though for totally different reasons. It's not entirely about the logic this time, as part of the dying message consisting of the titular glass-domed clock and an amethyst requires more imagination and certain knowledge rather difficult to grasp for readers today, but the rest is almost strictly mathematical as Ellery also points out and it comes together in a wonderful manner at the end. <i>The Seven Black Cats </i>features a pretty ingenious solution for the mystery of an old invalid woman that hates cats but nonetheless continuously orders one of the same race and sex every week. It also crosses over into more serious matter and pays off brilliantly in the end. It might actually be the last entry in my personal Top 3 from this collection, if <i>The Mad Tea-Party</i> wasn't so extremely memorable. The essential clue and deduction concerning a vanishing clock are nothing complicated and it's solved rather easily once you change your perspective a little bit, but it's pretty clever nonetheless and the reason for the strange presents the guests receive is not that important for the case as such, but it surely evokes a big smirk,</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
7 or 8 out of 11 stories range from solid to awesome and the rest is not entirely bad as in gruesome and unbearable, so as long as you can endure the few weaker ones this is a highly recommended collection and I think the cousins were really good at plotting within a short page count as the cases are all perfectly fitted for this frame. I'm inclined to try out more in this fashion.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>mousoukyokuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00755066580829504834noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703842222404767140.post-26151884538877514362012-07-06T06:00:00.002+02:002012-07-09T19:06:44.205+02:00The Red Widow Murders<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/widow.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/widow.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Michael Tairlaine is invited to a strange kind of gathering at the Mantlings' house, where Sir Henry Merrivale will also show up as an impartial witness. The partakers draw cards, which will determine who stays in a supposedly haunted room. Well, not exactly haunted by a supernatural force, but the room itself seems to be killing people as soon as they stay alone in that room and supposedly it does so by poison, since that seems most likely considering the records of the cases in the past which reach back to the time of the French Revolution. After someone is decided to go into the Widow's Room, he is to answer the others' calling every 15 minutes. And he does so just until the time is over and the others barge through the door to find out the victim must have already been dead for an hour! He died of curare, but no wounds for the poison to enter are found on the body and nobody could have entered the room anyway since it was under constant observation. And how did a dead man answer their calls?<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>The latter point is explained pretty early and it's a very simple reason, but it's not the focus of the mystery anyway. The main aspect of the plot is the legend of the room that kills and the method how the victim of the current case was poisoned in that locked room. Sadly, the locked room factor kind of gets pushed in the background since it's obvious there must be some kind of poisoning trick that works without the culprit entering the room himself. At least H.M. and Masters aren't wasting their time on the impossibility part and focus on the poisoning trick.<br />
<br />
And surprisingly enough, with the mostly distinct and vivid characters (best so far after the first two Merrivale novels) and constant revelations and developments Carr manages to keep the plot interesting despite of its length. The trick itself is rather simple but pretty ingenious nonetheless. However, there are some issues concerning fair play and clueing. Or at least, Carr's convoluted plotting (I think he kind of entangled himself this time) will divide readers' opinions. This is mostly due to the murderer being... not a clever criminal, as Masters also points out in the final chapter. I for one don't mind that fact as such, since it's not unrealistic for a murderer's plan not to be perfect. After all, they always get caught in these novels eventually, so does it really matter? It might, in terms of fair play. Depending on the reader, it might not be expected of the murderer's plan to be flawed and extremely risky and dependant on luck. But is it really that different from the cases in Carr novels where the culprit does not even have something one could call a plan and is helped by exterior factors and the actions of other characters? Personally I don't think so and the latter situation isn't often criticized while the one in this novel is, so I don't think that's really fair.<br />
<br />
Anyway, for those who read the book, a small summary of the clues, whether they are fair or not (<b>SPOILERS!!</b> mark to read):<br />
<br />
<div style="color: white;">
1) Bender's habit of clicking his tongue against his cheek.</div>
<div style="color: white;">
2) Him not eating anything but soup.</div>
<div style="color: white;">
3) The corn; i.e. Bender not telling anyone about such matters.</div>
<div style="color: white;">
4) The blood in the washbowl.</div>
<div style="color: white;">
5) The flask. At least after considering all the other facts.</div>
<div style="color: white;">
So we have quite some hints, but as H.M. also admits, you need a lot of imagination rather than logical thinking to figure out this one. I think the clues are quite apparent though, at least compared to those that need a page reference like in <i>The White Priory Murders</i>.</div>
<br />
I agree that it's kind of unfair to say they didn't find any wound for the poison to enter and then pull that solution in the end, but it's not as unimaginable as the thing the police overlooked in <i>The Three Coffins</i>... And let's face it: There simply <i>had</i> to be some way. Otherwise there wouldn't be any point in the characters constantly speculating about that matter just to totally discard it in the end. You don't read a whole novel for that outcome. I think the murder method is quite well done and the clues are there, they just don't solely rely on logic.<br />
<br />
All in all, I do not dislike the trick, but the whole plan that was built around the essential murder method relies on luck, chance and a compliant victim, even though I personally did not find the latter to be that inconceivable. Carr also manages to hold up the atmosphere in comparison to <i>The Plague Court Murders</i> and surprisingly he does so without any real suggestion of the supernatural, so points for that and the characters this time. It's a shame that Carr seems to have lost himself in his own plotting somewhere along the way though, so this is not recommended for newcomers. It's a pretty solid novel nonetheless, but not on par with his really great ones, so anyone already liking Carr might just give it a shot as long as it cannot do any damage. </div>mousoukyokuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00755066580829504834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703842222404767140.post-8865088285666752612012-06-29T01:14:00.002+02:002012-07-09T19:06:44.257+02:00鍵のかかった部屋 「防犯探偵・榎本シリーズ ドラマ版」<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/TV/enomochan.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/TV/enomochan.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Kagi no kakatta heya </i>is the TV drama adaptation of Kishi Yuusuke's series of locked room mysteries featuring young attorney Aoto Junko and security consultant (professional thief??) Enomoto Kei. The stories were collected under the name of the third book/second short story collection in the series and Aoto's boss Serizawa was added to the main cast. Each episode is about a case where Enomoto has to explain a locked room scenario so that Aoto and Serizawa can prove someone's innocence in a murder case or find the culprit in what at first seemed like a suicide. So yes, a whole series that deals solely with locked rooms! How awesome is that? Pretty much, but due to time restraints and the relatively continuous theme and structure of the episodes, I'll just illustrate my Top 3 and give a final opinion of the whole series.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>#2 鍵のかかった部屋 (<i>The Locked Room</i>)</b><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/TV/kagi02.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/TV/kagi02.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
After five years in custody, ex-thief Aida visits the house of his older sister and witnesses what seems to be the suicide of his <i>hikikomori</i>-nephew via charcoal briquettes. His room was locked from the inside and due to the apparent suicide method the door and the windows were also sealed with tape. His father has to drill a hole into the door and let Aida pick the lock via the thumbturn so that they can enter the room. They find paper streamers dangling from the ceiling and Aida's nephew dead in his own bed. Aida is not convinced that his nephew would commit suicide though, so Team Enomoto has to find a way this suicide could in fact have been a locked room murder.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
As in most of this series' episodes, the whodunnit is pretty obvious and the howdunnit is the focus of the mystery. The method behind the locked room is a fairly scientific one and Japanese (re)viewers compared it to the Galileo series by Higashino Keigo, but I think in this case the trick was hinted at quite sufficiently during the episode. Even if you did not have the necessary knowledge to explain every bit perfectly, you could come up with the basic idea if you paid attention to the details and think about why the characters were thought up this way. Furthermore I always like it when an author tries to think of a method to make a modern apartment room into a locked room while not relying on tricks that are too difficult and complicated that the more or less common reaser would be able to come up with.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>#5 鍵のかかっていない部屋 「原作:歪んだ箱」 </b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>(<i>The Unlocked Room</i> [original title: <i>The Distorted Box</i>]</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/TV/kagi05.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/TV/kagi05.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
High school teacher Sugizaki and his fiance plan on moving into their own house, but an earthquake deforms the building and renders it defect, or it rather was a structural failure to begin with. After discussions concerning the breach of contract, the contractor is found dead in the defect building. Considering his head injury and that the room was completely locked, it seems like an accident when he slipped and fell down, but the strange part is that due to the deformation of the walls, the door can only be closed once from the inside and is then stuck in the frame and cannot be opened without considerable force and help. So why should the contractor have trapped himself willingly? Furthermore the door could only be closed by hammering against it from the inside and there was no way doing that from outside of the room by just pulling the door. So even if it was murder, how did the murderer escape the room or close the door from the outside?</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The setting of a defect building is very unique and the trick itself is my favorite in the whole series since it is a rather complex and fascinating one, but it's still not overly mechanical in a way that no reader/viewer would come up with it. I actually did think of most of the method myself and just forgot a minor detail during the episode that would have enabled me to put the pieces together to 100%. I loved this case!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>#7 狐火の家 (<i>House of the Will-o'-the-Wisp</i>)</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/TV/kagi07.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/TV/kagi07.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b> </b> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In a small rural village known for its legend of the will-o'-the-wisp, an inexplicable locked room murder took place (probability of accident or suicide zero this time). Nishino finds his daughter Manami dead after she has apparently been thrown against a wall of the family's traditional Japanese house, with clear marks of physical struggle against an opponent left on her body. The old building has a untypically modern lock installed at the front door and all windows, except an open one with no footprints in the mud below, were closed as well. Plus a flower picking woman at an apple tree plantation would have seen anybody entering the house at the time the murder must have happened. This situation results in Nishino being convicted for the murder of his own daughter, but Nishino's friend Endou suspects Nishino's son Takeru as the murderer. Takeru is the reason for the unusual habit of locking a house in that kind of rural region, since he once stabbed a fellow pupil and has not been seen since. But even if he did come back to steal the Nishino's family treasure in form of gold ingots and killed his sister in the process, how was he able to get into the house and escape from an open window without leaving footprints?</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The solution to this case differs from the other ones in a certain way, but it reminded me the most of classical Carr-ish skills and not because of the will-o'-the-whisp but because of the plotting and structuring of the murder and the excellent misdirection. Saying more could spoil the solution and maybe you should even refrain from watching the opening sequence this time, as every time there are little details shown that sometimes hint at the solution a tad too directly... even though I was never spoiled myself.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Initially I wanted to say something about the finale of the show as well, but time is scarce, so I'll just say that I really liked how they handled Enomoto's character in the end and did not try to change what was apparent from the beginning in a last minute plan. In general I think it's really remarkable and experimental to produce and broadcast a show with such a distinct focus on locked room mysteries in a time slot popular for its romance dramas and I was quite surprised and happy to see <i>Kagi no kakatta heya </i>getting between 15 and 18% viewing rate with a peak at 21%. To classical detective shows this can only in Japan I guess... not counting any kind of Sherlocks.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The budget also seemed to be surprisingly high and everything looks very posh. The soundtrack differs significantly from for example <a href="http://kontonnohazama.blogspot.de/2012/03/blog-post_18.html"><i>Nazotoki wa Dinner no ato de</i></a> in that it's something where not every track seems to be composed for that exact kind of scene in that exact show. Overall the OST is kind of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKjPDrfioAs&feature=relmfu">Electro-</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtuOND6KERg&feature=relmfu">House-driven</a> at times, which I don't mind at all, and it certainly underlines the entertainment value of the show. When it comes to the relevant scenes, the music is still very fitting by all means. Examples: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ocAoKigHhU">1</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbWpIsuV5hw&feature=relmfu">2</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1CE-Shqiyw&feature=relmfu">3</a>.<br />
<br />
Kishi Yuusuke stated in an interview that Carr and Ayukawa Tetsuya made him fall in love with the locked room genre and it certainly shows. There are also new takes on well-known devices and themes like suicides/accidents in locked rooms sealed with tape (including poisonous insects) or the dog that doesn't bark or murder during a stage performance. Some of these turn out rather ridiculous, cheap or at least highly improbable, but overall I really liked 6 or 7 out of the 10 cases and still found the rest at least entertaining, so all in all this is highly recommended for any locked room enthusiast, especially since it's still hot and <a href="http://earth-colors.dreamwidth.org/tag/drama+subs:+kagi+no+kakatta+heya">subbed</a>!</div>mousoukyokuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00755066580829504834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703842222404767140.post-71279310856884954492012-06-24T07:49:00.001+02:002012-07-09T19:06:44.236+02:00The Fourth Door<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/4thdoor.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/4thdoor.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">After the suicide of Victor Darnley's wife in a locked attic room, the Darnley house and especially said room became to be known as haunted and none of its tenants stayed for long. But when mediumistic Alice Latimer and her husband Patrick move in, things take a sudden turn. Alice suspects that Victor's wife had actually been murdered in that locked room and that the footsteps and noises at night symbolize her spirit's manifestation and the wish to expose her murderer. Consequently an experiment is planned in the attic: Patrick will stay in the haunted room to confirm Mrs. Darnley's manifestation and the door will be sealed with wax and a rare coin while somebody knocks on the door every half an hour to see whether Patrick answers and everything is fine. When Patrick ceases to answer and the seal is removed, Patrick is not in the room and instead the corpse of another person lies on the floor!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">I've been reading about French author Paul Halter for quite some time now as Japanese locked room enthusiasts are praising him everywhere and Nikaidou Reito even considers himself to be his Japanese equivalent as a modern-day Carr so to speak. They do share similarities like the focus on gloomy atmosphere, mysterious incidents and - above all - impossible crimes, but there are quite obvious differences as well. Most notably, while Nikaidou's setting (in his Nikaidou Ranko series) are the late Japanese 60s adding several borrowings from older Japanese authors like Edogawa Ranpo or Yokomizo Seishi, Halter emulates Carr's style in its entirety; meaning his plots (in the Twist series) are set in post-war Britain. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">And here we get to what's being criticized about his writing style: The apparent lack of any feeling for place and time. While you feel that Nikadou clearly knows what he's writing about since he sets his plots in his young days, Halter simply did not live at that time in that country, so you cannot really entitle him the French Carr, since only Carr could write what he fabricated at that time in those places. All in all Halter feels more like a neo-orthodox writer whose stories are set in some kind of simulacrum of long gone times. And once you just leave it at that and don't compare him to his master, the plot of this novel is tremendously enjoyable and makes for a real page-turner. The little summary up there does not even begin to describe what's happening in this book and while some of the mysterious events are explained rather easily, it's just those where you don't expect any more elaborate solution anyway. The only mystery where the solution kind of disappointed me was that of the missing footprints at the second crime scene, but just as in Carr's <i>The Plague Court Murders</i>, this cannot be considered the main treat of the book.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">Speaking of <i>Plague Court</i>, I realized this again: I did like the narrative of that novel compared to what I may have said elsewhere and the basic idea behind the locked room, workable or not, is a classic pattern reusable for many other settings. What I didn't like was the fact that anybody in the book just didn't care about any possible supernatural explanation after the murder, so I asked myself why the whole narrative was necessary at all when not even the characters believe in what has been suggested from the beginning. And that's what I liked about <i>The Fourth Door</i>: You are always reminded that the characters are really bewildered by the developments and don't know what to think anymore, while in <i>Plague Court</i> they are like "Oh I know it was a hoax all along!" even though they were talking differently at the beginning of the novel.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">And speaking of the main treat: The locked room in the attic basically was something I already knew from two stories by the same Japanese author (one written around the same time of Halter's debut), so Halter's trick sadly did not surprise me with the same feeling of originality it might have for other readers. The big plus is that in Halter's case, regardless of the probability that no one notices anything, the solution is fairly hinted and I might have come up with it even if it was totally new to me. In short: I already read something similar elsewhere, but anyone else who didn't might find this to be a brilliant locked room trick (always subject to personal preferences and suspension of disbelief and considering the setting the author chose for this particular trick).</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">A strong read for any locked room enthusiast though, especially those who like the typical atmosphere that comes with a lot of the genre's more gothic classics. Anyone interested should definitely <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Fourth-Door-Houdini-Murders/dp/1461176581/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_t_4">get a copy</a> and support John Pugmire and his future efforts in publishing more translations of Halter's work. Given the theme of the haunted room, I should really read <i>The Red Widow Murders</i> right now... but next week is just too chaotic.</span></div>mousoukyokuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00755066580829504834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703842222404767140.post-36144691106264122232012-06-19T19:35:00.000+02:002012-07-09T19:06:44.209+02:00The Gold Solution + Deadline<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/gold_solution.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/gold_solution.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Alexander and Norma Gold are asked to help prove their friend Pearl's niece's fiance innocent after he was found bent over his employer's dying body with the bloody knife in his hands. The victim is Roger Talbott, one of America's most famous Architects, and the crime scene is his studio floor atop his brownstone mansion, which was as securely guarded as a fortress by various devices. With the date of the trial getting closer, Alexander is forced to solve this puzzle quickly, which isn't exactly the most appropriate activity while recovering from a heart attack...
