The letter was dated five days before his death. How did Heikichi kill his relatives after he died? Was his death faked? If he really was murdered, how was the murder done in a room locked from the inside? Who killed the women and Heikichi, if Heikichi wasn't the murderer?
In author Soji Shimada's story within a story, within a story, readers are challenged to solve the murder mystery before Kiyoshi tells all. We readers learn every fact and clue of the cases along with the amateur sleuths. Just before the chapter Kiyoshi tells how and why it all happened, the author stops the tale with a letter to readers on page "Gentle Reader, Unusual as it may be for the author to intrude into the proceedings like this, there is something I should like to say at this point.
All of the information required to solve the mystery is now in your hands, and, in fact, the crucial hint has been provided already.
I wonder if you noticed it? My greatest fear is that I might already have told you too much about the case! But I dared to do that both for the sake of fairness of the game, and,of course, to provide you with a little help. Let me throw down the gauntlet: I challenge you to solve the mystery before the final chapters! And I wish you luck. One of the books in the occasional waves of public interest in these novels I first caught were the Philo Vance mysteries. I was a teenager, and these novels were old-fashioned to me.
Nonetheless, I thought they were interesting enough for an occasional read. Gentle reader, when I was very young, American families used to sit around the single TV set console in the living room and watch TV shows together. TV networks and producers, knowing this, often hoped to attract such viewers by TV shows considered 'family entertainment'.
These type of shows are very rare today, imho. Thankfully, since my family was more into going nuclear than being nuclear, I had my own apartment and TV set in The viewer was given the opportunity and a minute to solve the episode's mystery during the show!
Jim Hutton in the character of Ellery Queen would turn to the audience after about 45 minutes of the hour-long show, breaking the fourth wall, and ask us did we figure it out? Every fact and clue of the murder had been aired during the preceding minutes. I admit I had a slight crush on Jim Hutton, so in not paying attention to the mystery closely, I never solved these TV mysteries that is my excuse. Every convention common to these novels is included in this book - locked-door murder, astrological signs strongly hinting at a paranormal element, psuedo- and real scientific methodology, a zillion possible suspects, detailed drawings of the murder scenes, and a genius amateur sleuth who figures it all out.
The Asian version of the early 's detective story has more violence and gore, but nonetheless, they are obviously as satisfying to read as the more sedate polite English versions of this mystery format I have read. Mar 10, Mizuki rated it it was amazing. I look forward to re-read this book some day. View all 4 comments. Mar 19, Nancy Oakes rated it it was amazing Shelves: crime-fiction , crime-fiction-japan , translated-crime-fiction.
Oh my! This is probably the best mystery novel I've read all year -- it is the kind of book that I hope to find every time I pick up a new mystery. I do have to admit to a fondness for Japanese authors, especially mystery writers, and this particular book is an example of why. I have to find other works by this author in translation if they exist.
I could NOT put this book down at all once I started. The story begins some time back in the s, and its focal point is a bizarre case known as the Oh my!
The story begins some time back in the s, and its focal point is a bizarre case known as the Tokyo Zodiac Murders. The murders occurred, but this happened after the artist was found dead, in his studio, locked from the outside.
The clues left little to go on, and solving the horrifying case became an obsession for many over the last decades. One detective, who is also a fortune teller, decides to take it on and solve it where others have failed. With the help of his friend, a fan of detective fiction, he tries to do what so many have attempted and failed over the a year period of time. An amazing book, one that will totally occupy you as you read.
There are a number of possibilities that present themselves as the two friends delve into the past. The characterization is very well done, the writing is excellent, and the mystery itself not to mention the solution is nothing like I've ever read before. Hooray for a mystery I could really sink my teeth into. I think this one will really appeal to people like myself who enjoy the different take on mysteries provided by Japanese mystery authors, and those who enjoy the classic locked-room scenario.
It isn't a mystery for cozy readers or readers who want an easy solution -- this requires the reader's participation the entire way. Also, if alchemy and astrology aren't your thing, then you may want to skip it. An excellent mystery -- I enjoy finding these little gems now and then. Most highly recommended. May 26, Jokoloyo rated it it was amazing. This is my second novel where the author challenge readers explicitly to guess the culprit.
