The Butterfly Murder Case / 蝶々殺人事件

While Kousuke Kindaichi is by far Seishi Yokomizo’s most famous fictional detective, he is not the only one. Yokomizo also wrote many books about Professor Rintarou Yuri—and in fact, Yuri predates Kindaichi by more than a decade. Although it’s not something I’m going to obsess over, I typically prefer to read series in order. However, because Amazon has literally the worst numbering scheme imaginable, The Butterfly Murder Case is, in fact, the final Professor Yuri novel.

Snow White / スノーホワイト

Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the cleverest of them all?

Snow White is a light, cute and unique book, and now that I’ve read the second Sanzunokawa book, I think I have a much better idea of how this series operates. They are deductive novels, not murder mysteries. They involve some supernatural element, with the characters trying to achieve some goal revolving around that supernatural element.

And the series detective, Kotowari Sanzunokawa, is the villain.