4/23/19

The Locked Room Reader X: My Five Favorite Impossible Crime Stories from Case Closed, vol. 1-69

Previously, I reviewed volume 69 of Gosho Aoyama's Case Closed, a long-running Japanese detective anime/manga series published in the non-English speaking world as Detective Conan, which is littered with often original, cleverly contrived locked room and impossible crime stories – some of these stories are absolute gems. So, with the release of volume 70 earlier this month, the time had finally come to slap together a best-of list. I managed to keep my list limited to five stories that impressed me for various reasons.

My first pick is known as "The Mist Tengu Case," collected in volume 11, in which Conan Edogawa solves a seemingly impossible murder in a mountain temple haunted by the titular Tengu. A long-nosed goblin who is held responsible for hanging a priest from a beam inside a small, but tall, wooden temple tower with unscalable walls. The locked tower-trick is as ingenious as it's original, but one that only works and is acceptable in comic book format. Still a highly recommendable story with a good plot and setting.

The next story is "The Loan Shark Murder Case," collected in volume 15, which has one of the best and cleverest poisoning-tricks of the entire series.

A loan shark is poisoned with potassium cyanide in his office. However, the whole building had been secured from the inside and everything is tested for traces of cyanide, such as the money the victim had been counting, but without result – until the brilliantly titled chapter, "The Devil's Summons," reveals the trick. A devilishly simplistic, but oh-so effective, trick that makes this story a minor locked room classic.

"The Magic Lovers Case" can be found in volume 20 and brings Conan to a snowbound lodge, where an online group of magic enthusiasts have gathered, but dark magic seems to be at work when a member of the group is murdered under apparently impossible circumstances. His body is found outside the lodge, sprawled in the middle of a field of snow, which is virginal and unbroken without a single footprint going to, or coming from, the body.

In my opinion, the no-footprints scenario is the trickiest and most difficult of all impossible crimes to do successfully, because the physical nature of these tricks eliminates misdirection from the equation in most cases and admired Aoyama's unique approach to the problem – a very technical and elaborate trick. These complex tricks work admirably well in the comic book format, because you're shown had it was done.

The next story, "The Detective Koshien Case," is spread out over two volumes, 54 and 55, which is somewhat of a landmark story in the series.

Conan Edogawa and Harley Hartwell travel to an abandoned house, on a deserted island, to take part in a reality TV special about the "Teen Detectives" of Japan. The participants are the high-school detectives of the North and South, Yunya Tokitsu and Natsuki Koshimizu. Harley Hartwell represents the West and Jimmy Kudo the East, but, since he's there as Conan Edogawa, his place is taken by Saguru Hakuba – who previously appeared in volume 30. This reality show becomes a deadly game when one of the detectives, Tokitsu, is bludgeoned to death in an upstairs room of the abandoned house with the door and windows locked or fastened from the inside.

Granted, the solution reworks an old locked room-trick, but it was a skillfully done job and the whole story felt like a big deal with a strong crossover vibe. And the story has one of the most memorable and likable murderers in the series.

Finally, the list appropriately closes with my favorite impossible crime story, "The Poisonous Coffee Case," which can be found in volume 60. A melancholic, character-driven locked room story with a dark, rainy and noir-ish atmosphere. An immoral TV executive, Raisaku Nakame, is poisoned behind the chain-locked door of his top-floor condo. Evidence at the scene, such as coffee stains, suggests someone else had been in the room after he had died. But how did this person manage to get away?

The original solution to the impossible poisoning is superb and a heart breaker. A genuinely sad story and one of the best stories in the entire series. If you read only one Detective Conan story in your life, it should be this one.

And that brings this filler-post to an end. I want to return to a regular, novel-length detective story for my next read, but might do one more multiple short story review. So... stay tuned to find out.

12 comments:

  1. Thanks for this recapping post. At some future point, I'd like to re-read the whole Conan saga from book 1 to the most recent one, and I'll keep an extra eye out for the stories that you've highlighted here.