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/gold_deadline.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/gold_deadline.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Alexander and Norma are invited by billionaire Max Baron to join him and his family during a performance of the Boguslav Ballet. Baron suspects someone "reading his mind", or simply put the leakage of information, and the request for Alexander to solve that issue is the original purpose for the invitation, However Alec and Norma are soon hired for something entirely different, when Viktor Boguslav is stabbed in the theatre box adjoining the Barons and the Golds, only parted by a curtain and with Baron's son Jeffrey as Boguslav's assistant sleeping right behind his employer in the cloakroom in front of a locked door! The Golds have a mere deadline of less than three days to prove someone else than Jeffrey could do it.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
If you want to know something about Herbert Resnicow in general first, I refer to <a href="http://moonlight-detective.blogspot.de/search/label/Herbert%20Resnicow">TomCat's efforts</a> at spreading the enthusiasm for anglophone Neo-GAD writers. I will just sum up my thoughts on the two first books in the Gold Series that I read consecutively right way, which should already be a good thing.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
And mostly it is. I do have to say though, that <i>The Gold Solution</i> sadly is an overall flawed effort in comparison to <i>Deadline</i>. But let's focus on the good aspects that can be found in both books first. What Resnicow was already good at in his first novel are the characters and the dialogue. It's all just really readable, quite witty and makes for a page-turner right away. Resnicow's depiction of the world behind the architecture industry is made interesting even to any reader with no connection to that field and more importantly, while many authors tend to leave the victim at the status of simply being a piece in the puzzle, we get his whole background and actually almost get to know him better than the rest of the living persons, even though we never read a spoken word by him. I found that to be a rather refreshing technique in the form of gathered research by Pearl and Norma, the latter being an ex-librarian and the narrator of the Gold novels, and a very entertaining one at that.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
So we have an intriguing puzzle and interesting characters. What's the negative part? Well, the <i>solution </i>wasn't exactly <i>golden</i> <strike>(sorry I just had to say it!)</strike>... You except a lot more after that exciting setting of the murder and not a cheap way around the situation, which basically was how I felt about the explanation in the end. It's certainly a workable method, but totally uninspired and in fact boring, which is the last thing a solution to an impossible crime situation should be. I'd even prefer something improbable and fantastic since it's at least surprising and gets a reaction out of the reader. It's not like the novel isn't worth a read as the characters and dialogue are already somewhat satisfying, but this is supposed to resemble or emulate a classical detective novel after all. The only remotely remarkable aspect might be Talbott's dying message, which is interpreted in many ways and fits any of the suspects, but is ultimately explained in the most reasonable way, which was a tad more hidden from the reader but just as well hinted as the rest.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
While I'm used to Japanese authors and critics considering debut novels as most important for a writer's career, I did not want to judge Resnicow's first effort too harshly, so I immediately gave <i>The Gold Deadline</i> a chance as well. And I'm <i>so glad</i> I did! Not only did the good aspects of the first novel also transcend into this one, they were also even more entertaining. You just feel Resnicow's love for the ballet overflowing from the pages and you feel a lot more passion he must have crafted this work with. It felt like a very solid Japanese neo-orthodox detective novel, just that the characters, their relations and the topics addressed are a bit more forthrightly daring at times. With a devious, pansexual, complex-ridden manager of a ballet company and his unique background story, the other persons involved are bound to be quirky in their own ways. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
And Boguslav's background and personality are even important for the solution! In fact <i>every</i> little detail from any direction can become a decisive factor for the solution, which I fortunately loved this time. Generally there's a lot more focus on the mystery in <i>Deadline </i>and after all those attempts at explaining the whole thing you really ask yourself what's left. And then Resnicow comes around with a totally logical solution that has been hinted by so many things in so many places. Depending on the reader the method might feel slightly improbable, but I thought it was totally imaginable with that kind of setting and characters and everything was foreshadowed properly. Plus there's a rather unique reason for the culprit to use this method, which only works in this exact novel so if, like me, you like one-of-a-kind locked room tricks that feature a high degree of originality, I guess you should find yourself a copy right away.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It's a shame that these two novels differ so significantly. <i>Deadline</i> is such an inspired and original accomplishment, while <i>Solution</i> really just serves as an introduction to the characters. It's considerably shorter than its following volume though, so if you want to be a bit more familiar with the Golds already while reading <i>Deadline</i>, I guess you should read both novels since it doesn't really take any effort. <i>Deadline</i> as a stand-alone book is highly recommended by any means, so decide for yourself how to tackle it.<br />
<br />
I already ordered and received Resnicow's <i>The Gold Frame</i>, but I'm still pondering whether to continue the series right now or finally read Paul Halter's <i>The Fourth Door</i> which was staring at me from my imaginary list since I first saw Halter mentioned by Japanese authors. And while I'm already exploring (considerably) contemporary Western works, this might be a good opportunity before raiding Japanese Book-Offs...</div>mousoukyokuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00755066580829504834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703842222404767140.post-30705118015563146002012-06-11T01:14:00.002+02:002012-07-09T19:05:20.060+02:00The White Priory Murders<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/priory.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/priory.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Hollywood star Marcia Tait wants to pay the British producers back who did not believe in her talent back then, so she plans on playing the lead in a play of the Bohun brothers. One night, while she stays in their 17th-century pavilion on their property, she is beaten to death and only the footprints of the man who discovered the corpse are found outside in unbroken snow. However Marcia clearly was murdered before it stopped snowing that night. James Bennett, another guest of the Bohuns, calls Inspector Masters and his uncle Sir Henry Merrivale to solve this impossible situation.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Following the first Merrivale novel <i>The Plague Court Murders</i>, this features another one of Carr's classic tricks that in its basic points got modified by both other writers and Carr himself, the latter most obviously in <a href="http://kontonnohazama.blogspot.de/2012/04/she-died-lady.html"><i>She Died A Lady</i></a>, which is an overall better novel both due to its plot and trick. He wrote that one almost a decade later so I don't really want to compare them too extensively, but then again it does make for a useful thread through a review.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
First off a rather subjective remark though which kind of drifts into spoiler territory concerning the solutions (mark to read): <span style="color: white;">In both novels the solution actually isn't a trick worked out by the murderer to create that seemingly impossible situation by himself. There are several factors both stemming from the culprit, the victim(s) and other characters that constitute the absence of footprints. If I recall correctly Nikaidou Reito also created his murders without footprints like that.</span> This isn't necessarily a bad thing (even though I would like to see a different case), as long as you can figure out these certain aspects for yourself with sufficient clues. <i>She Died A Lady </i>achieved exactly that while the novel discussed here... I'm not entirely sure what to think. There even is a clue that's so inconspicuous it needs a page reference during H.M.'s explanation at the end and the other hints were so arbitrary I wouldn't exactly call their interpretation logical. I wouldn't say the explanation is not deducible, but there is a difference between this and Queen-ish fair play. And it's not like Carr isn't capable of the same. The whodunnit in <i>She Died A Lady </i>actually is a perfect example for that as nobody else could have been the culprit. So all in all the mystery is enjoyable and the solution does not involve a (mechanical) gimmick and is not contrived in any way. The explanation feels very natural and imaginable. It's just the clues and hints that are definitely there but kind of a mixed bag.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Other than that, even though the tone is fundamentally different to <i>The Plague Court Murders</i>, I had a similar problem concerning my personal enthusiasm while reading. <i>Plague</i> featured an eerie setting and the murder happened rather late. <i>Priory</i>'s murder happens a bit earlier, but Carr's trademark atmosphere is almost completely absent. Generally speaking I don't mind the latter, but in both books I kind of lost interest as soon as H.M. showed up. And it's not because of his character, but because I simply thought it's way too late into the story where I didn't really care anymore and just wanted to know how it was done. <i>Priory </i>has false solutions and dialogue that keeps you interested, so this might compensate for the lack of atmosphere or interesting setting, but apart from that I enjoyed both books in a comparable manner. Meaning: Definitely not my favorites and I figure I just prefer Carr in the 40s.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I can recommend this as a classic of the no-footprints-variety of impossible crimes, but in general this might not be everyone's piece of cake, just as it wasn't mine compared to other Carr novels I've read recently.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I should read more Queen before leaving the country and my (English) books behind for a year, but thanks to <i>Kagi no kakatta heya</i> (which I'll review once it finished airing) I'm in the mood for locked rooms. As for Carr, I'm rather indecisive concerning what to read next, so I might as well start with some <a href="http://moonlight-detective.blogspot.de/2011/11/herbert-resnicow-building-career-on.html">Herbert Resnicow</a> since I can't think of many remaining (full-length) Japanese novels featuring locked rooms I purchased in the past and want to read desperately except one by Arisugawa Alice (ignoring Nikaidou's bricks and Shimada Souji's debut novel which I apparently got spoiled by Kindaichi Shounen...).</div>mousoukyokuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00755066580829504834noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703842222404767140.post-33331901012074203952012-05-17T08:36:00.000+02:002012-07-09T19:05:20.068+02:00The Tragedy of Y<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/Y.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/Y.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
York Hatter had been missing for some time and is eventually found after apparently having jumped from a ferry and poisoning himself before that to commit suicide. Afterwards follow two attempts to poison his deaf, blind and mute step-daughter Louisa Campion. In the second case, her mother Emily Hatter, who is sleeping in the same room, is knocked down with York's old mandolin and dies from shock. The rest of the case isn't any less abnormal than the Hatter family itself and to make sense of the happenings, Inspector Thumm needs the help of Drury Lane.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>While this novel seems to be among the Top 5 Queens of Japanese readers (along with <i>X, Dutch, Greek </i>and<i> Egyptian</i>), western readers seem to be rather discordant. The reason for that might be the setting and its characters. I have to admit the bizarre setting of an overall mad family that apparently suffers from a certain STD (terms like "infection" or even "invidious germ" clearly indicate syphilis at that time) and a police force and detective larger than life might not be everyone's piece of cake, but personally I can live with the latter since the novel is a kind of grotesque parody of the genre anyway and the Hatter family is also depicted in very rich prose. The poetess Barbara, choleric waster Conrad or the unreserved hedonist Jill are certain to bring the Hatter mansion to life and keep the dialogues moving and "deaf-blind-and-dumb" Louisa, like the twins in <i>The Siamese Twin Mystery</i>, is among Queen's more unique portrayals. Louisa actually plays a larger role having witnessed her mother's death but only being able to smell and touch and therefore makes for untypical clues and trails. This might also irritate some readers, but I found it rather engaging in turn.<br />
<br />
I don't know how much this book actually borrowed from Van Dine's <i>The Greene Murder Case</i> since I still have to read that one, but the outline appears to be essentially the same (rich but unhealthy family, absent father, dominant mother etc.). However this is nothing unusual as one of the genre's most prominent factors is exactly this kind of borrowing or referencing and adjusting of content preceding authors invented and especially looking at neo-orthodox works I think this is not a bad thing at all and it entirely depends on what you make of it.<br />
<br />
And the cousins' approach works out splendidly. They already excel in creating a fabulous mansion murder setting that makes you feel like you are actually in that house yourself talking to the characters and investigating with Lane and Thumm. But this is not even the best point of the novel. The developments and the seemingly irrational factors of the crimes actually make sense in the end in a mostly (at least nothing like the essential clue in <i>Siamese</i>) very logical way and Lane's lengthy explanations in the Behind The Scenes section pay off wonderfully. Concerning the degree of logic, some parts even rely on purely mathematical matters, but you don't have to be as elaborate in your deductions as Lane to pinpoint the murderer. The clues are actually staring right into your face but the whole case is so peculiar you might fail to notice them and there are several red herrings as well. Furthermore Lane remains silent about the solution until the very last scene/chapter of the book, even though he seems to have understood most aspects rather early in the plot, so the reader isn't always sure about why Lane acts in certain ways or sets off to investigate certain things at a particular time. Some readers seem to find this unrealistic, but I actually somehow understood his (re)actions near the end of the book after reading the solution. Would he help anyone by telling the police? Wasn't that pitiable family better off that way eventually...?<br />
<br />
Highly recommended overall as long as you don't mind your classical detective fiction to be a little larger than life. The combination of bizarre setting and logical solution really make this one a classic and my second favorite Queen I've read so far, right next to <i>The Greek Coffin Mystery</i>. Next Queen would be <i>Egyptian</i> or the <i>Adventure</i> collections, but there isn't any time for any author or any new entries on this blog in the near future... (which is a rather arbitrary time specification, mind you)</div>mousoukyokuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00755066580829504834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703842222404767140.post-77019818814159054202012-05-06T06:40:00.002+02:002012-07-09T19:06:44.244+02:00本陣殺人事件<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/honjin.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/honjin.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Ichiyanagi Kenzou was supposed to have a bright future as a university scholar, but became ill and since then withdrew in the mansion of his family. Suddenly, at the age of 40, he decides to marry the 15 years younger Kubo Katsuko. She is a respectable young woman earning her own money as a girls school teacher, but the marriage is not exactly tolerated from the Ichiyanagis. Even though they still believe in standing and pedigree instead of thinking of the present and future, the ceremony takes place eventually. However at 4 in the morning screams and the shrill plucking of a koto rouse the family and their guests. When they look after the newly wed couple in their annex, they find them gruesomely slaughtered by a katana that is found stuck in the snow around the rear entrance. What is more, the sliding doors were locked from the inside and no footprints of the culprit were found that could hint at the culprit's escape... Kindaichi Kousuke, a detective that became renowned recently, is summoned to call this locked room murder.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>Not that I should be reading anything right now, but reading something I'm actually using for a paper is not exactly procrastination, right? Plus, this was easier to read already knowing the movie adaptation from 1975, which is just as awesome in its own way. Anyway, not going to say anything terrific or new about this, but let's see...<br />
<br />
While this is considerably shorter than usual for Yokomizo Seishi's standards but not short enough to be called a short story, it definitely helps to make the plot and setting very dense and concentrated on the basic essentials. There certainly is more exposition than dialogue, but it's mostly of the intersting kind. Yokomizo moved to the rural Okayama region during WWII to evade bombings in the capital after he became ill. There he realized, that compared to the urban regions traditional values like 家柄 (pedigree) were still very much intact and he was told a lot of stories by the villagers. Kawana Sari already discussed this aspects Yokomizo integrated in his works in detail in her awesome monograph <i>Murder Most Modern</i> and points out that these novels depict Japan's modernization process between obsolete values, rationalization and scientific progress. Kindaichi Kousuke plays a kind of unique role as a detective figure that certainly tries to solve his cases with rational methods and theories, but always takes the irrationality of the involved persons into account as well, since otherwise Japan cannot overcome these obsolete views that often play a vital role in the crimes and their motives.<br />
