Mathematical Goodbye / 笑わない数学者

Mathematical Goodbye is a strange book. It’s different from the previous books in the S&M series (standing for the protagonists’ names, Saikawa and Moe, and nothing else). The main trick is exceedingly obvious from the start, quite similar to another book I’ve panned on this blog (link purposefully withheld), and there aren’t any secondary tricks to salvage it. Basically, this is the type of book I’d normally consider a waste of time… and yet I liked it a lot.

Wings in the Dark: Mercator Ayu - The Last Incident / 翼ある闇 メルカトル鮎最後の事件

Wings in the Dark is phenomenal. But before I gush about it, I must proceed with the airing of grievances.

Why does it have to have “Mercator Ayu The Last Incident” on the cover?? I actually have a fairly rigid hierarchy for how I select the English titles for Japanese works in my blog. First, if there’s an official English translation, I use that name. Then, if an English title is presented by the book itself, I’ll use that. If someone else (read as: Ho-Ling Wong) has covered the book, I’ll use their translation of the title for consistency in the English-speaking Japanese mystery fiction blogosphere. (Well, unless I don’t really like that translation. Sorry, Ho-Ling.) Finally, if there’s absolutely nothing else, I’ll use my own translation.

So I need to title this post “Wings in the Dark: Mercator Ayu - The Last Incident” because as you can see for yourself that’s what it says on the cover. Which is stilted in English! Without that I could easily translate the Japanese title into “Wings in the Dark: the Final Case of Ayu Mercator,” which works perfectly fine. But noooo, I’m stuck with “Mercator Ayu - The Last Incident.”

To add salt to the wound, an earlier edition of Wings in the Dark apparently has “Messiah” as the English title. That would’ve been fine too! But they just had to go and change it. (As I've previously discussed, for my posts I try to use the actual cover of whatever version I experienced, so I can't just use the "Messiah" cover for this post, either. And yeah, there's still that little tiny "Messiah" on this cover, but it's clearly beaten out by the other English.)

Anyway, that’s my biggest grievance with this book.

Mystery Arena / ミステリー・アリーナ

Detective fiction is a huge genre in Japan. This probably isn’t that surprising, considering the consistent stream of Japanese mystery novels that get published, or the fact that Ace Attorney and Danganronpa are Japanese franchises, or that Detective Conan is a multimedia juggernaut. Mysteries are so popular, they even have TV shows where guests are confronted with a crime that they then have to solve.

Of course, actually finding time to sit down and watch a TV show can be a bit annoying... So what if instead of a TV show, we have a book about a TV show where contestants are given a murder mystery story and need to solve it? It's the excitement of a gameshow with the accessibility of a novel. Genius!

Hence, Mystery Arena was born. Maybe. (Probably not.)

One of Us is Lying

A jock, a princess, a delinquent, and a nerd. One of Us is Lying is a young adult novel about four teens with totally separate social lives that each confront their own issues and grow into their own person.

Those Who are Shunned Like a Bird of Ill Omen / 凶鳥の如き忌むもの

Shinzou Mitsuda is a menace. Do not let this man write novels!

The Labyrinth House Murders / 迷路館の殺人

The shin-honkaku movement has always been a bit meta. It’s right there in the name: it means “new orthodox,” as it’s a revival of the original honkaku “orthodox” school of mystery fiction. Naturally, the fact that shin-honkaku is a response to honkaku means it doesn’t need to start at square one, but instead can build upon the groundwork laid down by the honkaku movement, directly recognizing common tropes and the most influential pieces.

For instance, Yukito Ayatsuji’s The Decagon House Murders, which is often credited with initiating the shin-honkaku movement, involves a university mystery club whose members are nicknamed after Golden Age authors, a set-up that is clearly reminiscent of And Then There Were None, and a culprit who literally hands out roles to the others. Alice Arisugawa is another important shin-honkaku author, and his books also feature a university mystery club. The second book in Ayatsuji’s “House” series, The Mill House Murders, was relatively straightforward in setting, but I suppose Ayatsuji didn’t particularly like that, since his third book, The Labyrinth House Murders, is more meta than all the other books I’ve mentioned combined.