The first one is The Egyptian Cross Mystery. And coincidentally this novel is my first Soji Shimada's novel that I've ever read. After read this novel, I wish there are other Soji Shimada's novel translated into English. Highly recommended for readers who want to guess the culprit. Although I found some minor clues seems useful if the reader knows pop-culture of Japanese at mid era, but the essence of This is my second novel where the author challenge readers explicitly to guess the culprit.
Although I found some minor clues seems useful if the reader knows pop-culture of Japanese at mid era, but the essence of the trick is a classic for me. This apparently is a locked room mystery novel that has been getting rave reviews.
Wow all I have to say is that this book was great. More than anything I love clever books like this, and this was definitely very clever. I honestly was a bit worried for a couple of minutes that maybe I wouldn't be able to get the book since the setting is in Japan.
But wow the author Soji Shimada is able to pretty much show you that murder is murder no matter where it takes place. This book is broken into two time periods. The first is Japan in and the second time period is Japan in In , we are treated to a letter that is left by an artist named Heikichi Umezawa. Umezawa wants to "build" the perfect woman.
We read of his obsession with women and their bodies as well as his comments on astrology. We realize that he plans on doing away with his children, stepchildren, and nieces all female and using parts of them to build his perfect woman and bring Japan back into a state of harmony.
Oh here's the problem, Heikichi Umezawa is found murdered in a locked room. Yet the murders still take place. Who could have decided to follow Umezawa's plan? Watson if you will. FYI that would tick Mitari off since he had some hilarious bad opinions about Sherlock.
We find out that the murders are famous in Japan and many people have tried to figure out who killed the women after Umezawa was dead where the perfect woman was left. Just like Sherlock, Mitari is subject to depression, and Kazumi is hoping that the puzzle of the Tokyo Zodiac Murders will drag him out of his depression. I was fascinated with Mitari since he is a respected astrologer and fortune teller. It seems an odd hobby for our amateur detective, but it makes sense when you get into the astrology aspect of this book.
There are a lot of characters in this one, but I was able to keep them straight. The author provides you the names of everyone up front and throughout the book. We really only get Kazumi's deductions and point of view since he is telling us the story.
We do get glimpses of what drives Mitari though. I loved the writing. Reading about headless corpses that were dismembered repeatedly may not be your thing, so be forewarned. The flow was great too. I also applauded the author for including illustrations of the locked room, and diagrams of other rooms, as well as the corpses being dismembered, and also people's names to family trees, etc. There are a lot of really good illustrations in this book and it made it for me, into a five-star read.
I will say that aspects of this story just thrilled me from beginning to end. Trying to work out how Umezawa was murdered and how an unexpected snowfall came into play was great.
I also loved thinking of Kyoto and cherry blossoms. The reveal of who the murder was and how they carried it off was brilliant. I would imagine that Dame Agatha would have given this author kudos. Because once this was revealed I had to go back and re-read the clues that were spread throughout the book. What's the best way of getting out of a reading slump? I picked up "The Tokyo Zodiac Murders" when I was in a slump, and this book kept me hooked and helped me break my slump!
The book starts with the death of an old eccentric artist, Heikichi Umezawa, confined to h What's the best way of getting out of a reading slump? The book starts with the death of an old eccentric artist, Heikichi Umezawa, confined to his studio, locked from the inside.
In his room, police find his nefarious scheme, and soon after, they find the women dismembered and buried across Japan. Even after 40 years, the case remains an enigma eluding even the best of detectives. It seems to have hit a dead end until the duo takes it up; Kazumi Ishioka, illustrator and amateur detective, and Kiyoshi Mitarai- an astrologer, fortune-teller, and a self-styled detective.
Together, they travel across Japan, gathering clues and interviewing suspects to decode the puzzle that baffled people for decades.