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    1. Same here. I wanted to reread the whole series when it reached volume 70, but that plan will probably be pushed back until the release of volume 80. However, if you're going to reread the series before then, you should consider reviewing them on your blog. It might convince some people to finally pick up Detective Conan.

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  2. Hey, TomCat, sorry to comment on such an old post, but I'm having a pretty rotten mental health moment and didn't want to work on the blog, but I thought you might've been wondering what I've been making of these cases as I read them. I've read through Volume 20, so I've read Loan Shark and Magic Enthusiasts. I'll share my thoughts below in ROT13. Magic Enthusiast goes on really long!

    LOAN SHARK

    V yvxrq gur vqrn bs guvf bar, ohg V sryg yvxr vg jnf ehvarq ol rfgnoyvfuvat gung gur gevpx vaibyirq znxvat gur ivpgvz yrnir gur ebbz gbb fbba vagb gur fgbel. Ng gur raq bs gur qnl, guvf whfg raqrq hc orvat n "jung unovg/crefbanyvgl genvg/erfcbafr pna or rkcybvg gb trg gur ivpgvz gb gbhpu cbvfba?" fgbel, abg hayvxr YRK Onaq Ibpnyvfg, naq V sryg yvxr gur zrgubq jnf cerggl qrpragyl pyrire ohg qvqa'g unir zhpu zber vzcnpg ba zr guna gur bgure fgbel. V srry yvxr "gur ivpgvz unq gb yrnir gur ebbz gb trg cbvfbarq naq gura gurl pbzr onpx gb qvr" vf fhpu n arng naq abiry vqrn gung pbhyq'ir znqr zr rawbl gur gevpx zber guna V qvq. Nf vg fgnaqf, V gubhtug vg jnf cerggl bxnl.

    MAGIC ENTHUSIASTS

    Jurarire gurer'f n uvtu inagntr cbvag va n ab-sbbgcevagf vzcbffvoyr, zl vavgvny gubhtug vf nyjnlf "bu, V ubcr gurl jrera'g zbirq gb gung cbvag va gur fabj jvgu n jrveq mvc-yvar neenatrzrag". Vg'f bar bs gur fbyhgvbaf V nyjnlf frpergyl ubcr vfa'g pbeerpg, orpnhfr V whfg qba'g svaq gubfr xvaqf bs gevpxf vagrerfgvat, fb V jnf ernyyl fnq gung gung Zntvp Ybire qvq whfg gung! V yvxr vg jura grpuavpny/culfvpny gevpxf pyrireyl cynl bss zrpunavfzf jr nyernql xabj nobhg, ohg V qba'g yvxr gurfr " gur xvyyre pbafgehpgf n pbzcyrk zrpunavfz sebz neenatrzragf bs fgevatf naq chyyrlf" gevpxf. Va trareny, V zhpu cersre vyyhfvbaf, fyrvtug-bs-unaq, naq zvfqverpgvba -- juvpu ner nyy irel cbffvoyr jvgu uvtuyl zrpunavpny gevpxf, frr Fbwv Fuvznqn'f jbexf! -- gb "gur xvyyre whfg unq fbzr boghfr culfvpny negvsvpr gung znqr gur vzcbffvoyr pevzr cbffvoyr" gevpxf. Jura gurl jbex, V yvxr gurz orpnhfr gurl'er trahvaryl vairagvir, hfhnyyl qrprcgviryl fvzcyr rkcybvgf bs fbzr xvaq (frr Grath Zheqre Pnfr, juvpu vf qnevat!), ohg gurfr fbegf bs "pbzcyrk fgevat neenatrzragf" gevpxf nyjnlf srry gb zr ab qvssrerag guna n ybpxrq-ebbz jurer gur fbyhgvba vf gung gur xvyyre unq n Jnyx-Guebhtu-Jnyyf-vangbe. Vg'f rfcrpvnyyl svggvat orpnhfr fgevat vf fb znyyrnoyr gb or obeqreyvar bzavcbgrag va zheqre zlfgrevrf, naq V nyzbfg arire rawbl gevpxf bireyl eryvnag ba zrpunavfzf vaibyivat fgevat, jver, ebcr, be jungrire.

