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…
The issue is that Kisara Village is technically a private establishment (now owned by the financier’s widow) meant to shield artists from the distracting influence of society, so they are very restrictive on whom they allow in. Due to this attitude and a sitcom-esque series of hijinks and misunderstandings, the EMC is barred entry, or even contact with Maria. The club plans a break-in, which successfully puts Jirou Egami (our detective) in contact with Maria, while the other members are driven out into the neighboring Natsumori Village.
All seems fine until a corpse appears in both Natsumori Village and in Kisara Village, and the sole bridge connecting them collapses in a storm. So Maria and Egami are stuck in Kisara Village while the rest of the EMC are in Natsumori Village, and each has their own murder mystery to contend with.
I like the premise! Parallel murders are a neat hook (although it takes a while for them to actually happen, if you don’t know the central conceit going in). Double-Headed Devil has a whopping three challenges to the reader: one for each murder, and then a final challenge for the overarching plot. It’s a long book, but this structure makes the cases feel like more than the sum of their parts.
Arisugawa (the author) seems to really like isolated locations. You can’t really call this book a closed circle, since technically anyone in Natsumori Village could have done it, but it’s still isolated. In his first book, the cast was isolated due to a volcanic explosion, which is pretty original, but I suppose after that he figured he was entitled to go with the classic rainstorm, since that has now been the excuse two books in a row.
Both of the previous books were exclusively told from Alice’s point of view, but Double-Headed Devil is split between Alice and Maria, which is understandable considering the plot structure. Except the book is oddly focused on Maria, and it’s a bit… distracting. The impetus for the plot is Maria's rescue mission. Everyone seems to like her. Kisara Village, which is notoriously reclusive and hostile to outsiders, welcomes her with open arms even though she isn’t an artist. (A throwaway line from the village leader on why she accepted Maria seems like it could have easily been added in somewhere, but wasn’t.) I have a sneaking suspicion that Maria is Arisugawa’s favorite character, but I’m not sure why, since she doesn’t seem particularly special. (Is it because she’s the only girl in the EMC?) I liked how Double-Headed Devil built upon Maria’s experiences in Moai Island Puzzle (without spoiling it), since detective novels are often totally independent and frequently treat characters as nothing more than dolls to be moved around a set, and this connecting thread made Maria feel a bit more like a human. But the fixation on Maria was still a bit odd.
While Double-Headed Devil is a clear continuation of Arisugawa’s previous books, the Queensian deduction chains felt a bit… different this time. While I admit this isn’t a clearly-delineated distinction, I think the difference is that Double-Headed Devil involves intentional tricks, while the previous books did not. As a result, in the previous books we have a chain of logic based on evidence that was inadvertently or unavoidably left behind which showed what happened, while in Double-Headed Devil it’s a deduction to reveal a trick… that may have been used. Yeah, it actually was used, but it still feels like the deductions in this book lead to possibilities rather than conclusions. Arisugawa does put in effort to rule out alternatives—so much so that it sometimes feels contrived in how circumstances aligned to disprove those alternatives so cleanly—but the issue remains. Sometimes, at least. There are some deductions that still work. For instance, the first big trick revealed explains the problem at hand so neatly and elegantly it instinctively feels correct.
On the other hand, the motive was pretty weak for this book. There are some parts of it that are fine, and other parts that feel a bit odd but get a pass because they’re clearly established in the narrative, but overall at its core the motive feels underdeveloped. Like Arisugawa put all this time and effort into getting the mechanical pieces of the plot to fit together, but then couldn’t find a way to make the person who has to commit the crime actually want to commit the crime.
Having this long, multi-pronged mystery end on a weak note is a bit disappointing, but the book still manages to bring a great deal of closure and catharsis. There’s a dreary, overhanging atmosphere pervasive throughout the book, but the finale truly feels like a parting of the clouds.
It was also fun getting to watch the entire EMC in action! This is the first book featuring the entire group, since in Moonlight Game Maria hadn't been introduced yet and Oda and Mochi (the other EMC members besides Egami and Alice) didn’t get to join in Moai Island Puzzle. Splitting their EMC into two groups also made sure everyone got their moment without constantly getting overshadowed by Egami.
All-in-all, Double-Headed Devil is a solid Arisugawa book. If you enjoyed his previous books then this more of the same (with an emphasis on "more"), and even has a bit more effort put into having proactive tricks. I also think could be a good starting point, if you choose (for whatever reason), since it involves the full core cast and has plenty of content in it. Double-Headed Devil gets a double thumbs up.
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