This is a unique and unsettling mystery blending the ordinary with the unusual similar to a magician pulling a trick. Because the magician is familiar with the technique, the deceit comes effortlessly while the audience, us readers, struggle to grasp the threads and are left clueless. I'm sorry to admit that I failed the author but that only proves his brilliance in constructing a mind-boggling thriller. After the case was explained, I took a pen and paper and tried to understand the logic behind the murder and gave up only after I was satisfied with its authenticity!
I had a great experience watching the two friends run around gathering clues and bantering among themselves. Some humorous moments in the book add a pleasant touch and lightens such a dark topic. The entire premise of this book revolves around zodiac signs and alchemical references. I don't believe in astrology, but reading about it in the book made me look up more info on my zodiac sign.
Apparently, Scorpios are mysterious, mean and people are afraid of them! Well, I'm not like that! Or am I? That's the mystery Anyway, if you are someone who enjoys thrillers, then this book is for you!
It can be a little unsettling with all the cutting and the burying so if you are someone who can't stomach the gore, consider yourself warned! Aug 12, AdiTurbo rated it did not like it. Practically unreadable - the first part is a sick piece of murderous misogyny, the rest - a too-long conversation between two people trying to solve a closed-room murder mystery 40 years after the fact, by meticulously dismantling inch after inch of the technical details of the murder.
This you cannot possibly follow unless you have a phenomenal memory and an unlikely level of tolerance for boredom. Sorry, quitting now, before it's too late and I drown in an ocean of mind-numbing technicalities.
View 1 comment. When Raymond Chandler wrote his somewhat disparaging essay on mystery novels, perhaps he hadn't been exposed to works by writers such as Shimada. For the ingenuity, meta jabs and the evocation of a bygone era where 'crime solving' was not all CSI and procedurals, 5 stars. It's just absolutely riveting and this must fall under Poirot's favourite kind of case, one that's primarily concerned with imagination and analysis, for all the fresh clues had been set in print articles, unavailable for furthe When Raymond Chandler wrote his somewhat disparaging essay on mystery novels, perhaps he hadn't been exposed to works by writers such as Shimada.
It's just absolutely riveting and this must fall under Poirot's favourite kind of case, one that's primarily concerned with imagination and analysis, for all the fresh clues had been set in print articles, unavailable for further investigation. It's the epitome of the 'armchair detective' novel if ever there was one. There was legwork, sure, but it's more of an afterthought sort of thing, and as such people who prefer action may find the narrative dry at times. More than 30 years have passed since the moment I thought of the trick, but I still remember it clear as day.
I was lying on the bed, overwhelmed with excitement at how everyone would be shocked by it. Meanwhile it had been my resolution to write a novel once I turn 30; thus driven by these two motivations, I wrote this. Soji Shimada And they have the drama adaptation of other Mitarai cases, sadly not this one. Prolly cuz of possible explicit scenes Although Mitarai is a scientist instead of an astrologist in the adaptation, which is a pity since there's already a similar character in Higashino's Prof.
Yukawa aka Detective Galileo. Tamaki Hiroshi in the title role. Even though I'm privy to the gist of the trick because of that, this was still greatly entertaining, and I can't wait to read the rest of his novels. All the versions are equal on their own merit; from the samples the English one is extremely interesting when it comes to explaining Umezawa's notes while the Japanese and the Mandarin ones are more whimsical. At one point in this novel, the author adds a note saying, "Hey, you have all the clues now, so stop reading and solve the mystery!
Have fun bbs! By this point the book has thrown so many piles of information at you that it's hard to keep any of it straight. And while there are parts of the solution that are quite strong and make sense, there are parts where you think, "Well how could I have possibly figured that part out?
They are always a little less interesting than they promise to be, though one particular part of this solution not the locked room mystery but the multiple murder at the end was a bit brilliant. There isn't much of a sense of fun in the book, there is a lot of minutiae unfortunately some of it ends up being quite important that bogs it down.
And without much concern for motive there isn't a lot of interest or plot to speak of. If you can make it through the exceedingly dry first third of this puzzler, the rest of this book is a real treat. I did figure "who dunnit" and more or less how before the big reveal but that did not in any way lessen my pleasure in this clever mystery.