Call of Cthulhu

1920s New England. A hardboiled private investigator from Boston travels to a small town off the coast of Massachusetts to investigate mysterious happenings. The villagers are secretive and distrustful of outsiders, otherworldly cults plot dark magics in the shadows, and our hero must battle his own mind as—

Hold on, am I going crazy, or did I already do this review? Let's see, according to my notes, the answer is... both.

The Sinking City

1920s New England. A hardboiled private investigator from Boston travels to a small town off the coast of Massachusetts to investigate mysterious happenings. The villagers are secretive and distrustful of outsiders, otherworldly cults plot dark magics in the shadows, and our hero must battle his own mind as he hunts for the truth.

Welcome to The Sinking City.

(Note: In this review I discuss the structure of the game and the nature of the ending. This review doesn't reveal anything that I think would reduce anyone's enjoyment of the game but, because there is technically a discussion of the ending, I want to make this disclaimer to ensure no one feels "spoiled" by the review.)

Double-Headed Devil / 双頭の悪魔

They say two heads are better than one, but I suppose it depends on whose heads we’re talking about…

Maria Arima, having witnessed the brutal murder of several family members, is understandably upset. She spends a few months sulking at home, and then suddenly leaves on a cross-country trip. Just when she thinks she’s going to return home, she pays a visit to Kisara Village and… doesn’t return. Kisara Village is a small settlement deep in the mountains of Shikoku, established by a wealthy retired financier to be a haven where artists can live a simple, uninterrupted life and focus on their work. Maria isn’t held hostage or imprisoned against her will. She can still communicate with her parents (although it becomes more sporadic as time goes on). She just… doesn’t want to leave. 

So Maria’s father enlists the other members of the Eito Mystery Club to bring Maria back. Needless to say, the recovery mission does not go as smoothly as hoped… 

Hellpoint

At its most basic level, Hellpoint can be summed up with four words: Dark Souls… in space! Obviously that’s reductionist, but that’s what you get for four words. Of course, at this point Souls-like is a subgenre onto its own, meaning there are games that take only the most basic trappings of the “source” and then do something completely different and original.

Hellpoint is not one of those games. Everything in Hellpoint feels like it was either directly lifted from Dark Souls or is a direct response to Dark Souls. Sometimes the developers couldn’t quite compete with FromSoft, but sometimes they knocked it out of the park.

I’m Thinking of Ending Things

This review frustrates me.

Normally I strive to avoid any lies in a review. Half-truths, omitted information, and misleading statements are all fine. If the solution is the murder was faked, in my plot summary I’ll say “So-and-so is apparently murdered in a locked room.” A little wink to those who have already experienced the story that doesn’t tip our hand to those who haven’t. After all, if I lie, what else is left here? How can there be a discussion if I lie about what happened? If I lie about that, what if I lie about my feelings? Accuracy is the best policy.

But that’s not going to work for I’m Thinking of Ending Things. It just can’t. So I officially admit defeat, and submit to I’m Thinking of Ending Things’ lies. As much as I want to cleverly sidestep around the truth, that’d be like trying to jump the Grand Canyon. Another reason this is the intro you're getting is that I had a certain introduction planned in my head for most of the book, but it completely dissipated in the final sequence.

A Detective's Novel

A Detective’s Novel is a detective visual novel that costs $1. If nothing else, the developers understood the value of their product.

Decapitation - Kubikiri Cycle: The Blue Savant and the Nonsense User / クビキリサイクル 青色サヴァンと戯言遣い

Nisio Isin has written a lot of books. Like, a lot of books. But the first book he wrote (or at least published) was Kubikiri Cycle. I’ve read one book by Nisio Isin before, the licensed Death Note novel, and I wasn’t particularly impressed. But Kubikiri Cycle was much better.

Doctors in Isolated Room / 冷たい密室と博士たち

Ah, nothing like some good ol' S&M, right? I'm obviously talking about Hiroshi Mori's Saikawa and Moe series. The series stars associate professor of architecture Souhei Saikawa and college student Moe Nishinosono and their run-ins with various scientifically themed murder mysteries. The first book in the series in the series is The Perfect Insider, but I read that before I began this blog, so we're going to start with book two, Doctors in Isolated Room.

