Last year was great for fans of the Japanese honkaku and shin honkaku mysteries with new translations of Akimitsu Takagi's Noumen satsujin jiken (The Noh Mask Murder, 1949), Seishi Yokomizo's Akuma no temari uta (The Little Sparrow Murders, 1957/59) and MORI Hiroshi's Tsumetai mishitsu to hakase tachi (Doctors in the Isolated Room, 1996), but looked forward the most to Meirokan no satsujin (The Labyrinth House Murders, 1988) – written by Yukito Ayatsuji and translated by Ho-Ling Wong. From the occasional reviews over the years ("awesome meta-mystery") to the fascinating, labyrinthine floor plan of the titular house Ho-Ling blogged about in "The Quest of the Missing Map." Fast forward to today and this fabled detective novel is finally available in English courtesy of Pushkin Vertigo.
The story begins with Shimada receiving an advanced copy of Shishiya Kadomi's The Labyrinth House Murders, "An Original Honkaku Murder Mystery! The Truth Behind the Labyrinth House Murder Case Finally Revealed," which finally promises to expose the truth of the real-life murder case at the Labyrinth House – "famous for its complex underground maze." The author claims the right to tell the story as Shishiya Kadomi was one of those present, but not under the penname of the book and presents it from the start as a mini-puzzle ("so which of the characters is Shishiya Kadomi?"). So the main body of the book is Shishiya Kadomi's The Labyrinth House Murders book-ended by Shimada starting to read the book in the prologue and meeting the author in the epilogue to cast a new light on the case.
Shishiya Kadomi's The Labyrinth House Murders tells the story of the 60th birthday party of legendary mystery writer, Miyagaki Yōtarō, who persisted in writing traditionally-plotted, fair play mysteries when "the wave of social detective novels took over the world of Japanese mystery fiction." Miyagaki is more than just a mystery writer. He's a mystery fan who dedicated his entire life to the detective story and through his magazine, Reverie, looked for new blood to carry on the genre.
So, on his 60th birthday, Miyagaki, invites ten people to his underground, labyrinthine lair to celebrate. A group comprising of Miyagaki's long-time editor, Utayama Hideyuki, and his pregnant wife, Keiko. Four promising mystery writers, Kiyomura Junichi, Suzaki Shōsuke, Funaoka Madoka and Hayashi Tomoo, who made their debut in Miyagaki's magazine. A well-known mystery critic, Samejima Tomoo, the housekeeper Fumie and, of course, Shimada. Shimada's is drawn to Labyrinth House because it was designed by that eccentric architect, Nakamura Seiji, who "had built a few curious building" like the Decagon House and Mill House – which all had seen their fair share of bloodshed and tragedy ("would the Labyrinth House be next?"). Labyrinth House is practically designed to court tragedy. A small, low stone building, "like a massive crag of rock," which is just the entrance to a massive, underground labyrinth with rooms clustered around them. All the rooms bare names of characters from Greek mythology. This veritable Minotaur's labyrinth has one entrance/exit in the reception room (Ariadne), brilliantly positioned right next to the kitchen. Nakamura Seiji, you genius, you!
Miyagaki invited the four mystery writers because they're his favorites who got their starts in Reverie, but urges them to not assume he has been fully satisfied with their accomplishments. So poses a challenge to the four writers: over the next five days, they have to write a short story in which Labyrinth House is the setting, the characters in the story are the people gathered at the house and "every author must be the victim in their own story." There are three judges, Utayama, Samejima and Shimada, who have to pick the best story with the winner becoming heir to half of Miyagaki's fortune. And pretty much his successor. But if even one person refuses to participate, the contest is canceled and the testament void.
Not that leaving the underground house is an option as they soon find themselves trapped, or locked, inside the house. Before too long, the nearly decapitated body of one of the mystery writers is found in the drawing room (Minotaur). A murder that turns out to be copy of the murder described in the opening pages of the victim's short story, which becomes a pattern as the bodies pile on during their entrapment in Labyrinth House. And as to be expected from "an original honkaku murder mystery," even a fictitious one, succeeding victims leave behind a dying message or get themselves killed in a locked room. However, you shouldn't read it as "The Classic Japanese Locked Room Mystery" promised on the cover as it simply is not that kind of detective novel. The dying message, locked room and every other trope function here as smaller cogs and wheels in a larger plot, except, of course, the meta-narrative – which is the key to the story. Impressively, Ayatsuji uses the story's only genuine flaw to its advantage. Shishiya Kadomi's in-story novelization of the Labyrinth House murder case is fairly solvable. You can reach the in-story solution, or a big chunk of it, simply by asking a very simple and obvious question the characters stubbornly refuse to ask themselves. So the in-story novel reads and feels like a good, fun, but slightly imperfect, shin honkaku mystery.
In most cases, The Labyrinth House Murders would have been another example of the false-solution, flawed as it may be, outshining the correct solution. The slightly less impressive, but correct, solution has some elements that would have cheapened a detective novel of lesser quality. For example, the (ROT13) fbhepr bs gur oybbq gur zheqrere unq gb pbire hc jvgu gur qrpncvgngvba comes across as a bit cheap and banal (uneqyl jbegu gur jbex gung jrag vagb bofphevat gur zheqrere'f traqre) or the locked room-trick being the kind of shenanigans I normally frown upon. I simply worked on the assumption, a very incorrect assumption, the first victim was nearly decapitated because an ax was needed to break down into a locked room later. And destroying evidence in the process that the door was gimmicked to appear locked. Nevertheless, it served as a rock solid foundation for the correct solution to stand on making the false-solution one of the two biggest accomplishments of Ayatsuji and The Labyrinth House Murders. A fantastic use of the false-solution showing once again Ayatsuji is closer to Ellery Queen than John Dickson Carr. The second thing the book does very well is being a meta-mystery with the final meta-twist as the proverbial cherry on top!
So, yes, I tremendously enjoyed The Labyrinth House Murders. I'm not sure if I would rank it above The Decagon House Murders or The Mill House Murders, purely as traditional fair play mysteries, but as a fun, smart meta-mystery it's first-rate. Something very different from those two previous novels that at the same time feels like a logical next step in the series. Very much look forward to see what Ayatsuji is going to do next with his signature dueling narratives. Pushkin Vertigo has announced that the next translation in the "Bizarre House Mysteries" series is going to be Tokeikan no satsujin (The Clock Mansion Murders, 1991), which means they're skipping Ningyōkan no satsujin (The Doll Mansion Murders, 1989) for now. I don't mind. The Clock Mansion Murders sounds like another treat for detective fans. Anyway, 2025 is off to a good start!
Not much more to add here as I agree with your summary / critique. I found the ending head spinning with the reversals and reveals that seemed to just keep coming, but overall I liked this and very much recommend it particularly to those like me who seek puzzle heavy mysteries.
ReplyDeleteLooking at Ayatsuji's bibliography, I see there are a half dozen more books in the "mansion" series. I don't know how (if) many more get translated, but it is good to know that at least "Clock Mansion" is coming.