    V vavgvnyyl qvqa'g yvxr Havirefvgl Cebsrffbe'f fbyhgvba sbe gur fnzr ernfba, ohg gubhtug nobhg vg zber naq ghearq nebhaq ba vg orpnhfr V ernyvmrq gung gur gevpx jnf zber nobhg jung gur fgevat ernyyl JNF (gur gncr sebz na nafjrevat znpuvar) guna gur npghny fgevat gevpx vgfrys, juvpu V guvax vf irel pyrire, rira vs V qvqa'g rawbl gur npghny pbzcyrk neenatrzrag bs gur gncr gb qb gur gevpx. V yvxrq gur obql-zbivat bs Ryrzragnel Fpubby Grnpure orpnhfr vg gbbx nqinagntr bs gur jrngure va n pyrire jnl. Zntvp Raguhfvnfgf vf whfg... gur xvyyre pbafgehpgvat n "pbzzvg gur pevzr" qrivpr sebz fgevat.

    Naljnl, hfvat pebffobj obygf gb pneel fgevat vf n gevpx V'ir frra gbb znal gvzrf gb pbhag, naq qebccvat gur ivpgvz va gur zvqqyr bs gur fabj jvgu fgevat vf fbzrguvat V'ir frra n ybg gbb naq gur xvaq bs fbyhgvba V pbafvqre gbb rnfl gb pbaprvir naq rkrphgr sbe gur nhgube gb ernyyl or njr-vafcvevat. V nyfb qvfyvxrq gur gevpx jvgu gur pebffobj, sbe gur fnzr ernfba. Gur ragver fgbel vf pbirerq jvgu fgevat sebz gbc gb obggbz!!!

    V gubhtug vg jnf n jryy-pbzcbfrq fgbel hc hagvy gung cbvag, naq V ybirq gur frg-hc, punenpgref, naq gur fpranevb, ohg V ernyyl qba'g rawbl gurfr xvaqf bs fbyhgvbaf gb vzcbffvoyr pevzrf.

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    1. Don't worry. There's no expiration date on the ability to comment on old posts. Not on my blog anyway. Before answering your comments, I need to preface that the earliest entries on these lists are based on my memory from 2007 or 2008 when I read them. So the list might get revised a little whenever I get around to rereading the series.

      So with that out of the way, I still think “The Loan Shark Murder Case” is a minor classic of its kind. You're correct the plot exploits what you described, but cbvfba uvqqra va n ybpxrq ebbz rarely impress or stick out as genuinely clever. Paul Doherty not unsuccesfully tried his hands at it, but with one, or two, exceptions none of them impressed me as much “The Loan Shark Murder Case.” And keep in mind that making a poisoning appear to be an impossible crime poses an extra hurdle other scenarios don't have to jump over. The original poisoning-trick is exactly what I hope to find in these type of stories instead of the victim gnawing on the end of a venom-smeared pencil or stroking a cat with poison-coated fur. This is how you write a story nobhg uvqqra cbvfba va n ybpxrq ebbz naq ivpgvz znavchyngvba.

      Just how many no-footprints mysteries have you read where the solution relays on n jrveq mvc-yvar neenatrzrag? The reason why “The Magic Lovers Case” made the list is because I've never seen such an approach to the no-footprints scenario. I've come across some very elaborate trickery with footprints, but nothing quite like “The Magic Lovers Case.” A trick commonly employed to znavchyngr xrlf naq fyvqvat obygf, which I never expected to be used to make a corpse appear in the middle of a field of unbroken snow.

      Sorry for the short comment, but really need to reread a few of these stories to properly comment on them. Maybe it's time to revisit my own top 5 and see if they actually stand up to rereading.