<br />
This novel definitely already includes all these aspects and show how Yokomizo's works reflect the time they were written in, which also makes them interesting for readers nowadays. Nevertheless this is by far not the only factor which makes this a very important and influential classic of the genre in Japan and simply a splendid classical detective novel overall. Before this work was published, locked room mysteries could not really gain ground in Japan. That is, Western locked room novels were immensely popular among authors and readers of detective novels, but the classical Japanese architecture still existent at the beginning of the last century did not really go well with tricks of that kind. Japanese critics at that time were actually pointing out that Japan simply was way behind the West in scientific and intellectual terms, which made it impossible for Japanese writers to match the skills of Western authors. Even attempts at the genre by Edogawa Ranpo were run down by them as failures.<br />
<br />
However, Yokomizo finally managed to write what critics entitled as the first success at creating a locked room scenario that could actually compete with Western works. And ironically he managed to do that with absolutely Japanese items, which was even more applaudable. So this is seen as the first <i>real</i> Japanese locked room mystery and I can certainly understand why it's so highly praised. While the narrator already points out in the beginning which Western works served as inspirations for this setting and trick, it's not like these "borrowings" make the trick any less ingenious or more predictable. The solution is definitely complex but not as overly contrived as some of its Western precursors and the trick itself is not that improbable since it seems people even managed to simulate it (not in its entirety of course...). Actually, the essential reason why the locked room ensued is rather ironic and makes sense in its simplicity.<br />
<br />
I guess you could continue babbling about this epitome for a long time, but before it gets witless or even spoils the fun, I'll just leave it at this and again lament the fact that classics like this aren't made available for a larger audience.</div>mousoukyokuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00755066580829504834noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703842222404767140.post-73601259429664864262012-04-24T23:52:00.000+02:002012-07-09T19:06:44.240+02:00Till Death Do Us Part<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/TillDEATH.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/TillDEATH.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
During a garden party on Lord Ashe's estate in the village of Six Ashes, Dick Markham's fiancee Lesley Grant visits the tent of a fortune teller and leaves it rather unsettled. To see what the man told her, Dick pays him a visit himself, but before the fortune teller can tell him anything, he gets wounded by a shot from a rifle when Lesley is at a shooting range. Of course she claims she did it accidentally, but later that evening the injured fortune teller invites Dick over to his house to reveal his real identity. He is Sir Harvey Gilman, a pathologist and expert on crime, and tells him about his fiancee, her real age and her past husbands/lovers and how all three of them died through prussic acid in a locked room - apparently suicide, but Sir Harvey assumes Lesley got hold of her fortune by killing the men with some ingenious trick. And he wants to try a little experiment with Dick the next day, as Lesley invited him for dinner in her cottage. The following morning an unrecognizable caller summons Dick to Sir Harvey's cottage again and there he witnesses a shadow shooting through the window of Sir Harvey's sitting room. However the bullet does not hit him and it is not the reason for his death. He died through prussic acid injected with a hypodermic syringe while all the windows and doors of the room were locked. But then why did someone shoot through the window with the same rifle Lesley used when she accidentally shot through the tent the day before - or wasn't it accidentally after all?<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>Just as <i>She Died A Lady</i> this novel is set in a small village and doesn't feature any kind of Gothic factors and suggestions of the supernatural and I think it portrays the atmosphere of such a place even better with all the gossip and accusations and Lesley Grant as a relatively new member of the community. In general I liked the setting a little bit more. <i>She Died A Lady</i> had a more sober and quiet plot development while this novel is a tad more exciting to read due to the ironic formation of a playwright of psychological crime thrillers and the supposed poisoner fiancee and a steady plot development with twists and revelations and decent character portrayals.<br />
<br />
What impressed me most about the setting though was the fact that every detail was created for the sole purpose of the locked room trick to work out and give a reason for the murderer to choose this murder method that actually makes sense. The reason for the locked room might actually be one of the most important factors and questions raised during the developments of the novel, since the trick itself is a classic one, but I thought it's adjusted and hidden quite well in the situation and setting of this book.<br />
<br />
My only nitpick would be the motive. While it's not quite as simple/boring as the one in <i>She Died A Lady</i> and it's not needed to deduce the murderer and his method, as the culprit is pinned down with pure logic yet again, it still remains fairly unhinted and coming out of nowhere. Fell does point out where he came up with the motive, but personally I thought those clues were concealed a tad too much. I have to admit though that comparable criticism can also be pointed at early Queen novels and I only mentioned it once in that case, so I won't dwell on that any more.<br />
<br />
I don't know which one I prefer, but both of the recent Carr novels I've read really let him ascend on my personal ranking ladder. While the last novel had a neat narrative trick worked into a guessable but nevertheless challenging impossibility and featured an allover memorable cast considering the time it was written, in <i>Until Death Do Us Part</i> I really liked the reason for the locked room and Carr's imaginativeness when creating a whole setting for that one locked room and therefore also including excellent misdirection, even though the culprit should be jumping right into your face. Yes, I guess certain Carr fans would say the exact same things about <i>The Plague Court Murders</i>, but this was the first time I could fully recognize this specific praise for this author, since the former novel felt a bit too contrived for my subjective taste.<br />
<br />
Anyway, by now I'm definitely inclined to try out more novels by Carr against my previous expectations. Which is a great thing, because as much as I learned to love the logical Queen-school, I'm all for impossible crime stories after all, as long as the author manages to make them guessable and not too contrived and actually provide a reason for the chosen murder method.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>mousoukyokuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00755066580829504834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703842222404767140.post-16507790978496852102012-04-19T02:13:00.001+02:002012-07-09T19:05:20.051+02:00She Died A Lady<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/lady.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/lady.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Dr. Luke Croxley, the narrator of this novel, gets a visit by one of his son's patients. Rita Wainwright's worries are not of medical nature though. She has an affair with a younger man called Barry Sullivan, a young American actor, while being married to her older husband Alec. The latter however is more interested in radio broadcasts about recent war developments than what his wife does behind his back. Rita is fond of Alec and does not want to hurt him, but at the same time she feels the urge to run away with Barry. One night when Croxley is over at the Wainwrights Rita and Barry vanish, leaving two sets of footprints leading to the end of a cliff and not coming back. Later the dead bodies are found, but they did not die from the fall or from drowning. They were shot at close range.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<a name='more'></a>A Sir Henry Merrivale Mystery and for what reason H.M. happens to be in Lyncombe, the village this novel is set in, is better left open, as this was the first time I actually found the old man really funny. And usually I don't care about comedy, with an exception for sadistic black humour certain neo-orthodox Japanese writers tend to display. But this is by far not the only reason I ask myself why this seems to be a rather hidden masterpiece. <br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
First of all, the narrative is just as, if not even more compelling than in <i>He Who Whispers</i>, but differs in that it doesn't feature any grotesque elements as Carr is known for otherwise. I could care less, as I seem to prefer this down-to-earth and somewhat sophisticated style after all. The characters have personality and are likable, the plot is a bit quiet yet enthralling and does not let you put the book down after a certain point and probably the best thing: The mystery is still the focus of the story and it's weaved into the narrative in an interesting fashion. While the initial situation seems a bit simple it soon gets more complicated and intriguing and the way it unfolds is less formulaic than in other Carr novels or GAD novels in general. I don't mind a Queen novel being formulaic, but I seem to have problems in that respect when it comes to Carr. Which might be totally irrational and subjective, but anway...</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I love classical locked rooms, as in a room locked with a key or bolt or both and a corpse lying inside with no culprit to be seen, but I'm open to anything else as long as the questions at hand are challenging and absorbing. As already mentioned this novel features a murder without footprints of the murderer and while some characters suppose the narrator messed around with the "crime" scene and that it actually was suicide after all, most of the important ones, including of course the narrator but also Merrivale, call it murder and the impossibility has to be proved or otherwise Dr. Croxley has to lie at court just to "simplify" things for everyone.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Funnily enough, this novel <i>does</i> feature a narrative trick that's not necessarily important for solving the impossibility as such, but to deduce the murderer. I won't tell what category of trick it is and which other GAD novel used a similar device, but even though I knew beforehand it did not spoil anything for me. The culprit is hidden in a unique but fair way and you'll slap your head when Merrivale points out the only possible murderer, quite similar to Queen-ish logic for once (?).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The trick behind the impossibility is just as neat. Not overly complex but all the more fair and guessable without being too easy. I came up with about half of the solution, not including the identity of the murderer as the solution of the impossibility does not automatically lead you there if I remember correctly. This is also one of those tricks that only work in their own particular novel, which can turn out rather unguessable or even improbable, but here it actually helped in making the method deducible.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I feel like I've already said too much. <a href="http://www.langtailpress.com/titles/she-died-a-lady/">Just read this.</a> Especially if you (like me) haven't been particularly crazy about Carr before but felt like you had and wanted to be. I still like the trick in <i>The Judas Window</i> slightly more, but as a novel with a splendid narrative and an impossible crime situation that does not feature any too contrived factors, I highly recommend this one.</div>mousoukyokuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00755066580829504834noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703842222404767140.post-81777192726564950112012-04-06T23:27:00.000+02:002012-07-09T19:06:44.251+02:0046番目の密室<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/46banme.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/46banme.png" /></a>Mystery writer Arisugawa Arisu and his friend and clinical criminologist Himura Hideo are invited to the mansion of locked room writer genius Makabe Seiichi, who during the Christmas party announces that his next novel and therefore his 46th locked room is going to be the last one. The invited writers and editors are shocked but the topic soon changes when strange presents are found in the guests' rooms and an unknown man is seen prowling around the mansion. The situation comes to its peak when Makabe and (apparently) the unknown man are found in two different locked rooms, both burned in fireplaces. In one of them the police finds the remains of what seems to be (now rendered unreadable) notes of Makabe's last locked room trick. Was the Japanese Carr murdered with his own idea?<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>This damn cold... I don't even know how I managed to finish this book, but I guess it shows how enjoyable it was. I can't assure that this review is going to make sense in any way, but I don't know what else I could do right now instead of going to bed again, which would be boring and unproductive.<br />
<br />
While in classical novels like those of Ellery Queen the plot opens with the murders immediately, in neo-orthodox Japanese novels it's often the case that it takes some time time until someone actually gets killed. However especially authors like Ayatsuji Yukito or Arisugawa Arisu have such a lucid and fluent writing style that it does not really matter. The atmosphere created through the snowbound mansion and the strange presents also undoubtedly helps and as anybody would imagine, the discussions of the writers and editors are intriguing as well. The detective figure Himura is also introduced in an appropriate and not too excessive way. But when the locked room murders happen, the fun really sets in.<br />
<br />
Arisugawa, together with Norizuki Rintarou and in a rather twisted and unique way also Maya Yutaka, is known for employing distinct Queen-ish factors into his plotting and while the cousins surely weren't famous for impossible crime situations, the Queen-ish influence is still very much perceivable in this novel. The locked rooms are not exactly what you would call astonishing when you only consider the murder method the culprit used, but where Arisugawa's talent shines is in how he scatters his clues and how they are totally fair and point at only one possible solution. The focus on logical deduction becomes clear in a rather funny way when Arisu (the narrator) comes up with a false solution because he was hellbent on the locked room without giving the countless other aspects the attention they must be given to fully unlock the single truth behind everything. And usually I prefer logical and guessable locked rooms to excessive mechanical tricks that are either unguessable or improbable or both.<br />
<br />
In general, this novel has the central theme of Arisugawa's love-hate relationship with locked room murders. On the one hand they fascinate him but on the other hand they easily fail at satisfying the reader, since they try to do something impossible and magical after all, so if the solution is not something almost as stunning as magic, some readers get disappointed, even though they want the crime to be solved in a logical and rational manner.<br />
<br />
Some might even go as far and say they don't want to see the perfect locked room trick, since nothing new would be created afterwards then, but as we know new locked room mysteries are written continuously, which means there has not been a perfect trick so far and I guess we all doubt there ever will. So we continue searching and I think that's what's so fun for all the writers and readers about impossible crime situations. And that kind of twisted love comes across nicely in this novel. But as I already said, this is not the only recommendable aspect. The construction of the crime and the brilliant fair play already makes this book worth a read and Arisugawa could have just as well inserted a Challenge To The Reader at the end of the penultimate chapter.<br />
<br />
My only nitpicking would be that the motive was handled a bit awkwardly (maybe it's just me but somehow I didn't know whether the author wanted me to feel sorry for the culprit or loathe him... and the latter would bother me quite a bit) and the only clue leading there was rather arbitrary. But maybe I was just expecting too much after that tragic denouement in 孤島パズル. But then I still prefer that novel anyway to be honest, as much as I liked this one as well. The setting is so rife with puzzles and the bicycle alibi trick, the reason the locked room ensued that way and the rather unique dying message during the several murders just intrigued me more than the locked rooms of the novel actually reviewed here. Maybe I should really tackle 双頭の悪魔 in the near future...</div>mousoukyokuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00755066580829504834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703842222404767140.post-29931530085113395682012-03-31T22:51:00.001+02:002012-07-09T19:05:20.058+02:00The Dutch Shoe Mystery<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/dutch.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/dutch.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Abigail Doorn, benefactress of the Dutch Memorial Hospital, is due for operation, but when her comatose body is wheeled into the operation theatre, she is already dead. She must have been strangulated in the anteroom next to the amphitheatre. The anaesthetist Francis Janney, the strongest suspect who benefits from Doorn's death and was witnessed being in the anteroom by several persons, has a rather insufficient alibi since he had a meeting with an unknown person called Swanson, whose identity he does not want to give away. Was Janney impersonated? It takes a second murder for Ellery Queen to deduce the murderer from a set of various clues - most prominently a pair of white canvas shoes.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>Usually I see this in Japanese Top 3 Queens along with <a href="http://kontonnohazama.blogspot.de/2011/08/greek-coffin-mystery.html"><i>The Greek Coffin Mystery</i></a> and <i>The Egyptian Cross Mystery</i> (not counting the Drury Lane novels), so maybe my expectations were too high for this novel, but I wonder why this is so highly regarded. This is by no means a bad book (quite the opposite) and I admit it's constructed really well and Ellery's logical deductions are as awesome as ever. I just don't see where exactly it's supposed to excel in comparison to other Queens I've read so far. <br />
