The Time Traveler's Hourglass (2019) by Kie Houjou

Kie Houjou is a Japanese mystery writer who bagged the Tetsuya Ayukawa Award for her debut novel, Jikuu ryokousha no sunadokei (The Time Traveler's Hourglass, 2019), which belongs to the emerging, third wave of the shin honkaku movement – currently in the process of evolving the traditional detective story. The first two waves of Soji Shimada, Yukito Ayatsuji and MORI Hiroshi revived, refreshed and rebuild the traditional, fair play detective to great success. After twenty years of dominance, there came a yearning for the kind of impetus that Ayatsuji's Jukkakukan no satsujin (The Decagon House Murders, 1987) and Hiroshi's Subete ga F ni naru (Everything Turns to F: The Perfect Insider, 1996) brought to the table. The stick to scratch this itch proved to be hybrid mysteries. Not merely as a gimmick!

The idea is to take your normal, everyday shin honkaku mystery and incorporate elements from other, seemingly incompatible, genres like fantasy, horror and science-fiction. And the trick, of course, is to harmonize the two and make it work as a fairly plotted detective story. A tricky, slippery tight-rope to traverse, but Masahiro Imamura pulled it off with Shijinso no satsujin (Death Among the Undead, 2017) and Magan no hako no satsujin (Death Within the Evil Eye, 2019). Shimada called Death Among the Undead a possible revolutionary change for the genre, but should note here that the idea of hybrid mysteries itself is not revolutionary one. Yamaguchi Masaya's Ikeru shikabane no shi (Death of the Living Dead, 1989) preceded Death Among the Undead by nearly thirty years and Takekuni Kitayama combed impossible decapitations across time with a reincarnation plot in Rurijou satsujin jiken (The "Lapis Lazuli Castle" Murders, 2002). Even over here there's a history of genre blending, especially science-fiction mysteries, but rarely produced a classic or actually went anywhere (except for the historical mystery that became a genre of its own). Now it feels like they have started in Japan to explore the potential and possibilities of blending and merging genres in earnest.

If there's one thing The "Lapis Lazuli Castle" Murders and Death Among the Undead have demonstrated, it's that the inclusion of normally destructive (to the detective story) elements like zombies, reincarnation and time hopping can unlock doors to new possibilities previously unthinkable. All it needs is a good mystery writer who understands what makes a plot tick.

I've read about Kie Houjou, The Time Traveler's Hourglass and the Ryuuzen Clan series, but didn't expect to see two of her novel emerge from the first round of nominations for the new, updated "Locked Room Library" – translations provided by Mitsuda Madoy and "cosmiicnana." You know their story from previous reviews. The Time Traveler's Hourglass is basically a literary descendant of John Dickson Carr's experiments with historical time travel mysteries, namely The Devil in Velvet (1951) and Fire, Burn! (1957), taking the concept of time travel mysteries to its next logical stage. Houjou followed the example of Death Among the Undead by creating a fairly typical, recognizable shin honkaku premise and overlaid it with a time travel plot with sublime results. This year's best-of list is going to look weird!

The Time Traveler's Hourglass is the first novel in the Ryuuzen Clan series and introduces the Ryuuzens as a family living, and dying, under a curse. For nearly sixty years, everyone who "inherited the blood of the Ryuuzen clan began to rapidly pass away" from accidents, murder, suicides and natural causes. A string of untimely passings starting with the "Deadly Tragedy of Shino" back in 1960. At the time, the Ryuuzens gathered at their remote villa in Shino to celebrate the birthday of the head of the family, but they got wiped out in a landslide. When the victims were recovered, the "majority of the bodies found were proven to have been murdered" ("however, with so little evidence, there was little to do"). Kamo Rena is one of the last living descendants of the Ryuuzen clan, living in 2018, but she's rapidly deteriorating from acute interstitial pneumonia which leaves her husband in despair.

