The Hit List: Top 10 Favorite Cases from Motohiro Katou's Q.E.D. vol. 26-50

I reviewed the first volume, of fifty, in Motohiro Katou's Q.E.D. series back in 2018, reached the halfway mark (vol. 25) in May 2023 and posted "The Hit List: Top 10 Favorite Cases from Motohiro Katou's Q.E.D. Vol. 1-25" a few months later – intending to have part two up by the end of 2024. You know how it goes with even the most vaguely stated, flexible of "deadlines" on this blog. I'm a traditionalist, if there ever was one. That being said, if my track through the first-half of this series was done at a snail's pace, the second-half was a sprint to the finish. Only a little a year and a half to get from vol. 26 to vol. 50. So not bad by my standards!

I reached vol. 50 last month and having reviewed every volume in addition to several specials, crossovers and sampling its sister series, C.M.B., Katou and his cast of regulars hardly need an introduction. Neither do I need to go over the points on why I started calling Q.E.D. the detective story for the 21st century. I have regurgitated all that over, and over, again in previous reviews. Just read the top 10 vol. 1-25 for a short introduction. I'll take a moment to go over the selection process.

This time, picking ten favorites was not as easy as the first time. I simply started compiling a list to whittle down to ten stories, but ended up with seventeen stories and kept moving them around between the candidate list and the final list – every story made the top 10 at one point. I wanted the list to reflect the scope of variety across this series. One thing I rarely mentioned is how Q.E.D. found a way to combine the advantages of a long-running series (familiarity) with the creative freedom afforded by standalones. So the stories and plots cover everything from traditionally-plotted whodunits, impossible crimes and alibi crackers to character explorations, slice-of-life mysteries and down right experimental fiction. And pretty much everything in between. You know me... there's always the risk I'll jump on my hobby horse and do a "Top 10 Favorite Locked Room Mysteries & Impossible Crimes from Motohiro Katou's Q.E.D.," but managed to keep temptation at bay. I think I weeded out a fairly representative top 10 list from my original seventeen picks, which get an honorable mention at the end. Even if they didn't make the final cut, they're still technically top 10 material.

Before tumbling down the top 10, I want to assure those who don't care about Katou, Q.E.D. or manga mysteries in general, you'll be getting a break from them after this one. I don't think I'll get to Gosho Aoyama's Case Closed, vol. 94 until sometime next month. I'll pick something a little different as a palate cleanser, before returning to C.M.B. or starting with Q.E.D. iff. So with all that poorly done blog-padding out of the way, let's begin.

 

"Summer Time Capsule" (vol. 26)

The first entry on this list appears on first sight to be minor stuff, a slice-of-life mystery, centering on a time capsule unearthed by construction workers with Kana Mizuhara's name on the lid – buried during her primary school days. Mizuhara's memories of her primary school days have already become hazy and the contents of the capsule poses a big mystery to her. Such as a group photograph with a kid neither she nor her friends remember. Mizuhara begins to suspect she might have done something very bad. Not to mention a mini-puzzle hidden inside the narrative. Where the story sets itself apart is using a simple, innocent childhood mystery to show how time ravages the memory, because you can't recall every single second of your life. So you leave more of yourself in the past than you take into the future. As an anonymous comment on my review pointed out, "Summer Time Capsule" is one of the best human drama mysteries in this series.

"Motive and Alibi" (vol. 29)

This second entry represents Q.E.D. at its most traditional and conventional, but an absolutely first-rate, classically-style whodunit. Sou Touma becomes involved in the murder of a celebrated, award winning painter, Kuromame Fukuzo, who's murdered at his home surrounded by three potential suspects. Only problem is that they possess rock solid, unshakable alibis. The murderer has every reason to be confident in their alibi, but Touma spotted a contrived set of circumstances that created a "golden window of opportunity" for murder. Even better than the ingenious and original alibi trick is how Touma's explanation built on Inspector Mizuhara's evidence and bare-bones solution. I like it when the brainy amateur and experienced, casehardened professional actually compliment each other.

"Magic & Magic" (vol. 32)

Similar to the first entry, "Magic & Magic" is one of the best character-piece this series has to offer and my personal favorite. Kurohoushi Manto, a magician, overhears Touma explaining his tricks to Mizuhara during a performance and proposes a challenge to the teenage know-it-all – wanting an opportunity to genuinely surprise Touma. A wonderful story full with magic tricks and the seemingly impossible disappearance of a book from a locked and guarded safe. However, the locked safe trick and magic trick is not the main draw of the story, but Manto's demonstrating there's a small, essential difference between fooling someone and surprising them. Bravo Katou!

"The Detective Novelist Murder Case" (vol. 33)

A return to the traditionally-styled detective story centering on a group of four published mystery writers discussing a plot idea for the perfect crime, a murder disguised as a domestic accident, but how's the murderer going to leave the scene locked from the inside? Someone obviously found an answer when one of them dies in exactly the same circumstances as they discussed and examined. Only difference is that all the doors and windows were found locked and securely fastened. What makes this story standout is the elegant, brilliant simplicity of the original locked room-trick and Touma not only revealing who, why and how, but also showing why the other suspects couldn't have done it. A detective story with a high purity plot!