<br />
While a comparison with <i>Greek</i> would be totally inappropriate anyway, as a detective novel I prefer <a href="http://kontonnohazama.blogspot.de/2012/02/french-powder-mystery.html"><i>The French Powder Mystery</i></a> for several reasons. First and foremost, the setting of a hospital and the display of the body in an amphitheatre for operations is unique and intrigues immediately and the initiating 10 chapters of the novel that introduce the whole crime situation are brilliant and draw you in. However, the following chapters until the second murder more or less shortly before the Challenge To The Reader are rather dull and don't lead anywhere, as most of the essential clues are already revealed in the beginning and the search for a motive bears no definite results. These chapters are not totally irrelevant of course as the interrogations feature some of the more interesting and distinct personalities in the early Queen novels I've read so far. But in the end, they were quite a letdown after that awesome first third of the book, especially since most of the content was not that important for the solution and the essential clues Ellery uses in his deductions during the finale are already mentioned before the later interrogations.<br />
<br />
This also goes for <a href="http://kontonnohazama.blogspot.de/2012/02/chinese-orange-mystery.html"><i>The Chinese Orange Mystery</i></a>, where the backwardness of the crime scene leads to the revealing of several of the characters' secrets, which turn out rather irrelevant to the solution eventually, but the plot device was a little more fun to read compared to the interrogations in <i>Dutch</i>. And in <i>Chinese</i> the motive is actually stated very early, provided you are on the right track, while in <i>Dutch</i> there is no way you can logically pinpoint the motive, even supposing you are able to build a logical prison around the culprit using the physical clues at the crime scenes. I admit though, it would be even easier to guess the murderer otherwise...<br />
<br />
This case has the typical problems of "bigger" clues like the shoes or in other novels the backwardness of a crime scene, dying messages and so on: It's rather difficult to build a plot around them that actually develops and justifies a whole novel instead of a short story. <i>French</i> for example is constructed with a lot of smaller clues and while that novel has the weak point of explaining a bit too much prior to the Challenge To The Reader, I found that mystery more intriguing as it moved forward steadily. To provide that focus on the mystery itself the novel does not feature any memorable characters in contrast to <i>Dutch</i>, so again I have to conclude that any Queen I've read so far has its share of stronger and weaker points.<br />
<br />
So as I already said, this is still a fine and recommendable novel, but personally I prefer <i>French</i> which tends to be overlooked or just ranked otherwise by other readers. I just hope <i>Egyptian</i> is more fun to read (if I actually start reading that one before concentrating on my overdue papers), which I sadly doubt since it's kind of similar in its clues' nature.</div>mousoukyokuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00755066580829504834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703842222404767140.post-68443204518448057412012-03-23T06:06:00.000+01:002012-07-09T19:06:44.230+02:00The Mystery of the Yellow Room<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/yellow.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/yellow.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Professor Stangerson's daughter Mathilde is attacked and almost killed in her room, which was locked and bolted from the inside at the time of the attempted murder. Footprints lead out of one of the windows in the pavilion, but the shutters were closed and all the other windows of the building are barred. How did the attacker enter and leave the hermetically sealed room without being noticed by the professor and his servant? It's up to journalist and amateur detective Joseph Rouletabille to solve this classic in detective fiction.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<a name='more'></a>This is an overdue classic where I once stumbled upon the solution and lost the urge to read afterwards, but recently I realized I actually forgot what I read back then and figured I should grab that opportunity immediately. And I'm really glad that I did as this aged surprisingly well considering this was written in 1907.<br />
<br />
It does have its flaws though. The impossibility of the locked room is followed by two more seemingly impossible events including one actual murder, but they are rather unimpressive in their solution and improbable in their execution. You could somehow justify them as additional info for solving the novel's central problem of the Yellow Room, but even then there are clues apart from those events that are much more useful and obvious in comparison which also lead to the identity of the culprit and the way in which the problem of the locked room ensued.<br />
<br />
And said problem is actually really intriguing in both construction and solution. The initial buildup including the depiction of the mystery itself and the investigation of the locked room's circumstances was the most entertaining part for me together with the solution, which was surprisingly satisfying in spite of the relatively high expectations that were raised in the beginning of the novel. The clues aren't exactly logically leading to only one possible meaning, but they are not so arbitrary that you could say the correct deductions are intangible once you take everything into consideration accordingly. The way the locked room ensues is not inevitable and logical throughout all its factors and layers, but it's simply applaudable considering this was written before and influenced all the locked room mysteries that were to follow. The novel itself also mentions how unique its locked room mystery is in the way that it not only makes it impossible for any human being to enter or leave the room (as in the case of Poe's <i>The Murders in the Rue Morgue</i>), but actually renders the crime scene hermetically sealed for the first time in the history of detective fiction. Furthermore, this was the first locked room that included the element of time in its construction and solution instead of just searching for a way for the murderer to get into the room.<br />
<br />
Another flaw might be that the setting with a young journalist like Rouletabille as the detective does not exactly feel authentic, but Gaston Leroux was a journalist himself and even if Rouletabille himself can be rather unimaginable for readers nowadays, the novel depicts the commotion and sensation around such a bizarre and seemingly impossible crime conveyed via the media in a convincing and diversified style.<br />
<br />
Other than that, I definitely recommend this classic and not only because of its significance. While there are works where the fun is kind of ruined by its successors, this is still pretty enjoyable and it certainly endured the flow of time.<br />
<br />
PS: Sacrificing 7 years of learning French at school to exchange the brain space with knowledge of the Japanese language is regrettable... probably... but the anonymous English translation from 1908 works perfectly fine. If the novel's plot wasn't set in France, I could have thought the original was written in English.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>mousoukyokuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00755066580829504834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703842222404767140.post-10543308046591218432012-03-18T07:36:00.002+01:002012-07-09T19:06:44.200+02:00謎解きはディナーのあとで 「ドラマ版」<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/TV/nazotoki.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/TV/nazotoki.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Any avid <i>dorama</i> viewer will already have seen this by now and surprisingly I also regret not watching this right away, as it's actually better than I expected. <i>Nazotoki wa Dinner no ato de</i> is an adaptation of two novels of the same name written by humor mystery author Higashigawa Tokuya and while there's a lot of comedy in it (apparently even more so in the TV version), it also entertains with solid mysteries.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;">
Houshou Reiko is the daughter of the wealthy Houshou family, but she is also a police detective. She is not very good at solving crimes though, even if she's certainly not as dumb as her boss Kazamatsuri Kyouichi, who seems to be more interested in his own car company and women. Fortunately, her butler Kageyama is not only an <i>otaku</i> of detective fiction, manga and <i>tokusatsu</i>-series who happens to not only be good at <strike>serving roast beef for every damn dinner</strike> cooking and other chores, but also at doing Reiko's work, playing the role of the detective figure in the novels and this series. Most episodes begin with a story of crime and Reiko and Kazamatsuri arriving at the scene, then switches over to Reiko at dinner telling Kageyama about the investigations and how they are not advancing in their search for the culprit. Of course Kageyama always knows the answers to all the mysteries and promises to explain the culprit's identity in a way even Reiko will understand... but only after the dinner.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Apart from the last two episodes each one consists of one case that is made to fit into 45 minutes, which means the crimes aren't overly complicated or difficult but challenging enough and definitely entertaining fair play for the viewer.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/TV/nazo_ep01.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/TV/nazo_ep01.png" width="320" /></a>The series starts out with 殺人現場では靴をお脱ぎください (Please take of your shoes at the crime scene), which features a strangulated victim with her shoes on in her own apartment. Yes, in Japan having your shoes on inside of an apartment usually is inexcusable... And thus it poses the question how the victim got there in that state. It's a rather simple problem with a rather easy solution and I doubt anybody won't find out who the culprit is, but the clues were so logically leading to the answer that I got interested in watching more of this series.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/TV/nazo_ep02.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/TV/nazo_ep02.png" width="320" /></a></div>
殺しのワインはいかがでしょう (How about a murderous wine?) features a classical poisoning murder which, like the preceding episode, turns out rather simple and guessable, but it's a bit more challenging this time. Furthermore, while the characters in the first episode were pretty much ciphers for the puzzle to work out, this time the outcome is actually pretty unexpected and cruel.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/TV/nazo_ep03.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/TV/nazo_ep03.png" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
二股にはお気をつけください (Please be careful when two-timing) is one of the better episodes, featuring a naked corpse in a hotel room and posing the problem of differing testimonies about the unknown persons entering and leaving the room around the time of the murder. I haven't read Ellery Queen's <i>The Spanish Cape</i> yet so I don't know whether I can say anything on the quality or uniqueness of this kind of mystery, but this episode and its solution convinced me to continue watching this whole series.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/TV/nazo_ep04.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/TV/nazo_ep04.png" width="320" /></a></div>
In 花嫁は密室の中でございます (The bride is in a locked room) Reiko attends a wedding party of one of her old friends, who gets to be the bride in the locked room later. She has been stabbed in the back, but is still alive. No veranda or anything else is below the windows and due to certain circumstances Reiko herself becomes the prime suspect. The solution is something I imagine to be working great in text form as well and while it's the same kind of logic as seen in the preceding episodes, the clues are still fair play as long as you pay attention to every detail. For a short story frame, I think this was a very neat locked room mystery and it's also one of my favorite episodes.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/TV/nazo_ep05.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/TV/nazo_ep05.png" width="320" /></a></div>
アリバイをご所望でございますか (Do you wish for an alibi?) belongs to what's called アリバイ崩し and I'm always wondering how I should call that sub genre in English... well, you have your suspect and you know it must be him so you have to find a way to get around his or her alibi. Not my favorite kind of mystery and also one of the episodes I didn't like so much. It's about a manga author who was stabbed in front of the Kunitachi shrine, the same place where her series' story also begins. She had a long but shaky relationship with the artist drawing her series and he was telling her he wanted to stop drawing for her, even though the series only needs the final chapter to be concluded. He's believed to have killed her in quarrel after that so you have to destroy his alibi. As I said, I find it rather boring when you already know the culprit, but I guess for anyone not having a problem with that kind of mystery, the solution is alright.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/TV/nazo_ep06.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/TV/nazo_ep06.png" width="320" /></a></div>
Fortunately, with 綺麗な薔薇には殺意がございます (Beautiful roses have murderous intent) follows a rather Queen-ish mystery in a more Yokomizo- or Carr-like setting placed in present times. The victim is found on a rose-bed in a glasshouse next to a mansion, which is connected to a girl's curse that manifests in the roses and kills anyone who cuts himself on them. While it seems like the victim was killed in her own room, why did the culprit bother to move her onto the rose-bed? Of course the answer to that is rather easy once you figure out the reason that curse is included in the story, but the construction and the clues are not as simple as in some of the other episodes and overall I was pretty satisfied.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/TV/nazo_ep07.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/TV/nazo_ep07.png" width="320" /></a></div>
殺しの際は帽子をお忘れなく (Do not forget the hat at the time of murder) is by far the most funny episode! Reiko hurts her back and has to stay at home, but Kageyama uses the power of the Houshou group so that Reiko can watch the investigations from afar, having her personal hatter visiting to show her new hats while being confined to her couch. The case is about a fashion designer drowned in her own bathtub and exactly one of her hats missing from her collection. The murderer is pretty obvious but the logic behind the missing hat and the way it was connected to the suspects was brilliant. I think I would have never come up with that myself since, as the mad hatter (yes, Kageyama puts on some bunny ears and they play mad tea party...) points out, usually hats are a rather useless thing simply used to decorate your head.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/TV/nazo_ep08.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/TV/nazo_ep08.png" width="320" /></a></div>
In 殺意のパーティにようこそ (Welcome to the murder party) Reiko is invited to a party where a famous actor, and one of Reiko's old schoolmates, announces his marriage. His sister is found almost killed under stage props and while she's being carried to the hospital, she mentions that the culprit was a woman in a red dress wearing a necklace with a red jewel... which applies to several of the ladies present, including Reiko herself. The solution relies on special knowledge in a certain field, which automatically makes me like this less than other episodes which are solvable for anyone.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/TV/nazo_ep09.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/TV/nazo_ep09.png" width="320" /></a></div>
What a finale! 聖夜に死者からの伝言をどうぞ (A message from the deceased on the holy night) is set in the mansion of famous mystery author Tendou Shizuko who invites her fellow, yet not so amiable mystery authors for a Christmas party. At night, Kenmochi Rumi, who is very successful and said to become the next Tendou, is murdered with a trophy, which seems to be thrown from outside in the garden through a window into the second floor later. Why did the culprit do that and why did Rumi leave an X as a dying message with the ink she used for the script of her next novel? This story seems to be a mix of three stories in the source material, but fortunately don't notice that and everything fits nicely. The case spans two episodes and with this being the only case featuring a false solution and a second murder it's totally justified. In terms of the mystery this is definitely the most entertaining story overall. I just felt a little bit dissatisfied due to a certain inconsistency that comes up when Kageyama points out the definite culprit in the end since a certain aspect is not that logical and significant in the second deduction process once you really think about it. But I can't go into detail without spoiling the culprit of the second solution. Anyway, still one of the best cases in this series and almost as full of twists as Queen's <i>The Siamese Twin Mystery</i>!<br />
<br />
At least about half of the episodes should be recommendable in an objective way just taking into account the puzzles as such, but this series is really entertaining overall. When I first read of the adaptation I was rather disinclined by an Arashi-member playing Kageyama and when I started watching I felt kind of annoyed by the character of Kazamatsuri, but the more I watched the more natural and fluent the setting felt to me. The ドS (extremely sadistic) butler and the spoiled and oblivious お嬢様 (high-class family's daughter) are a funny version of the classic Holmes and Watson duo and I never expected the humour to blend so well with the detective fiction part (some of Kazamatsuri's comedy parts even include information needed for the deduction). The <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dRgIVYqEio">soundtrack</a> is also awesome, btw.*<br />
