The ???????? Murder Case / 〇〇〇〇〇〇〇〇殺人事件

That is not a mistake in the post name!

The central gimmick of The ???????? Murder Case is that the true title has been hidden, and you're supposed to deduce it from the story. Trying to deduce the title is a novel idea that... doesn't really add much to the book. While the title gimmick and actual plot were fun enough for The ???????? Murder Case to become the 50th recipient of the Mephisto Prize, I don't think it's the right book for everybody.

The Mill House Murders / 水車館の殺人

The Mill House Murders is the sequel to Ayatsuji Yukito's Decagon House Murders, and once again features our unlikely detective Shimada Kiyoshi looking into a series of murders that takes place in a home made by the eccentric late architect Nakamura Seiji.

While The Decagon House Murders is a classic in Japanese mystery fiction that is credited with starting the 'shin-honkaku' movement, I didn't like it very much, for reasons I will touch upon later in this review. But Mill House Murders was fantastic, providing a satisfying resolution to a long string of mysterious events at a nearly perfect level of cluing.