"Christmas Present" (vol. 35)

Despite the story title, "Christmas Present" is not a seasonal mystery with the December festivities serving as background decoration for a clever piece of genre parody, playfully poking the shin honkaku mystery in the ribs – staged and presented as mock theatrical mystery. The notorious Detective Club of Sakisaka High School helps out making up the numbers of the Drama Club to prevent their Christmas Show from getting canceled, but under condition they stage a mystery play. Touma and Mizuhara naturally get put to work with the former having to write a script on the spot. Touma comes up with Murder at the Pentagon House about a murder in a small, pentagon-shaped house with the door and windows locked on the inside. While being tongue-and-cheek, the locked room-trick is actually quite clever and original. A trick that can actually be used in a comedy mystery play. So really fun and successful parody of the shin honkaku mystery.

"The Incident in Urban Hills Room 6" (vol. 39)

I constantly moved this story back and forth between the candidate list and the final list, before deciding to keep it in the final ten. This story takes place at a shabby, rundown lodging house where the landlady was found hanging in the titular room, dismissed by the police as a suicide. But left the place with a stigma as nobody wanted to apply for the job of housekeeping. One day, Mizuhara appears on their doorstep to take the position and immediately begins to asking questions, which she relies to Touma playing armchair detective in the background. However, this story is not nearly as conventional as it sounds and, like said in my original review, somewhat of an anti-detective story that's not really an anti-detective story at all. I really liked how Touma showed none of tenants have a motive only to turn around and show why one of those non-motives is a motive for murder.

"Secret Room No. 4" (vol. 40)

This entry undeniably is dictated by my personal obsession taste for locked room mysteries and every other kind of impossible crime fiction under the sun. Touma, Mizuhara and the members of the Sakisaka High School Detective Club partake in a test run for murder game, based on the works of a well-known mystery novelist, on behalf of the tour company – which brings them to the perfect setting for a murder, Sasakure Island. A game consisting of various locked room puzzles challenging the players to find out how the crime was carried out, not whodunit or why. Not unexpectedly, the test game is interrupted by an actual locked room murder. There are a total of four locked room mysteries in this story and an argument can be made Touma's solution revealed a fifth, neatly hidden, impossible crime. While not all the locked room-tricks carry that brand new car smell, they're brilliantly employed together to create a special treat for impossible crime fans like me.

"Tuba and Grave" (vol. 44)

The three disaster magnets of the Sakisaka High School Detective Club again get themselves into serious trouble when they foolishly mistook a sleeping drunk for a murder victim with their wildly incorrect, ludicrous deductions. So they find themselves in a boy-who-cried-wolf situation when witnessing an actual murder and the body being hidden inside an abandoned, rundown factory. They call in an anonymous tip to the police who search the place from top to bottom, which include a freshly dug, filled-in hole and a tuba case. No murder victim is discovered. So they turn to Touma and Mizuhara to help them out of another hole. A really fun story, but the plot is great as well with an even better conclusion. Touma basically turns what appears to be the problem of an impossibly disappearing body into an inverted, Columbo-style breakdown of the murderer's alibi and trapping the killer with incriminating knowledge.

"Pilgrimage" (vol. 46)

Q.E.D. is not exactly a cozy mystery series, but neither is it excessively dark or disturbing and tends to find a happy balance between the darker and lighter sights of life. Usually done in colors rather than shades of gray. Not this unsettling, pitch-black story centering on a long-forgotten incident dating back to World War II. A forgotten incident rediscovered inside an unpublished manuscript from a dead non-fiction author with some cryptic words scribbled on the cover. Why did the husband of a murder victim traveling to Hanoi, under wartime to conditions, to confront the murderer court decided halfway through the journey to continue on foot? Why did he, following a track of 1000 km on foot, arrive at the court two months later to asked the court to spare his wife's killer by commuting his death sentence to a prison sentence? Why did it fail to save the killer? A story deceptively starting out as a human interest story with a dash of Chestertonian wonder, but the ending revealed a nightmarish horror plucked from the pages of of an Edgar Allan Poe or Edogawa Rampo tale.

"Escape" (vol. 50)

I realize I should have swapped this entry with any of the honorable mentions listed below, but enjoyed vol. 50 too much to not include one of its two stories. I decided to go with "Escape" over the global spectacle that's “Observation,” because enjoyed the former slightly more. A fun combination of the locked room mystery with a mystery thriller. Touma and Mizuhare receive an anonymous request and money to organize a private escape room game for a small group of people, but the participants soon find themselves trapped inside as a bomb is ticking down the minutes. This situation is tied to an unsolved, sixteen year old locked room murder dismissed at the time as a suicide. Three things make this story standout: the reason for staging the escape game, the original locked room-trick for a padlocked door and a plot unfolding itself through the escape game. Touma and Mizuhara have little else to do other than being impartial observers. Leave it to Katou to find a way to be unconventional in a conventional locked room mystery.

Honorable Mentions from the Cutting Room Floor: "Pharaoh's Necklace" (vol. 28), "Promise" (vol. 31), "Paradox Room" (vol. 33), "Empty Dream" (vol. 38), "Escher Hotel" (vol. 42), "The Representative" (vol. 48) and "Observation" (vol. 50).