<br />
The content of the adaptation seems to differ from the source material after the first episode. This also becomes apparent for those who haven't read the books in the latter half of the series, when specific visual clues where I thought they would have to be handled differently in text form began to appear. It's comparable to Ayatsuji Yukito's and Arisugawa Arisu's TV special series 安楽椅子探偵 (Armchair Detective), but there those visual clues are sometimes extremely hidden and mean... There's also one other story missing from the source material and one of the stories said to be mixed into the final episodes includes another locked room that sounds interesting, so I'll have to check out volume 2 someday. And volume 3 if it ever comes out. To be honest, I could keep on watching this series forever, but making a series like that is impossible.<br />
<br />
<br />
*other links removed after they became private </div>mousoukyokuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00755066580829504834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703842222404767140.post-85790481084234249792012-03-17T06:24:00.000+01:002012-07-09T19:06:44.255+02:00Carr so far<div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;">
<img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/carr.png" /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I used to think it would not be of much use to blog about English detective novels that are actually available via print on demand or Kindle, unlike many other classics. But then again, you could also see it the opposite way and think the mention of these novels is even more important considering efforts are made to make these available again. And since I knew I could not make a somewhat meaningful post on my recent reading of <i>The Plague Court Murders </i>without mentioning the other Carr novels I've read so far, I figured I might as well sum them up together.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>The Three Coffins / The Hollow Man</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/coffins.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/coffins.png" /></a></div>
Professor Grimaud is shot in his own study, which has been locked from the inside and under observation from the outside. No one saw the murderer enter the study and no footprints are found in the snow below the window or on the roof. At around the same time another man is found shot from close range, with the same weapon that killed Grimaud, in a cul-de-sac with no footprints and passengers saying they saw no one commit the crime.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The eerie talk on Grimaud's background and the possibility of a gruesome killer able to walk through locked doors combined with the impossible crime situations provide Carr's essence concentrated in what many believe to be his masterpiece. It certainly is an epitome, but it's more about the acrobatic shenanigans built around the locked room than the locked room itself what really sets this novel apart. It's very entertaining at that, but when you think about it, there's no need for either culprit or author to construct the crime in such an overly complex manner that makes the whole mystery rather improbable in the end. The clues are also of a rather debatable nature. I.e. for me this is not the best Carr novel I've read so far.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<b>The Judas Window</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/judas.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/judas.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
James Answell is invited by his prospective father-in-law Avory Hume. They sit down in a room which is decorated with Hume's archery trophies and also related arrows. After Hume pours drinks from a decanter, Answell faints and realizes the drink must have been drugged. After he comes to, Answell sees Hume stabbed with one of said arrows while the windows are closed with metal shutters and the thick wooden door is locked and bolted. Answell gets accused of Hume's murder and Sir Henry Merrivale has to prove his innocence in court.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This was what I anticipated from Carr, the master of impossible crimes. The dreadful method of using a locked room murder scenario to put the blame one someone else is used in a very direct and unique way here and it's much less improbable and actually more solveable than <i>The Three Coffins</i>. The essential gimmick used for the murder is something probably nobody will come up with himself but even once it's explained there's still plenty of the mystery left. While the trick requires several premises not directly coming from the murderer himself, it's not that uncommon in detective fiction when you think about it and what this novel might lack for some in the atmosphere department, it definitely makes up with the trick even if the courtroom narrative was not my kind of thing and dragged a bit at times.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>He Who Whispers</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/whispers.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/whispers.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Miles Hammond is invited to a meeting of the Murder Club and Professor Rigaud tells him the story of Fay Seton: </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
She once worked with the Brookes family and was engaged to Harry Brooke, of which his father Howard did not approve. One day Howard planned on meeting Fay in the tower of the remains of a chateau. Harry and Rigaud leave Howard on the roof of said tower, but when they return after just 15 minutes they see him stabbed by a sword-cane which is found beside him broken into two pieces. The tower was under constant observation by a family picknicking nearby and apparently no one entered or left the tower in that time frame. The only one with a motive is Fay Seton, who is rumoured to be involved in vampirism.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
And as fate would have it, Fay Seton turns out to be Miles' new librarian...</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
The first Carr novel that I actually liked as a novel just because of its narration and plot. The impossible crime is nothing to write home about, considering what Carr is capable of, but again it's actually imagineable and the way it's weaved into the plot works excellent and makes for an enthralling reading. If I recommend <i>The Judas Window</i> for its trick, I recommend this one for pure enjoyment and plotting skill. You can't go wrong with either of them.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>The Plague Court Murders</b><br />
<be></be></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/plague.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/plague.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Ken Blake and Inspector Masters are invited by Dean Halliday to witness a seance and experience the supposed haunting at his family estate Plague Court. Halliday's fiance, aunt and others are fooled by a psychic investigator called Roger Darworth and his medium Joseph. That night Darworth locks himself up alone in a small stone house of the estate during the seance and eventually he's found stabbed with the dagger of Louis Playge, who was a hangman's assistant during the times of the Black Death and was buried under a tree right next to said stone house, supposingly causing the estate's hauntings. The stone house is locked and bolted and the mud surrouning it is unbroken. All suspects were gathered in a room of the main house in the dark during the seance and no one could have done it since Darworth rang a bell on the verge of dying - everyone jumped up at that sound, the lights were turned on and everyone was still present...</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
Not bad overall. The most remarkable thing might be that there's actually a reason for the setting and atmosphere the murder is padded out and decorated with. Once you look through all the grotesqueness you might actually be able to figure out the intention behind everything and therefore also the <i>howdunnit</i>, but the <i>whodunnit</i> is still hidden behind clues I didn't catch because... I got rather bored halfway. But even considering those clues... I doubt anyone will notice what they hint at. The murder method itself also features a gimmick comparable to that in <i>The Judas Window</i> which plays an essential part in solving the mystery and while it gives away more of the overall solution in this case, it's actually more guessable and not so unusual in reality, as also pointed out by Merrivale in the novel itself.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
However, and this goes for Carr in general, personally I began to wonder whether this grotesqueness is really necessary if all it actually does is to provide atmosphere and hide essential aspects for the solution. I used to think locked rooms are the most awesome field in detective fiction, but in retrospect I realized that my favorite locked rooms are actually those that might be set in eccentric places but do not rely on grotesqueness. And let's be honest: How many locked rooms are actually logical in terms of deduction progress and probable in terms of practicability? And the more bizarre the setting and murder get, the more you anticipate from the solution, even if that feeling or stance are not rational in any way. Of course paddings and coverings can be used in a satisfying way, but it's rather difficult to pull off.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
You might prove me wrong - I would actually welcome that - but I kind of get why Ellery Queen were not known for locked room tricks but were famous for their complex constructions and logical deductions instead. When is a locked room actually as logically deducible as Queen's early cases? I can only think of Ayukawa Tetsuya's 赤い密室 right now. And while doing that, I notice that such logical locked rooms might be a bit too easy to solve exactly because they are so logical and point to only one possible solution...</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Another thing: Strictly speaking, Queen's early cases consist of nothing but investigation between murder and solution. However I think the cousins managed to narrate this simple plot structure much more interesting than Carr does with all his suggestions of the supernatual and whatnot... might be a totally personal matter though as I'm still waiting for the Carr novel that will finally convert me into a fan. It might seem strange after what could almost be perceived as a rant by now, but I really wish I could appreciate Carr's work more than I do so far. But there's a difference between being thrilled just by Ellery looking at crime scenes, talking with suspects and commenting with deductions... and not finding anything particularly remarkable about the detective figure and his advancements in the plot on the other hand, as it's the case for me with Fell and Merrivale...</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Nothing of this changes the fact that <i>The Judas Window</i> still is my favorite locked room trick after all, even if it's miles away from being one of my favorite detective novels. I'm beginning to feel schizophrenic somehow... but it seems like that's not only my "problem", but something many Japanese authors have to "deal" with as well.</div>mousoukyokuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00755066580829504834noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703842222404767140.post-83201149927614763852012-03-11T08:43:00.000+01:002012-07-09T19:05:20.099+02:00木製の王子<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/mokusei.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/mokusei.png" /></a><span class="fullpost">World-famous painter and sculptor Shirakashi Munenao and his family finally appear in the media after Munenao began accepting interviews and building their strange mansion in the depth of Kyouto's Mt. Hiei. The Shirakashi were mostly living in secrecy before and their inbred family tree draws the public attention. When journalists Kisaragi Uyuu and Anjou Norisada visit their mansion for an article about Munenao's new painting, Shirakashi Akika's severed head is found on her piano. Due to unbroken snow surrounding the mansion, only one of its inhabitants could be the murderer. However, due to huge digital clocks in <i>every </i>room making their movements perfectly rememberable, all of them possess alibis for the hour in which the murder must have been committed!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">Reminiscient of train mysteries and their complex timetable puzzles, but happening inside a mansion with every character having a perfect alibi, which almost makes this an impossible crime situation. So this should be very fun, right? To be honest, the question is rather tricky. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">In an <a href="http://www.geocities.co.jp/CollegeLife-Lounge/4746/archives/maya.html">interview</a> Maya Yutaka stated that he actually wanted the alibi puzzle to be so overly complex and intricate, that he would not let the reader solve it. And <i>goddammit</i> is this horrifying. I don't know whether I want to applaud or strangle him. Let's sum this up:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">1) We have 1 victim and 8 suspects. All their names are horribly confusable since they all include only 2 kanji which are all composed out of the same 8 kanjis. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">2) Not only the names are hard to remember and look at, the timetable is also friggin SMALL. Remembering who did what where in the mansion at which point in time was just as nearly impossible.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">3) And to round things up, they just don't stop <i>moving</i>. Seriously, how much can a family run around in one hour?!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">So strictly speaking, I found the puzzle a bit hard to enjoy because Maya made it so deliberately difficult. He's known for expecting a lot from the readers, but this went a bit too far for my taste. The narration does not really help either. The easiest way to try to figure things out would actually be to ignore the explanations and thoughts of the deducing characters and just look at the damn table with its numbers and deal with the names like ciphers as well, since most of the persons behind those don't even have a description of their outward appearance or personality anyway. So you begin to ask yourself why you are reading a novel instead of just looking at a puzzle, which is never a good thing.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">Maya also stated in that interview that he made the puzzle so ridiculously complex and difficult because he wanted to make clear to the reader that this is not he main point of the novel and that there's no need in trying to solve this anway. And I'm glad I knew that beforehand, so I could skim that part, but usually you don't know about this kind of things when beginning a novel.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">The main question of the mystery is indeed something different; namely what is the family's secret and why was such a complex crime situation necessary and possible? The solution for the murderer's identity is actually revealed in a rather unspectacular manner. Around page 200 the murder happened, the first table shows up and the characters start deducung... and around page 300 you already know who did it. With another 150 pages following until the end of the book. This would not be such a delicate matter if it was not for two reasons:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">1) The solution is based on the overthrowing of one of the assumptions this puzzle was built around. It certainly isn't unrealistic or anything, but you wonder if it's actually fair making the reader think that assumption can be included in your deductions as a given fact just to discard one of the puzzle's basic foundations eventually.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">2) The truth behind the family is fairly hinted at and I suspected it rather early in the book. However, it's not really enough to justify suspending the novel's outcome any more and it somehow renders the puzzle irrelevant once you think about it... here Maya goes again with one of the anti-mystery principles.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">I like mysteries that play in a distinct setting with a unique kind of logic behind everything, but this time that logic was rather bland for Maya's standards. But maybe I've just gotten too used to his maliciousness...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">Overall this is not a bad book by any means though. The mystery and how it's integrated into the plot is a rather delicate matter, but maybe that's just my personal... and many other readers' opinion. Otherwise the novel is certainly intriguing. Anjou, who overheard his parents when he was younger and found out he was adopted (more or less...), suspects to be the lost son of the Shirakashi due to his ring and a corresponding symbol he saw in a photo of the Shirakashi mansion's interior, so he tries to get closer to his supposed sister Akika and as already said eventually visits the mansion together with Uyuu. The latter's character is finally comparatively developed after the two preceding works in this trilogy of sorts and with Anjou's search for the truth, Uyuu's and Touri's marriage plans, the Shirakashi family and their distinct religious outlook, the reader is provided with a fascinating novel about family and religion; especially the rather unsettling or even frightening issues connected to these fields. The narration is also rather enthralling most of the time since we have Anjou's, Uyuu's, detective figure Kisarazu Yuuya's and several other perspectives and points of time to keep the reader interested. </span><br />
<br />
<span class="fullpost">Just don't read this before the other two works told by Uyuu and Maya's debut novel since otherwise you'll be heavily spoiled!!</span><br />
<span class="fullpost"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">All in all, this is not the worst Maya novel I've read, but it's definitely not the best either. If I don't lose the impetus I might sum up/rank/revise the Maya readings sometime, but right now I should take another nap... and after that on with other western classics!</span></div>mousoukyokuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00755066580829504834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703842222404767140.post-41664142313526952292012-02-29T18:01:00.001+01:002012-07-09T19:05:20.075+02:00The French Powder Mystery<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/french.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/french.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