Kamo Touma is a magazine writer who used to write for a paranormal rag and met Rena following a flare up of the curse of the Ryuuzen clan, but they started dating and eventually married. She only developed a morbid fear for the family curse following the death of two cousins, which is the cause of her deteriorating health. Recently, Kamo has been working on an article about a new urban legend, "The Urban Legend That Brings Happiness: The Hourglass of Miracles." A trending topic on social media telling of an hourglass-shaped pendant granting a wish to whomever can get their hands on it. Kamo is contacted by someone calling himself Meister Hora ("...the name of a character from Michael Ende's Momo... the keeper of time...") offering him the hourglass and an opportunity to put the curse to rest by going back to 1960 in order to stop the murders. But when they arrive at the villa in 1960, the killing spree has already started.

Before returning to this gem of a detective story, I need to point out a couple of things about its presentation and translation. Firstly, Mitsuda Madoy opted to present all the names in the Japanese style of family name-given name order, which is something that never fails to confuse me. So the heads up from the translator is much appreciated. Secondly, this book has all those little extra detective fans love so much. A cast of characters, an elaborate family tree, two floor plans, a map of the surrounding area and an introduction by Meister Hora – ensuring the reader that they're reading a fair play mystery ("...I will tell no lies in the story, nor shall I lie to you, the readers"). And, of course, a challenge to the reader. Rarely has a challenge to the reader been as appropriate as in The Time Traveler's Hour Glass. The clueing, misdirection and general fair play on display here is of an incredibly high purity. More on that in a moment.

So when they arrive in 1960, the murderer is ahead of schedule in defiance of historical records and a bridge collapse ensured they're isolated from the outside world. The murderer also cut the phone lines to complete the picture of a classic shin honkaku mystery novel.

Kamo and his talking, hourglass-shaped pendant Meister Hora's arrival was seen by 13-year-old Ryuuzen Ayaka. Ayaka aids them by introducing Kamo to the family as a famous private detective she invited as a surprise for grandfather, because he's a veracious reader of detective fiction. Not something out-of-character as she previously invited a magician without telling anyone. So he can investigate the two murders that have just taken place with body parts found inside the house and near the river. One of the victims is Ayaka's father. Kamo's investigation pretty soon reveals why the family referred to the murders as an impossible crime. An impossible crime that boils down to the question how the head and torso were carried out of the house when the only exit was under constant observation. A very neatly done impossibility and the explanation delivers, which is not the last, slightly unusual impossible crime or locked room puzzle to come his way. I should note here the villa has an interesting feature as each of its twelve private rooms is named after one of the signs of the Chinese zodiac (Dragon Room, Monkey Room, Rabbit Room, etc). Kie Houjou went out of her way to keep things as clear and uncluttered as possible. Even suggesting "some mnemonics" to help remember who's staying in which room ("the Rat, the smallest animal of the zodiac, was the room belonging to the youngest person, Ayaka"). The care she gave to the plot is admirable.

So, being familiar with the historical case notes and old diary entries, Kamo spends the next night hiding in a hall closet to catch the murderer red handed, but the night goes by and the supposed victim emerges the next morning unharmed – suggesting that the timeline has been altered. This is where the earlier established rules of the time traveling hourglass starts playing a role, because even with "the existence of technology for space-time travel, this is still an impossible crime." The steadily growing pile of corpses, severed body parts, inexplicable disappearances and the impending landslide is still only a fraction of the plot. For example, Kamo suspects the bodies were cut to pieces to imitate a painting, hanging in the villa, depicting the Nue of Japanese folklore ("the head of a monkey, the body of a tanuki, the tail of a snake, the limbs of a tiger, and a cry like a thrush"). The missing artist who made the painting is one of the many skeletons rattling around in the family closet. What about that strange night when the last two of prospective victims barricaded themselves inside the villa, while the rest waited out the night in a trailer with Kamo sitting with his back against the door. Only to be greeted by a horror show the following morning. A truly labyrinthine-shaped plot created out of space-time through which Houjou marched an "endless parade of horrors."

