The 46th Locked Room / ４６番目の密室

The 46th Locked Room is a murder mystery by Alice Arisugawa told from the point of view of a character also named Alice Arisugawa, but not that Alice Arisugawa. Many Japanese mystery authors have multiple series and Arisugawa is no exception, except the narrator character in both is name Alice Arisugawa. The narrator of the Arisugawa books I’ve read so far is a university student, and so the series is called the Student Alice series. The narrator of the other “Alice Arisugawa” series is a writer of mystery novels (just like real-life Alice Arisugawa), so it’s called the Writer Alice series. And if that wasn’t confusing enough, in the Student Alice series the narrator is the author of the Writer Alice books, and in the Writer Alice series the narrator is the author of the Student Alice books.

I’ve enjoyed the Arisugawa novels I’ve read so far, and it seems that the Student Alice series is expected to have five novels, but Arisugawa has been sitting on four for almost two decades at this point. The Writer Alice series, however, keeps getting new entries. So I was very eager to see exactly what the books that have been delaying the final Student Alice novel was like! And, to be frank, I’m not impressed.

The Seven Great Detectives / 7人の名探偵

Yukito Ayatsuji’s The Decagon House Murders was published in 1987, and is credited with kick-starting the shin-honkaku (new orthodox) movement of murder mystery writing. Three (and a half) decades later, the genre is still going strong! There were several pieces and events in 2018 commemorating the 30-year anniversary of the influential work, and one of those was The Seven Great Detectives, a collection containing short stories from seven shin-honkaku writers.

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… 

Moai Island Puzzle / 孤島パズル

Moai Island Puzzle is the sequel to Moonlight Game, once again following college student Alice Arisugawa as he and university mystery club leader Jirou Egami encounter a series of grisly murders on a trip. Moai Island Puzzle is a dazzling display of pure adequacy. Despite the tantalizing premise, I didn't really get much more out of it than Moonlight Game, but it's not like the book is bad or anything.

As in my Moonlight Game review, "Alice" will refer to the character and "Arisugawa" will refer to the author.

Moonlight Game / 月光ゲーム

Ah, a relaxing summer vacation camping on a dormant volcano. You were just going with some buddies, but then you run into a few other groups of students on the mountain and quickly make friends, causing the trip to become even livelier and more fun than you expected. What could possibly go wrong?

If you're a character in a murder mystery, the answer is everything.