French's Department Store on Fifth Avenue is <i>the</i> place for modern living and exhibits fancy furniture every day in a special show window at noon, which became an event on the street. One day when the demonstrator pushes a button to unfold a bed from the wall, a corpse slides from the sheets! Inspector Queen and his son Ellery arrive at the scene and eventually conclude that the murderer must be an employee or otherwise affiliated person of the store and so Ellery sets out to narrow down the only possible culprit.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>A higly recommended classic both in terms of Queen-ish workmanship and orthodox detective fiction in general. The setting of a well-attended department store and the public display of the corpse certainly is different from the more or less typical country house mystery and I guess it was one of Queen's distinctive features in the GAD. I would have never thought this could work out for me so well. Again Ellery deduces a lot from rather inconspicious aspects and the plot logically unfolds at a steady pace.<br />
<br />
Out of the Queens I'v read so far, this one is almost on par with <i>The Greek Coffin Mystery</i> in terms of complex plotting and logical deductions, but they differ significantly in one certain way: While <i>Greek </i>does feature a lot of deductions over the course of the novel with Ellery stating his thoughts throughout, it does so because there are multiple false solutions which are used to arrive at the only true version the crime was committed. In <i>French</i> however, Ellery simply states part of the deductions which lead to the definite solution at early stages of the novel.<br />
<br />
While in contrast to others, who seem to think this makes the novel lose steam later on, I actually think it made the reading itself more entertaining, but I do have to admit that the Challenge To The Reader turned out a bit easier due to this. There are several points mentioned earlier in the novel that are only fully attended to during the denouement and these are exactly the clues you still have to think about and use for your own deductions or otherwise you won't get to the solution, even including all of Ellery's statements prior to the Challenge. It's a bit of a mixed bag, but I was fine with it and I don't really see why it should ruin the novel for anyone else either.<br />
<br />
I also read about readers criticizing that the way Ellery narrowed the culprit down to the employees, business partners and family members was not totally logical in their view and whether there really could not be any other possible murderer. However I don't see why there should be a problem with Ellery's deduction even if the setting isn't a perfect closed circle, e.g. due to a natural phenomenon like typhoons, landslides or floodings. Nobody else could have the required knowledge and means to commit the crime that way and nobody else would have a reason to shove the corpse into that bed...<br />
<br />
Next up: <i>The Egyptian Cross Mystery </i>or I will wait for <i>The Dutch Shoe Mystery</i> and read both chronologically. Or another novel by one of those Japanese Queen-fanboys... Several Arisugawas waiting to be read are staring at me, but I still don't own anything by Norizuki Rintarou expect his debut novel 密閉教室, which does not even feature his Queen-ish detective figure. And I'm beginning to run out of Maya Yutaka material...</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>mousoukyokuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00755066580829504834noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703842222404767140.post-32032385968834250392012-02-21T06:30:00.003+01:002012-07-09T19:05:20.064+02:00The Chinese Orange Mystery<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/chinese.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/chinese.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">The 22nd floor of the Chancellor Hotel includes both the Kirk family's suites and the office of Donald Kirk's Mandarin press. In a waiting room of said office a man is found murdered by a poker smashed over his head and with two african spears pushed through his clothes. The just as strange fact about his clothes however is, that they are entirely reversed - just as <i>everything </i>else in that whole room has been turned backwards! On top of that, all the people living or working on that floor claim to have never seen this man before...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">I get why the opinions on this work can differ so significantly. Especially considering the solution. Personally, I think the setting and plot for themselves are awesome and I had just as much fun reading this one as was the case with <i>The Siamese Twin Mystery</i>. The way the backwardness of the crime scene leads to a seemingly endless cycle of secrets being revealed was written brilliantly and felt quite engaging. The characters are also the most lively bunch I've read from Queen so far and even though compared to the previous book in the series no second murder happens, I constantly felt the urge to read on.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">For anything beyond these aspects of the novel, writing about it without spoiling becomes rather difficult, which is why I decided to keep it short around here to avoid getting risky and move spoilers to the bottom. So just mark the part below if you already read this novel.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">Just a few things: While it's not assured that you automatically get the murderer when you know beforehand what kind of mystery this novel is, it certainly increases the likeliness. Meaning: Do NOT gather too much information on the significance, reputation or whatever of this novel, just read it, if that's possible at all. Though even if you get the murderer's identity, that's only one part of a huge puzzle. You still have to figure out the identity of the man (even though it's not really required or even stated in its entirety), the issue about the backwardness and the spears... and the solution, while complicated and certainly not badly invented, is a little hard to swallow. It's not even like Ellery's train of thought proves the victim's identity and the culprit's motive in a totally logical and definite way, but it all comes together in the end. I just wondered how the reader should come up with all that and connect it accordingly...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">Personally, I liked the novel and the solution as well, considering the puzzle as a whole and the way the clues were placed... and the time this was written. It's just a tad too ingenious for its own good and maybe illustrations would have helped here. However, as neat as the plot is written, the solution might screw this book up for you, which is why I (as I guess many others would) can not really recommend this as a first Queen experience, but once you tasted something a bit more solid and less... queer, I think you should be fine with this.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">Next up: <i>Egyptian Cross</i> or <i>French Powder</i>. And <i>Dutch Shoe</i> and <i>Ten Days' Wonder</i> are on their way. </span><br />
<br />
<b><span class="fullpost">!!!!!SPOILERS BELOW!!!!! (select to read)</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: white; text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">While I do admit that I'm still not sure whether I really figured out that pseudo locked room trick (the door to the corridor wasn't locked after all) and it might have been more guessable when you actually had an illustration of that crime scene and how the murder was committed, I can not say I <i>disliked</i> the solution. I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing, which shows just how queer this novel is, but you don't even have to come up with that trick to guess the whodunnit. As long as you get the whole thing about the missing necktie, which is not <i>impossible</i> since A) it was hinted at through the backwardness of the crime scene once you think it might <i>conceal</i> something rather than <i>point</i> at it and B) the content of the valise was the last essential hint before Ellery's flash of genius and the Challange To The Reader, you could theoretically deduce the victim's occupation and where he came from. For what reason he came is a different thing, but as Ellery points out the possibilities are rather limited considering that it's true that everyone saw the man for the first time on that day. Once you figure that out and add the observation point of Mrs. Shane, you could at least figure out who would benefit from that pseudo locked room trick, even if you don't know the exact method.</span></div>
<div style="color: white; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost"><span style="color: white;">The method itself though... the feasibility certainly is questionable, but then again it did not bug me as much as let's say... Carr's </span><i style="color: white;">The Hollow Man</i><span style="color: white;">! *gasp* Yes, I have to say as much as one simply has to like that novel, when you actually think about it, you begin to wonder why that exact method had to be used and more importantly whether that trick could be realized successfully. And seriously, in that case I found the clues to be even more elusive and my disbelief was suspended to its maximum. I think the thing with the spears and the cord is just as, or even less improbable (disregarding the fact that </span><i style="color: white;">somebody</i><span style="color: white;"> would definitely notice the culprit doing </span><i style="color: white;">all that</i><span style="color: white;">...). But of course Carr is the master in that field (</span><i style="color: white;">The Judas Window</i><span style="color: white;"> is the best example for that) and strictly speaking in Queen's case this can not even be considered a locked room as the other door was unlocked all the time and the more the attention is drawn from the other locked door on the office side, the better it turns out for the misdirection in this novel. Really queer business... but queer enough for me to like it.</span> </span></div>mousoukyokuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00755066580829504834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703842222404767140.post-40024070169907871332012-02-15T00:18:00.001+01:002012-07-09T19:05:20.073+02:00The Siamese Twin Mystery<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/siamese.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/siamese.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">Ellery and his father wind up in a forest fire and have to refuge in the Xaviers' mansion. While being hospitable there is a strange tension among the inhabitants and the reason for the other guests' stay only becomes apparent after Dr. John Xavier is found murdered in his study, his right hand grapping a six of spades torn in half.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">And that's all anyone that hasn't already read this classic should know. Just as <a href="http://kontonnohazama.blogspot.com/2011/08/greek-coffin-mystery.html"><i>The Greek Coffin Mystery </i></a>this novel features several twists, but what sets it apart is its setting and plot. The forest fire steadily draws closer and provides a threatening atmosphere that certainly was a clear inspiration for all the neo-orthodox writers and their closed circle settings. I more and more get the Queen-ish approaches by authors like Arisugawa Arisu or Maya Yutaka, but also other classics by Ayukawa Tetsuya. Especially Arisugawa's debut <a href="http://kontonnohazama.blogspot.com/2010/09/y88.html">月光ゲーム</a> and its volcanic eruption and dying message usage are very clear examples. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">The dying message, as far as I know, was introduced with <i>The Tragedy of X</i>, which I still haven't read. <i>The Siamese Twin Mystery</i> was published shortly after that and already proposes a different perspective on that theme. The novel features several twists concerning whether a clue has to be interpreted as a dying message by the victim or if it could actually be a deception by the murderer himself. Ellery falls into that trap multiple times, which is a distinct similarity to the multiple false solutions in <i>The Greek Coffin Mystery</i>, where Ellery actually decided to never state his deductions before he is absolutely sure to avaid false accusations, but I guess threatening closed circles and weird clues demand drastic measures, Furthermore the whole case, as turns out in the end, could have never worked out this way for the murderer outside of a closed circle.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">I know, I didn't want to tell too much, but anyway, stuff happens and the misdirections are so subtle and clever that I didn't spot the final and essential bit that would have made me look right through the whole card thing to see what's actually most important. The essential aspect of the deduction chain it a bit less logical and more intuitional than one would expect in a Queen novel, but it definitely was hinted at in a subtle yet fair way (still, the fact that no challenge to the reader was included this time speaks for itself I guess*).</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">By now I realized these kind of Queen-ish puzzles can be just as entertaining and baffling when done right as complex Carr-ish locked room mysteries can be. The crime scenes and clues are kind of minimalistic in comparison, but that's exactly why the deduction process, the solution and the logic behind everything is so surprising and safisfying eventually. On the other hand, complex and fascinating locked rooms can really disappoint you if the solution is not just as complex and fascinating as well in the end. Of course there are simple yet brilliant tricks that are able to cope with the murder scenario, but they might work better in a short story than a full-fledged novel you invested your time in and want to be compensated sufficiently.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">Anyway, another Queen novel I really liked. Now on to some other nationality title... The Drury Lane omnibus is too hefty considering the amount of free time I should be able to grant myself at the moment. Too much on my mind and too much to do if I was honest and not procrastinating...</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="fullpost">* In 探偵小説と二〇世紀精神 Kasai Kiyoshi theorizes about why <i>Siamese</i> is the only novel among the nationality titles which does not include a challenge to the reader, plus he also discusses topics like the author's and his clues' arbitrariness and therefore the unique kind of logic inherent in orthodox detective novels, but I won't touch on any of that here since for that, just like Kasai, I would have to mercilessly spoil both <i>Siamese</i> and <i>Greek</i>. </span></div>mousoukyokuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00755066580829504834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703842222404767140.post-76636185168943078582012-02-06T15:12:00.000+01:002012-07-09T21:10:24.642+02:00神のロジック 人間のマジック<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/logicmagic.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/logicmagic.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Eleven-year-old Mamoru finds himself being handed over by his parents to a strange facility that certainly is not on Japanese ground. Even knowing he will return to his parents when starting middle school, he needed some time to adjust to the new environment but eventually got used to it and found new friends among the other five students in the rather unusual residental school in the midst of nowhere.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Half a year after he arrived at the facility, the students finally start to discuss various theories about why they are gathered in this building from all over the world to routinely work on the deduction workshop's assignments.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
When a seventh student is announced, things start to distort like they did when another student arrived before Mamoru came and eventually disappeared without any trace. Is there really a black evil <i>something</i> in this facility that despises change? Everything gets out of control when the first murder happens...</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I was kind of wavering whether I should really try reading this as the other work by Nishizawa Yasuhiko I read certainly was an interesting book but in the end it actually did not surprise me at all. Another point was that for my taste the murders started way too late and ended too fast to actually build up this typical tension between murders in (neo-)orthodox detective fiction. I felt like Nishizawa only proved to me that orthodox mysteries also work out in a SF setting (in that case personalities switching bodies). Me taking so long to actually pick up another book by this author speaks for itself I guess.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I'm glad this novel turned out to be what I expected and even more than that. While it certainly has that same weak point about the murders happening too late for my taste, this time the first half was much more interesting. In both cases the setting was interesting, but in the first novel I read Nishizawa spent too much time on explaining the system <i>over and over</i>. However here I was immediately drawn into the whole situation the narrator found himself in and I also wanted to know for what purpose this facility was build. Of course the children are overly intelligent for their age and the way they worked on their deduction tasks in their workshop was just as entertaining as their theories on the facility itself, which vary between virtual reality experiments and of course the training of secret detective entities.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The real fun sets in when the seventh student arrives and the whole atmosphere slides a bit into horror territory until the murder chain begins. While the culprit itself isn't that surprising, the whole truth behind the facility and the evil dwelling in there who does not want to see new faces was simply shocking and turned everything I read before upside down. And I love books with narrative tricks like this one. Especially when, like in this case, the author manages to include countless hints that are on the one hand totally obviously stated, yet you don't realize their existence as clues.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Another distinct point about this novel is that while an excessive narrative trick that turns everything upside down is not anything special nowadays, the trick has a double-layered nature. The trick does not simply exist to deceive the reader, it also works among the characters in the novel. From what I can gather right now, I only know of one other novel I've read that did something slightly similar yet totally different.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