Ho-Ling Wong perhaps said it best in his 2020 review, "it's a very dense story, almost insanely so, but it holds together, somehow." And how! I mentioned in past review one risk of these kind of roller coaster-like hybrid mysteries brimming with impossible crimes, corpse-puzzles, contorted narratives and fantastical elements is running the risk of losing the reader along the way. The "Lapis Lazuli Castle" Murders ran into that problem towards the end. There's always the risk of the story getting entangled in its own overly clever, elaborate plot designs, but neither proved to be an obstacle for The Time Traveler's Hourglass. Even though the story concludes with a lengthy, Ellery Queen-style elimination of the remaining suspects full with twists, turns, false-solution and actual, crystal clear and very satisfying answers to the main problems – which in turn highlights just how fairly everything was clued and foreshadowed. Not a small feat to pull off when time travel, time paradoxes and altered timelines get added to the mix.

Even without the time travel shenanigans, The Time Traveler's Hourglass has all the makings of a more traditionally-styled, first-rate shin honkaku mystery with its isolated setting, gory corpse-puzzles and impossible crimes. A plot that would not be out of place in The Kindaichi Case Files (especially those penned by Seimaru Amagi), but the well-handled, time traveling hourglass and the character of Meister Hora allowed Kie Houjou to get more out of the premise than had it been a standard locked room mystery without a science-fiction artifact. Just like Death Among the Undead, the skillful way in which the fantastic is balanced with the rationale and fair play principles of the detective story unlocked doors to entirely new, previously undreamed possibilities for the genre. That alone makes it something of a modern classic and without question one of the best debuts in the history of the detective story.

There is, however, something about the characters and story I liked even more than the rich, densely-plotted web covering them (SPOILER/ROT13): Wncnarfr jevgref qba'g ful njnl sebz pbhegvat gentrql, ovggre be gentvp raqvat, xvyyvat bss punenpgref be raqvatf qrznaqvat n fnpevsvpr. Guvf fgbel nccrnerq gb trne hc gb qrznaq fhpu n fnpevsvpr sebz Xnzb. Bar gung pbzrf ng n terng crefbany pbfg, ohg vf jvyyvat gb npprcg vg sbe Eran'f fnxr. Fb, abeznyyl, hfvat gvzr geniry gb cebivqr n unccl raqvat sbe gur punenpgref vf ng orfg anhfrbhfyl purrfl naq fgbel-ehvavat purnc ng jbefg. Gur ernfba jul vg jbexrq urer vf orpnhfr gur ubhetynff bayl znqr gur unccl raqvat n cbffvovyvgl, ohg gur crbcyr Xnzb yrsg oruvaq va gur fvkgvrf rafherq vg unccrarq. Vg'f qvfthfgvatyl fjrrg naq urnegjnezvat, ohg, bapr ntnva, vg fubjf ubj tbbq Xvr Ubhwbh vf ng onynapvat naq znantvat n fgbel. Nyfb abgr gur rkpryyrag sberfunqbjvat va gur jbeqf Eran fcrnxf sebz ure ubfcvgny orq, “V xarj guvf jnf tbvat gb unccra. V'ir xabja sbe n ybat, ybat gvzr.” Just amazing!

Somehow, Kie Houjou pulled all of this off on her first try. She apparently is only getting started as the next two novels in the series are reportedly even better, more ambitious and audacious than this masterpiece of the neo-classical detective novel.

So, as you probably deduced from the tone of the review, lavish praise and length I really enjoyed The Time Traveler's Hourglass. The best detective novel of the year and already one of my all-time favorite locked room mysteries with the author already on the way of becoming a personal favorite. I highly recommend keeping an eye out for Kie Houjou, because something tells me she's one of today's mystery writers who will still be read, dissected and discussed a hundred years from now. If this trend continues, I can see this blending of the detective story, science-fiction and horror becoming an off-shoot/subgenre of its own. Similar to how historical mysteries became their separate thing. The Time Traveler's Hourglass would be seen as one of the first steps in that direction. Look forward to returning to the series as the third novel, Meitantei ni kanbi naru shi wo (Delicious Death for Detectives, 2022), was also nominated and translated by Madoy. I'm the most curious about the second, so far untranslated novel Katou no raihousha (Visitors on the Remote Island, 2020) because it sounds out of this world.

You can expect a review of Delicious Death for Detectives to pop up, one of these days, but first back to the Golden Age!