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    2. To answer your question, not a lot, but more than one! My issue with that particular trick is less the "cliche" of it, and more that it's always been the first solution that comes to my mind. The same way that I dread bolt-sliding tricks in locked-room mysteries (except for one brilliant example...) or "service exit" tricks come to my mind with locked-elevators. Maybe it's a result of the kind of mystery stories I read early in my career, but I always thought of as particularly easy and not very interesting. In general, solutions that turn purely and exclusively on a mechanism doing the heavy-lifting always leave me feeling upset, though I should clarify that I mean "a technical trick which majorly relies on foreign elements introduced to the story by the killer" as opposed to "a technical trick in which already present elements of the setting are exploited", which I think are great. I can't claim to think there's anything objectively bad with Magic Enthusiasts, it just really isn't the kind of trick that I enjoy reading about! Maybe I'm too biased and should work on opening my mind a little bit, who knows!

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    3. I think I can see where we differ. I'm not a fan of tricks that use strings, wires and ropes in general, which all too often come across as lazy or needlessly complex. But it all depends on who's doing the writing and plotting. There's a certain master of miracles who delivered a classic locked room mystery with a string-trick. One thing I admired from the earlier volumes is how string and wires were employed. Some actually work went into them and the comic book format prevented them from becoming incomprehensibly complex. This case really stood out to me for that reason. Admittedly, I don't think it would have worked as well in prose.

      I've said this to others around here... don't let us dictate what you like or dislike. We come from all over the world with different backgrounds, languages and we all take something different away from a detective story. So it's not really surprising we disagree so much, but that we came come to a consensus every now and then.

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    4. Sorry! It can be kind of hard sometimes, because most of my early reading was inspired by your and Jim's blog! So obviously I hold your opinions in high-esteem, and when I feel radically different about something I wonder if something might be wrong with how I consume mysteries! For instance, I know Jim despises at least three of the mysteries I mentioned on my Top 15 Favorite Locked-Room list... I guess I should work on my self-esteem a little!

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  3. Hey, TomCat, I was wondering if you had any honorable mentions for cases you particularly like past Volume 32 (preferably further from 32 than closer), or any Anime Originals that aren't Cursed Mask or Seance Double? Not necessarily locked-rooms or anything, just cases you really like. I'm doing two special Conan posts soon to shake up my reviews, one of which is me covering all of Conan-reading friends' favorite cases, and the other of which is me covering all of the cases written by Koujin Ochi/Hirohito Ochi/Uonji Chiko, the guy who wrote Cursed Mask and Seance Double, since clearly this guy understood something about locked-room mysteries.

    ...Though if you had any other locked-room cases you particularly enjoy, I wouldn't mind hearing about those, either. :P

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    1. Sounds like a fun post! You asked for stories preferably further from vol. 32, but have to begin with vol. 30 as the Sunset Manor Case is the bedrock of my boss theory. Just for sheer joy, the first two KID vs. Jirokichi cases from vol. 44 and vol. 61. I think their feud has since run out of fuel, but those first few encounters were fantastic. Well, there's the Detective Koshien Case and Poisonous Coffee Case, but both stories are already on the list. Hope this is somewhat helpful!

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    2. Thanks! I read Sunset, but was merely whelmed by the ATTWN pastiche. I thought that the crossover between various detectives was a fun touch, but it was so creative that when the "murder" trick was just "oh, it's this f*cking poisoning trick but again again", it was kind of a disappointment and felt a little disconnected.

      One of those cases I had fun while reading but was disappointed by the resolution, especially since the solution (especially concerns the killer's identity) feels more like an idle copycat than an homage. But I intend to reread it in the future, because you're the third person to name Sunset as a favorite...

      I'm really excited for Detective Koshien though, thanks a ton for the recommendations! I have no idea what to expect from KID vs Jirokichi...

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    3. Sunset is not so much a personal favorite, but thought it worth mentioning as I based a large part of my boss theory on it. Since that fan theory is represents my contribution to the Conan fandom, I thought it might give you something to write beside reviewing the story (why did Tom pick this story). Another good recommendation would be vol. 63, which is a basically mini-locked room anthology.

      "I have no idea what to expect from KID vs Jirokichi..."

      Just imagine Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, but with detectives trying to catch a thief.

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