And this is also where the theme of this novel shines. It's all about belief and delusion and therefore challenges concepts as objective perception and logic. Furthermore even with this kind of setting, Nishizawa manages to insert contemporary societal topics I would otherwise expect in other crime fiction genres, which proved me yet again that (neo-)orthodox detective novels don't ignore these issues, they just include and treat them in a different way.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It seems like Nishizawa's novels are highly diverse in setting and style so it's kind of difficult to get to know him as an author overall compared to authors with particular series like Ayatsuji Yukito, Kitayama Takekuni, Mori Hiroshi, Nikaidou Reito or classical authors like Ayukawa Tetsuya, I liked this novel a lot so I'll have to check out more of his stuff in the future. Even though I'm not in the mood to read a double-columned 600 pages hardcover book spanning over a huge timeline right now, which is one of the two books by Nishizawa piled up in my room... Maybe I should just start with his debut series someday when it's easier for me to get my hands on new books and read Japanese faster.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />mousoukyokuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00755066580829504834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703842222404767140.post-48058034127252127482012-01-25T11:51:00.000+01:002012-07-09T19:05:20.079+02:00メルカトルかく語りき<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/merukaku.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/merukaku.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">After <i>Another</i> and its unnecessary length deprived me of too much reading time, I felt the urge to read something I knew I'd definitely enjoy in at least some way, so I picked up this second short story collection by Maya Yutaka featuring his arrogant and always brilliant detective Mercator Ayu and his assistant and mystery writer Minagi Sanjou, which was waiting on my desk far too long.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span class="fullpost">Even though Mercator Ayu is certainly reminiscent of Ayukawa Tetsuya's Hoshikage Ryuuzou, his cases always somehow slide a little bit into the anti-mystery field, while still staying orthodox enough for my taste thanks to brilliant constructions and logical deductions with just enough hints to still be considered fair enough to not freak out and set the book on fire after the solution.</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">死人を起こす (Waking the dead) first tells the reader about a group of high school friends who find an acommodation trip via one of the student's father's business. The mansion's former owner was German and the first floor resembles a classical western building while the second floor is excessively Japanesque with sliding doors and ostentatious paintings on them. After some alcohol and partying one of the guys dies, seemingly fallen out of a window, and one year after they visit the mansion once more to find out if it was an accident or actually murder - of course with the help of Mercator and of course with one more death.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">The second case connects to the first one, which after that seems totally logical in a work-inherent way, but the second murder itself is left unclear in one certain aspect, which will clearly agitate many readers, but I simply can't not like this story because of the setting and how Mercator linked the deductions of the second death to the first one.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">九州旅行 (Kyuushuu trip) starts with Mercator testing a disc he got through some other case on Minagi's computer and doing that his hard drive and therefore his current story he was writing, which should have gone to the publishers in a few days, are destroyed. As compensation Mercator promises to give Minagi material for his next story... by finding a stabbed corpse in the same apartment complex where Minagi resides.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">Hilarious. Probably the most simply enjoyable story in this collection, especially for fans of the duo and Maya's humor. It's kind of a dying message story, but at the end it's something totally different which still could have been guessed when you think about it.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">収束 (Convergence) starts out with the description of three similar murders and different people and motives involved. Then after "knowing" this was a consecutive murder chain by shooting, we are told what happened before. Mercator and Minagi are off to a secluded island where a cult is situated around a certain writing. Mercator is hired to find out what's behind the traces of someone seemingly wanting to steal that certain document, while also being hired by someone else to get back his daughter from that island, who creeped in disguised as a servant to steal said book. After the cult's leader is found shot in the back, the only person that comes into question is the female servant Aoyama, so she is locked in to prevent further crimes until the storm lifts and the police arrives. However Mercator ensures that his client's daughter is not the culprit and that he already knows what will happen from here on.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">I'd love to write more on why this story is absolutely brilliant, but spoiling would be a shame for this one. The deductions reminded me of <a href="http://kontonnohazama.blogspot.com/2011/08/blog-post.html">the last book I've read by Maya</a>, because here we yet again have the 後期クイーン問題 (Latter period Queen problem) or at least one aspect of that. More on that afterwards.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">答えのない絵本 (Picture book without answer) features a murdered otaku physics teacher in a high school, who did not leave his room to go to the staff room even after four announcements via the school's speakers. While nobody from outside could have been the culprit (certified by cameras and sport clubs outside of the building), all twenty students on the floor of the murder could have committed the crime and Mercator has to deduce who did it with a huge alibi chart.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">The solution is what makes this story a love or hate example not really untypical for the genre in terms of today's anti-mystery standards. At first I certainly was somewhat thrown off myself, even though the deductions and the construction itself were totally awesome yet again and I especially liked how Maya used contemporary elements like screen savers and surveillance cameras to set up the whole scene. More on why the solution is so controversial later.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">密室荘 (Locked room villa) is just a sort of "bonus track" added to the other already serialized stories and there isn't much to say about it apart from: Mercator and Minagi find a corpse in Mercator's villa. Nobody could have entered or left the building so it has to be one of the two. Nothing surprising about the (not-)solution and the enjoyable part of the story is mainly the dialogue of the duo.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">So, about the </span><span class="fullpost">後期クイーン問題 I mentioned earlier:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">I haven't read later Queens, but I get what it means by just having read <i><a href="http://kontonnohazama.blogspot.com/2011/08/greek-coffin-mystery.html">The Greek Coffin</a></i>. The problem includes points like these:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">- The detective cannot ensure that his deduction is flawless and that information the detective isn't aware of does not exist.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">- There might be cases that are set up around the existence and presence of the detective figure and count on the detective doing his work and fool him through the premise of multiple solutions. Or, cases that <i>only </i>happen <i>because</i> a detective figure is involved.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">Just a rough summary of the most important stuff, as I don't have my books on that subject with me right now.</span><br />
<span class="fullpost">This is exactly where the stories of this book shine. Especially the one on the island and in the school. The former features fake or intended hints by the culprit and the impossibility of a detective to fully predict what happens next in a case of serial murders. The latter deals with the direct involvement and control by the supposedly objective detective figure, as <a href="http://www5a.biglobe.ne.jp/%7Esakatam/book/mercator.html">this great review</a> (SPOILERS!!) proved to me. Similar to Maya Yutaka's debut work (<a href="http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4832967320/koukokukaigis-22/ref=nosim">as discussed in here</a>), it's possible to get a different just as or even more satisfying solution on the premise of the detective <i>not</i> being impartial.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I can only recommend this collection and many other works by Maya Yutaka to readers interested in this topic. If you're looking for 100% orthodox detective fiction, I'm inclined to say "Look somewhere else" but on the other hand, what exactly is 100% orthodox? This is a highly experimental collection, but not so much that it would be unfair. The deductions are logical and comprehensible nonetheless and amazed me and I guess that's what counts.</div>mousoukyokuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00755066580829504834noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703842222404767140.post-41802637943481889972012-01-15T16:53:00.000+01:002012-07-09T19:10:43.708+02:00Another<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/another.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/another.png" /></a>As the anime is airing this season and I'm too busy and/or lazy, get your summary somewhere else, but not on Wiki as that one already tells you a third of the whole novel.<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
I don't know whether I should be glad that the solution and narrative trick at the end were actually better than I expected. Because otherwise, I could have thrown this novel at a wall and never look at it again.
Good gracious!! What a dragging plot! And I don't even mean the story and setting as such. It's really entirely the plotting that made me take at least a month for this to finish. I can't even count the instances where characters were saying phrases like "Now is not the time..." or "I'm so sorry... I will tell you later"!<br />
<br />
This was annoying the hell out of me and I took so many breaks during my reading like I never did with any other book (at least by choice). I know it's hard to build up tension over a course of 4 months and at the end it made sense the story had to take place in this time frame, but still you could write this novel in pretty much half as long or at least two-thirds. While at the end you do somewhat in a totally empathic way understand why Mei and the other classmates couldn't tell you everything from the start, the reason for Kouichi, the freaking narrator, is simply "I wanted to ask her... but somehow I felt this was not the time to do so". Like I said, simply annoying.<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I could complain about the (in my opinion and compared to e.g. <a href="http://kontonnohazama.blogspot.com/2011/03/blog-post.html">this</a>) mostly missing atmosphere, but then again this was unexpectedly more mystery than horror. Even knowing there is a narrative trick in this novel I only figured out about half of it and have to admit that the old man is still pretty good at this. If only the solution wasn't the only good thing about a 675 pages hardcover novel... Well, I admit the two main characters were alright even though Ayatsuji tried way too hard to appeal to new younger readers, but then again he could have given the other characters more depth as well if he was writing such a rather long book instead of wasting the pages on barely anything in some places. There are some additions in the manga, which fits the source material perfectly compared to the anime btw, but I don't know whether those were Ayatsuji's idea or the mangaka's. Maybe I don't even want to know. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Bottom line is that I still don't know whether I liked this book or not and where it ranks in the books I've read so far from this author. I'm feeling pretty indifferent about it. I guess it would be different if this wasn't such a tiresome reading experience but I can't recommend reading the manga either because only in novels those narrative tricks really work out and since this was the best aspect of the book anyway... you might give it a try in bunko format so your hands don't drop off.</div>mousoukyokuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00755066580829504834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703842222404767140.post-22038542646024900762011-10-16T18:33:00.002+02:002012-07-09T19:11:15.631+02:00DEVIL SURVIVOR 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/games/DS2/Devil_Survivor_2_cover_resized.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/games/DS2/Devil_Survivor_2_cover_resized.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Before this blog dies due to my... <i>life</i>, I thought I should ignore thematic restrictions I've more or less set myself and post anything I do recently</span>, <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">which in this case was finishing <i>Devil Survivor 2</i>. My fondness for reviewing prevails in any area though, so I'll try to actually rate this properly for those looking forward to the western release next year.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Devil Survivor (DS from here on) has (hopefully?) become another series entry in the huge <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megami_Tensei"><i>megaten </i>franchise</a> by now so I'll also be comparing part 2 with part 1 but try to avoid any major/detailed spoilers. Not that the game's <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZW9O4fUCp2I">opening</a> would not be spoilerific enough anyway... </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/games/DS2/devilsurvivor2_screens_07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/games/DS2/devilsurvivor2_screens_07.jpg" /></a></div>
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/games/DS2/Devil-Survivor-2-DS-14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/games/DS2/Devil-Survivor-2-DS-14.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For those new to the series: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">DS combines classical role-playing combat similar to other entries in the franchise with strategic field combat. I cannot really rate the latter since the only serious contact I made with that subgenre were Final Fantasy Tactics and FFT Advance, but I guess the field combat part is rather simple in comparison to other games. You have a set number of squares you can move per turn that varies depending on which demons you equipped (later more on demons) and once you are in the enemies range you can select to attack him and you can also use abilities on the field like healing or slowing down the enemies. Once you attack an enemy you switch into really traditional combat view and select normal attacks or specific skills. Each character (up to 4 in battle) can equip 2 demons who can do the same; the enemy team consists of a similar formation or just 3 demons. After combat you return to the field and heal or end your turn.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/games/DS2/devilsurvivor2_screens_06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/games/DS2/devilsurvivor2_screens_06.jpg" /></a></div>
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/games/DS2/devilsurvivor2_screens_10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/games/DS2/devilsurvivor2_screens_10.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Demons essentially are your enemies, but due to a special device you can also buy them, fuse new demons by combining 2 of them or simply summon them for money once you bought or created them for the first time. Their abilities depend on how you fused them and which fusing add-ons you used, but they always have one special unchangable skill relating to their race. The characters' skills are fully customizable, but as with your demons you can only equip 3 attacking skills and 3 automatic/defense skills that guard, heal, fasten you and so on. Once you <i>cracked </i>skills from enemy demons by selecting those and defeating them with the according character's team, you can equip any character with these skills as long as his parameters suffice. Parameters are divided automatically on level-ups, except for the nameless main character where you can allign them yourself.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/games/DS2/devilsurvivor2_screens_12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/games/DS2/devilsurvivor2_screens_12.jpg" /></a></div>
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/games/DS2/devilsurvivor2_screens_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/games/DS2/devilsurvivor2_screens_01.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As for the remaining gameplay, it plays out almost like a visual novel. You see a map and you can select various events that lead to dialogues with the characters where you have to make certain choices in answering them. These choices can highly influence the story's progess and outcome, as in DS characters can ultimately die and near the end of the game the player chooses between different ending routes that show different aspects and turns of the plot.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">An innovation in DS2 is that you can actually see the progress you made with each character by looking at his <i>Enishi</i> rank. This rank ranges from 1 to 5 and you gain things from each rank-up like the sharing of skill crackings and unlocking of specific demons. Furthermore you must actually have them at least on rank 4 or otherwise you can't recruit them again on your finite ending route later on depending on which route you chose.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The plot in DS2 starts out with your 3 more or less main characters in Tokyo after their enrollment tests. Uncertain about their future, they soon have to witness a much more threatening view: The recently popular internet site "Nicaea" shows users their dying scene and actually keeps its premise. Your characters barely survive an earthquake and a derailing subway train, just to be suddenly confronted with demons. Nicaea also offers a demon tamer device though and they manage to survive those as well after fighting them. However the students witness a perishing Tokyo and frequent attacks from monsters much more powerful than the demons. As the story unravels you get to know other demon tamers and finally find out about those monsters called Septentrion, their purpose and where they are coming from.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/games/DS2/devilsurvivor2_screens_04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/games/DS2/devilsurvivor2_screens_04.jpg" /></a></div>