Bonus points for setting the much of the latter two-thirds of the book in picturesque Kyoto. Recommended for those who like old-fashioned locked room mysteries. Founded in , the Detection Club was originally all British.
The great G. Chesterton was its first president, and it continues to this day. I was utterly delighted that this was the first of a series featuring slacker astrologer Kiyoshi Mitarai and his Watson, illustrator Kazumi Ishioka. Highly recommended. The Tokyo Zodiac Murders is an unsettlingly grotesque, astutely constructed, crepuscular detective fiction debut coming out from Japan. Soji Shimada, the author who will later be well-known as one of the masters of mystery novels in East Asia, officially began his writing career since the publication of this work.
With this novel, Shimada-san has managed to fortuitously undertake his flair for a straightforward, yet puzzling storytelling technique which was aimed to perpetually put up the reader The Tokyo Zodiac Murders is an unsettlingly grotesque, astutely constructed, crepuscular detective fiction debut coming out from Japan.
With this novel, Shimada-san has managed to fortuitously undertake his flair for a straightforward, yet puzzling storytelling technique which was aimed to perpetually put up the readers' minds, making them guessing who the culprit was, that has perpetrated murders of all the six women, each one with a different zodiac sign, resulted from an unsolved criminal case done about forty years ago that has caused such a huge notion all across Japan.
The novel also integrated an interactive approach, have the readers directly involved and challenged to solve the case together with the main protagonist, self-styled detective Kiyoshi Mitarai, the expert astrology scholar.
Speaking of which, the astrological elements ramified behind the motives of those vile acts did give the story a bit of a unique nuance, in addition to several comprehensive maps and charts to help to pontificate the readers, to create their deductive reasoning, using the clues provided to them by the detective. Shimada-san proved that he could write impressive first detective fiction, bringing a breath of fresh air to a seemingly formulaic genre, in terms of narrating method, telling the world that detective stories still have enough innovations, to keep the genre alive and interesting for years still to come.
Wherewithal, I was obliged to wholeheartedly condone four twinkling yellow stars for this exciting debut material. Beyond any doubt, If you are into mystery and detective fiction in general, or just wanting an unadulterated decent read, by any means, go and check out this book. This is the first book I've ever read where the author actually tells you all the clues are out there, and challenges you to solve the mystery.
I was not able to figure it out but looking back, I can see where you would be able to. I'm hoping Mr. Like this: Like Loading Leave a Reply Cancel reply Enter your comment here Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:.
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The guide also provides in-depth bibliographic essays for each chapter that will enable librarians and library users to further explore the literature of numerous languages and cultural traditions. A hunter prowls the night spots of Shinjuku But he's the one walking into a trap Ichiro Honda leads a double life: by day a devoted husband and diligent worker, by night he moves through the shadow world of Tokyo's cabaret bars and nightclubs in search of vulnerable women to seduce and then abandon.
But when a trail of bodies seems to appear in his wake, the hunter becomes the prey and Ichiro realises he has been caught in a snare. Has he left it too late to free himself before time runs out?
Masako Togawa was one of Japan's foremost writers of crime fiction. Born in Tokyo, she worked as a cabaret performer before beginning to write crime fiction backstage, during her breaks. Her debut thriller The Master Key also available from Pushkin Vertigo won Japan's prestigious Edgowa Rampo Prize, and Togawa went on to become a hugely successful author, while continuing to lead a colourful parallel life as a singer, actress, feminist, nightclub owner and gay icon. Dina, Ronit, Naama and Sheila: the Others.
As students, they chose to be different — bound by a pact never to have children. Even as their friendships fell apart, Sheila kept her promise. Now, years later, a serial killer is on the loose in Tel Aviv.
Each victim is found with a baby doll glued to their hands and 'mother' carved into their forehead. The vow the Others made long ago lands Sheila at the heart of the murder investigation — but is she the next victim, or the prime suspect?
Twisty and very funny, part Twin Peaks part Killing Eve, this psychological thriller was an instant bestseller. Especially the king. When a gruesomely mutilated body is found on the squalid streets of Paris in , the Inspector of Strange and Unexplained Deaths is called to the scene.
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