Saikawa has a friend who works in their university’s extreme climate laboratory, and he invites Saikawa and Moe to watch them conduct an experiment. The experiment takes place in a special room that can be chilled to sub-zero temperatures, and can only be entered while wearing a special cold-resistant suit. Considering this is a murder mystery, I’m sure you can guess how the experiment goes...

Still Life With Pistol

Sometimes you just want to try something new. For instance, you could try checking out a book by an author you haven't read before, or bringing your girlfriend to a secluded art retreat.

Sometimes doing something new gives you a fresh and unique experience, but other times, even if things start out well, at the end the book ends up being not that great, or someone ends up dead.

Still Life

Three Pines is a small, idyllic town tucked away in rural Quebec where everybody knows everyone and nobody locks their doors. Jane Neal, an elderly spinster, has submitted a drawing to the local art show and invited her friends to celebrate at her house, the first time in the history of the town she has offered to show her art or her home to anyone. Unfortunately, she is soon found murdered in the woods, sending the small town reeling. Just what secret was hidden in her art or her home that drove one of the villagers to murder?

428: Shibuya Scramble / 428 ～封印された渋谷で～

428: Shibuya Scramble is an amazing game. It's a visual novel whose gameplay consists solely of reading and making choices, yet despite being a relatively reserved format, it feels like 428 was developed with the guiding principle of making as many components of the game as possible provide entertainment in some way, which is what allows 428 to transcend the bounds of the format.

The Summer of the Ubume / 姑獲鳥の夏

This book is crazy. And not in the "that was so crazy, dude!" way. In the "needs serious help and should be locked away until it's no longer a threat to itself and others" way.

Telling Tales

Ten years ago, 15-year-old Abigail Mantel was murdered in the small town of Elvet. Jeanie Long, Abigail’s father’s girlfriend, was arrested for the murder. But Jeanie always claimed she was innocent. After ten years in jail, Jeanie commits suicide—but evidence exonerating her is discovered shortly afterwards. Vera Stanhope is assigned to the case to figure out what went wrong in the initial investigation, but with the murder happening so long ago, how much of what Vera hears is the truth, how much is people misremembering—and how much is people telling tales so they can cope with sending an innocent woman to jail?

The First Hardship of Nagomu Ichiyanagi - The Rain-Lattice Mansion / 雨格子の館 一柳和、最初の受難

An isolated house in the rain... A series of gruesome, themed murders... And a wimpy kid who has to solve them all.

These are the elements that make up Nagomu Ichiyanagi.

Remnant: From the Ashes

Should this game have been called "Phoenix," or would that have been a bit too on-the-nose? Maybe, maybe not, since it wasn't clear what remnants or ashes had to do with anything in the game.

If Remnant: From the Ashes needed to be condensed down to one phrase, it'd be "procedurally generated shooter Souls-like," which I think does a pretty good job of covering the game's essential and unique features. I see it as a combination of two twists on the traditional Souls-like formula: the first is making it a shooter and the second is making it semi-random. These are neat ideas with decent execution, but also a few issues.

The Japanese Clock Mansion Murders / 和時計の館の殺人

Tick... tock... tick... tock...

Attorney Shunsaku Morie is a simple man. He just wants to go to his client, do his job, and go home. Nothing fancy. But when his job involves reading the will of a wealthy, eccentric hermit in the deceased's mansion filled with a collection of antique clocks, whose family includes an assortment of odd characters (including a man covered in bandages), even Shunsaku can tell where things are headed.

The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side

The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side is an absolute disappointment that utterly fails to deliver on its central promise. Even though it's clearly mentioned in the title, there isn't a single mirror in the book whatsoever! Why would you call a book something like this and then never follow through? It's They Do It with Mirrors all over again!

Besides that, this novel is pretty good.

The Body in the Library

The Body in the Library begins, shockingly enough, with a body in a library. Scandalous!

The servants at Gossington Hall in St. Mary Mead discover a body in the library one morning, sending the household into a tizzy. In the introduction of the book it felt like the story was so preoccupied with its central conceit (that there was a body in the library!) I was worried it would shirk its duty to provide a compelling mystery, but that fortunately turned out to be a misplaced fear.