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/games/DS2/devilsurvivor2_screens_05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/games/DS2/devilsurvivor2_screens_05.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In comparison to part 1 with its Tokyo lockdown, DS2 also features Osaka and Nagoya and portrays not only the destruction of Japan but the whole world. The grand scale was definitely welcomed so that DS2 can actually differ enough from its predecessor, however this also brought forth a signicificant distinction when you compare this entry with other megaten games: The world of the demons plays a rather simple role here as demons are really only used in combat and nothing more, while heaven with god and his angels does not appear <i>at all</i>. This is not a bad thing per se, but it also makes for inevitable shifts in plot structure. Your main thread are (omg spoiler... not) extraterrestrial-ish entities and you don't have to decide whether you align with the devil or god, so the ending routes are not that extremely denoted by values and opinions. It's still very much comparable to DS and megaten in general, don't get me wrong, the difference is that conflicts are solely portrayed and developed among the humans. For some this might be a welcome change, for others not so much. I guess it's a totally subjective matter. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As for me, I'm pretty much fine with both ideas, but I have to say that some later events and turns in the game are a little bit on the shallow side. I mean, there is an ending route where you can almost re-recruit <i>every single</i> character regardless of their contrasting opinions just by persuading them as long as your Enishi rank is high enough. With some characters this ended on the verge of disbelief for me, but this is only my personal perception and sentiment. The only aspect that kind of bugs me is that the game practically beckons you to do a certain route because you get the most points after clearing the game.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Despite all of that, the routes and outlooks were different enough considering it's just about humans and how they deal with their imminent demise and the prompt to decide their ethos. This was mostly handled pretty well, as most of the characters have a clear motivation and background, even if they might not be the most outstanding characters in the franchise. The sheer number of characters and amount of dialogue certainly makes up for that and while the plot might not be as overwhelming as DS1 and despite the imminent world destruction scenario funnily not as much tension is evoked, DS2 was one of the most <i>fun</i> RPGs I've played in the last few years. The gameplay is much more fluent and less tedious at some points (big YAY for shared skill cracking), the Septentrion battles actually show some innovative combat conditions and <i>stuff is constantly happening</i>. I never felt bored and always felt the urge to continue. Heck, this is one of the few games where I actually consider a second run. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The music also significantly improved, as Ito Kenji and the Atlus Sound Team simply know more about actual <i>video game </i>compositions and the soundtrack sounds neat both in the game and on CD, similar to better Nintendo DS OSTs like those of Sigma Harmonics or Soma Bringer. In DS1 I somehow felt that Asano Takami certainly was the member of a rock band that started in the friggin' 70s. His tracks rely heavily on wailing guitars which IMO sometimes was just overwhelming for a strategy RPG. Just compare <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXjOs8gjOjQ">his</a> normal battle theme with the one by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyhqyV9YDZc">Atlus</a>. Much more pleasant when you actually have to concentrate, even if just for a short time. Furthermore Ito Kenji provides for epic battle field music like <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THu-srFS5G0">this</a>! <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Graphics also somewhat improved, at least the Septentrion battles are an improvement and there are more CG scenes this time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i> </i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Overall I can only recommend this to anyone not totally disgusted by strategy RPGs, as I also don't play these usually. Plot and characters are satisfactory if not fine considering most of them have distinct backgrounds and developments. I played this for somewhat around 50 hours according to my savestate but counting in the auctions and fusions I'd definitely say 60 or more and there are 5 ending routes to explore and extra bosses on the second run so this handheld RPG is not inferior to those on the consoles in terms of playing time and replay value.</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Summary:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">+ more focus on more likeable characters</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">+ slight but welcome gameplay improvements </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">+ more and better music</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- characters almost too likeable (slight suspension of disbelief sometimes)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- ending routes don't differ as significantly as in the predecessor</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- kind of shoots its wad a tad too early, not many revelations near the end</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Overall Rating: 87%</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>mousoukyokuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00755066580829504834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703842222404767140.post-39924073573778706782011-08-27T18:07:00.007+02:002012-07-09T19:06:44.211+02:00青い密室 名探偵・星影竜三全集 (2)<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/aoi.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/aoi.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 365px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 246px;" /></a>Short story collection of 8 works by Ayukawa Tetsuya and compiling all his short stories featuring the detective character Hoshikage Ryuuzou together with the first volume <a href="http://kontonnohazama.blogspot.com/2011/06/1_23.html">赤い密室</a>.
</div>
<span class="fullpost">
</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">To be honest, I did not expect that much from this collection, or rather did not want to expect too much to avoid being disappointed. But speaking strictly, while there were 3 masterpieces in the first volume, one of those worked a lot better as a revised <a href="http://kontonnohazama.blogspot.com/2011/05/blog-post.html">full-fledged novel</a> version and the other 3 stories were so obviously copied and reconstructed from Carr and stuffed into a small page count with an uncomplex structure, that they turned out too simplistic for my taste. Adding the fact that those 2 actually not just good or decent but awesome stories also seem to be the most discussed and praised ones, I was wondering how the 8 stories in the second volume would turn out.
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">
<br />Fortunately, while there wasn't anything as awesome as 赤い密室 (the story) in this collection, many came very close and there are only one or two stories out of 8 that I did not find particularly interesting, which makes this collection more recommendable as a whole in comparison to the first one. This might also stem from the fact that while in the first one 5 out of 6 if not all stories featured impossible crimes, only one half of the second compilation consists of those and therefore more variation is offered. The other 4 are 1 rather bland story and 3 which were featured as culprit guessing stories in magazines at that time. With a challenge to the reader and mystery writer Ayukawa Tetsuya as the narrator in 2 of them. Yes, especially these 2 are very Queen-ish, not only in structure but also in terms of tricks and deductions being used to gain a logical and totally satisfying yet surprising solution.
<br />
<br />白い密室 features a murder in a house surrouned by snow with the only 2 lines of footprints leading into it being from the 2 characters who discovered the corpse. The trick is rather simple but it fits the short page count and it's also pretty innovative for its time. My only problem was that I found the clues to be insufficiently or imprecisely placed. Even Hoshikage himself mentions in his deduction that at some parts he was guessing 1 out of 3 possibilties and he just had to check which was actually the case by asking the police to check up on it. Which does not make the deduction process strictly logical in my opinion.
<br />
<br />薔薇荘殺人事件 was pretty much awesome in any way possible. Ayukawa gets invited by Hoshikage to visit a crime scene together after his novels were criticized for their unrealistic depictions of police procedure, so he should better learn from watching. 2 murders and one robbery incident have to happen until Hoshikage finally points out the culprit living together with the other inhabitants of the mansion. The way of deduction was totally logical and convincing in Queen-ish style and yet Ayukawa managed to make the culprit surprising because of his misdirection skills that fortunately were at their best here.
<br />
<br />I already loved the narration via Ayukawa in the previous story, but it got even more fun with 悪魔はここに in a secluded mansion in the mountains, isolated due to a typhoon. Ayukawas depictions are always neat and while the case wasn't as complex as in the previous story, the culprit was more convincing and memorable and just as surprising for me even though the solution should have been apparent to me right away. This story is even more Queen-ish, but I won't say why because that could become a spoiler.
<br />
<br />青い密室 is the third and last of the color-related locked room stories Ayukawa wrote. The title doesn't carry much meaning though. The first one was red due to its red brick walls and probably the autopsy room itself, the second derives from the snow and this one merely from the blue halogen lamp and lampshade in the locked room. While still not as good as the red locked room, I liked the blue one more than the white since the clues were more fair and the case featured more suspects. The trick is rather classic but has a unique note as well as the absence of footprints under the room's window actually point out the culprit rather than making this seemingly impossible situation more complicating... and I still didn't get it until it was solved by Hoshikage.
<br />
<br />砂とくらげと was an interesting approach in structure with Ayukawa writing a letter to Hoshikage describing another murder case on the same ground as in 薔薇荘殺人事件 and Hoshikage answering and solving it with another letter, but for me it sadly made for the least entertaining read in this compilation. Not even because of the case itself, but the boring way it was told. Just descriptions, almost no dialogue at all. The case was rather fine as it features a culprit vanishing from a beach with 1 stabbed corpse and one poisoned by a jellyfish! However I didn't quite get why the murderer should have to make such a hassle and why Ayukawa made the most suspicious person the culprit since it makes the whole impossible situation rather insignificant. The trick itself, while not logical in a way that one would understand why the culprit must choose this method, is definitely quite fun though.
<br />
<br />茜荘事件 was the only really bland story in here. Some aspiring artists in some hotel in Karuizawa who all have a motive for murdering a journalist also staying there. Logical but very simple case and nothing worth mentioning at all unfortunately, even though I found it more fun to read than the previous story.
<br />
<br />悪魔の灰 might be my favorite impossible crime story out of the 4 in here. In its short frame it manages to depict an engaging setting and characters with personality while still featuring a satisfying locked room. A scientist is found murdered and covered with ash in the lab of his mansion with the door locked and the windows shut tight after statues of his father and grandfather were found covered with ashes as well, like some kind of premonition. The key to the lab is found on the table inside of the room while the other key was in the hands of the victim's wife which was not at home when the murder happened. The misdirection worked pretty well here and I really liked this story overall.
<br />
<br />朱の絶筆 might potentially be the best story of this compilation, as it was also made into a full-fledged novel later, but that's exactly my problem: It's just too complex for its page count. This was also written with a challenge to the reader for the readers of a magazine to guess the culprit before the solution was published and I really wonder how I should have deduced all that with tha facts I had. I would not say it's not logical, but some conclusions were a bit difficult to arrive at, to put it mildly. I had to look up a lot of aspects and needed almost as long to understand the solution as I needed to read the story itself... and the denouement is partly to be blamed for that as well, since Hoshikage in my opinion did not even address everything I wanted explained in detail. Even if it's a nuisance, I'll have to read the revised longer version someday as the setting and mystery itself were great.
<br />Famous author Shinozaki Gousuke houses various other persons like editors, illustrators and cameramen in his mansion and as editor Tanaka arrives there to take the new manuscript to the publisher, Shinozaki's secretary and assistant Nogawa Fumiko tells him that Shinozaki finished the short story, but she still has to complete the clean copy from his tape dictation and let Shinozaki straighten it out after that. Apparently that should not take too long though and Tanaka even offers to write down the last few pages himself. Meanwhile Nogawa arranges a car so the two can go for a drive while Shinozaki makes his last corrections. After they return and want to have dinner with all the guests the maid discovers Shinozaki strangled in his study with a smell of burned manuscript paper filling the room. The aforementioned manuscript itself is safe though and was already partly corrected before the author's death, but the room's high temperature due to the burning makes the exact time of murder uncertain. It takes another strangulation and a poisoning incident until Hoshikage (not mentioned by name this time though...) arrives to deduce the truth with the suspects' statements.
<br />Totally classic, complex whodunnit that certainly has more than just the potential for a whole novel. It's really the same thing as with 呪縛再現 and りら荘事件... so I'll have to get my hands on the novel somewhen.
<br />
<br />Overall more recommendable than the first compilation, but they both have their pros and cons, it's just that this one is more consistent in quality.</span></div>mousoukyokuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00755066580829504834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5703842222404767140.post-50819658338826206592011-08-17T02:28:00.004+02:002012-07-09T19:05:20.082+02:00The Greek Coffin Mystery<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/greek-1.png"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e209/lion_magnus/novels/greek-1.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 391px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 246px;" /></a>After the famous art dealer Georg Khalkis dies caused by illness, his will turns out to be stolen. When the police, including Inspector Richard Queen and his son Ellery, arrive at the scene, Ellery suggests the will could only be found in Khalkis' coffin. However what turns out to be there is not the will but another corpse - and an obvious murder at that!<span class="fullpost">
<br />
</span></div>
<a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="fullpost">I was kind of surprised how unspoiled I managed to read this classic (I would not count the existence of several false and one correct solution as a spoiler since there's no way a solution stated before the challenge to the reader would be the definite one...). That said, the first solution was obviously wrong for me immediately anyway due to one clue, aspect, device or whatever I should call it I've encountered <span style="font-style: italic;">so</span> often in Japanese mystery fiction that it just made me too cautious concerning that by now.
<br />
<br />Apart from that though, this definitely deserves its status as one of the most important and simply awesome classics of the genre. I totally fell for one of the later false solutions and the actual culprit was indeed totally unexpected for me even though it was absolutely logical and deducible how Ellery's brilliant recital in the denouement proved. There are, typically for those old novels, some minor aspects that might make some clues a tad harder to catch and/or interpret but I don't think this unevitable factor makes the mystery unsolvable for readers who did not live at the time when this book was published.
<br />
<br />If there was something I could remark, there would be two things:
<br />1) There are one or two instances where a character suddenly remembers something or revokes established circumstances which felt a bit too convenient and almost random but any author has to construct and advance in his plot <span style="font-style: italic;">somehow</span>.
<br />2) The culprit, surprising as he was, almost felt a bit <span style="font-style: italic;">too</span> unexpected since the motive still isn't anything satisfying, unique or memorable for me knowing the whole story. It's fair and guessable and convincing and all, it just didn't fit my personal taste, which might be a little bit too influenced by (especially contemporary) Japanese writers and their extended focus on characterization.
<br />
<br />These are only minor nitpickings though as the complex yet entertaining plot and its mystery were totally engaging and made me love my first novel by Ellery Queen. I'm certainly inclined to try out others and I'll probably continue with <span style="font-style: italic;">The Siamese Twin Mystery </span>and/or <span style="font-style: italic;">The Chinese Orange Mystery</span> so I'd have three of the most popular/distinct Queens off my list.</span></div>mousoukyokuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00755066580829504834noreply@blogger.com3