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The Decagon House Murders by Ayatsuji Yukito is published by Locked Room International, a small press that exclusively publishes mysteries. It was translated by Ho-Ling Wong.
The Decagon House Murders has an introduction by Shimada Soji in which he gives a brief explanation of the detective novel in Japan, and how The Decagon House Murders comes as a response to the rise of character-driven mysteries over the more old-fashioned logic-driven mysteries. I was really glad I read the introduction, because reading the book with that context made it more interesting to me.
The story was plenty interesting, though! I enjoyed trying to put the clues together, seized on certain lines or moments as potentially important, and was not very successful at predicting anything, which I am quite all right with. I liked that there were two different mysteries (that are, of course, the same mystery) being solved in two different locations- knowing what happens on the island lends the mainland chapters a sense of tragedy. And the reveal! I went "Oh shit" when I read it- I wasn't expecting it, but everything fell into place. (I am very bad at mysteries)
This is a book I'd love to be able to read in the original language- Ho-Ling Wong does a good job of translating, but it's such a tight mystery, and so focused on logic and detail, that I'm sure it reads differently in the original, and there may have been clues I might have picked up otherwise. Wong's prose is straightforward, which jives with Shimada's introduction in which he talks about The Decagon House Murders being very no-frills.
It's a solid book, and I see why it's popular!
The Decagon House Murders has an introduction by Shimada Soji in which he gives a brief explanation of the detective novel in Japan, and how The Decagon House Murders comes as a response to the rise of character-driven mysteries over the more old-fashioned logic-driven mysteries. I was really glad I read the introduction, because reading the book with that context made it more interesting to me.
The story was plenty interesting, though! I enjoyed trying to put the clues together, seized on certain lines or moments as potentially important, and was not very successful at predicting anything, which I am quite all right with. I liked that there were two different mysteries (that are, of course, the same mystery) being solved in two different locations- knowing what happens on the island lends the mainland chapters a sense of tragedy. And the reveal! I went "Oh shit" when I read it- I wasn't expecting it, but everything fell into place. (I am very bad at mysteries)
This is a book I'd love to be able to read in the original language- Ho-Ling Wong does a good job of translating, but it's such a tight mystery, and so focused on logic and detail, that I'm sure it reads differently in the original, and there may have been clues I might have picked up otherwise. Wong's prose is straightforward, which jives with Shimada's introduction in which he talks about The Decagon House Murders being very no-frills.
It's a solid book, and I see why it's popular!
