The Argentinean Butterfly Mystery: C.M.B. vol. 13-14 by Motohiro Katou

Motohiro Katou's C.M.B. vol. 13 comprises of four, one-chapter stories starting with one of those human, heart-shaped puzzles, "The Grass in Summer," which begins when soaring temperatures end the school day early for the students of Meiyuu Private High School – leading to an unexpected discovery in the streets. Sakaki Shinra, Nanase Tatsuki and their friends accidentally stumbled across a small, empty plot of land that was practically hidden from sight ("...surrounded by buildings and is only connected to the main road by a small gap...").

What's really peculiar about that plot of land are the various plants and flowers growing on it. Such as arnoglossa, "a type of grass that grows on solid ground," growing in a straight line, morning glory wrapping itself around a water tap and much more. The plot is like coming across a desert oasis in the middle of a city or finding a botanical garden in your attic. When they return to the plot, they meet a woman who tells them the plot of land used to be belong to her late father. However, she had not seen or heard from him for seven years, until the hospital called to tell her he was dying. So why did her father disappear and what was behind the plot of land? Normally, the reason for the man's disappearance would be the crux of the puzzle, but this time that part is more of an after thought. The real puzzle is what that wild garden used to be. Shinra's explanation is as unusual as it's pleasingly original like a benevolent version of Uketsu without the horror. A strange plot indeed!

The second story, "Mountain Villa in Fog," has Shinra and Tatsuki lost in the foggy mountains during a study trip. Fortunately, they came across a mountain villa owned by a Kaeru Amagasa, scriptwriter of the O-Zap drama group, whose hosting a reunion of the once somewhat popular group – enjoying some low-key success only five years ago. The other three members are Chisato Hanamaku (actress), Tokuji Kirishima (actress) and their leader/lead star, Tamotsu Tsukiyama. Tsukiyama tells them O-Zap is making a comeback with an American tour, but the day ends with him being found dead on the living room couch with a rope tied around his neck. A familiar and classical setup for a closed-circle whodunit, apparently hinging on motive and opportunity, but Katou presented an uncharacteristically disappointing and uninspired ending to what could have been a fairly decent whodunit.

"Asado" is the third story and very wish-washy, non-mystery story. Shinra and Tatsuki's study group have to put together a stall for the school's cultural festival. So they decide to do a food stall and Shinra suggests to do an asado. Some fairly small problems arise during the preparations of the festival, but, like I said, it barely can be called a mystery story. Fortunately, this volume ends on a high note.

Mau Sugal, the black market broker, returns in the fourth and final story, "The Music Box." This time, she wants Shinra to solve the mysterious, borderline impossible mystery attached to an antique music organ. It used to belong to an aristocratic British family from the 19th century, but it was the lady of the manor who was obsessed with the organ. She wrote about her obsession in her diary, which drove her husband to shoot the blasted thing with two full barrels. However, there "no gunshot marks at all" nor any repair marks and "even the glass is original" and there's no question it's a different organ – begging the question how the bullet holes have disappeared. Sugal is willing to give Shinra a valuable piece of information in exchange for a solution. I'm not sure if this counts as an impossible crime, but the solution, based on the diary entries and why the lady played only particular piece of music, is excellent. This time, Shinra had a helping hand putting the pieces together. Hihimaru, the baboon, from "An Old Woman and a Monkey" (vol. 12) is now living at Shinra's museum and provides the missing link in the case.

So C.M.B. is a mixed bag with two weak, almost negligible stories, "Mountain Villa in Fog" and "Asado," stuck between the visually striking "The Grass in Summer" and the wonderfully done "The Music Box."

Katou's C.M.B. vol. 14 opens with a classic, two-part story, "World's End," which was setup in the previous story. Sugal's important piece of information turned out to be a photograph of a legendarily rare butterfly, Colias ponteni, better known as the Colias imperialis. A butterfly discovered on Captain James Cook's journeys, but less than a dozen specimens were collected and the circumstances or locations of their collection extremely muddled. And it has not been spotted or collected since the 1850s ("...a popular legend that they live in a giant hole in the South Pole"). So what they have to do is track down the person who made the photograph and that brings them to Argentina. This is where the story splits in two as one half takes a look at the crimes committed during the Dirty War by Argentina's military dictatorship. Katou convincingly ties the two together without breaking the butterfly on the proverbial wheel. "World's End" is perhaps not a detective story proper, but a very well done crime story with a fitting ending.

Next is up is another minor character piece, "Sugoroku," in which Shinra and Tatsuki stumble across a toy shop with old, vintage toys. Haru Nijima, an elderly woman, took over the shop after her husband passed away, but she has no idea how to run or manage it properly. She would like to close the shop and go on that long dreamed of holiday with her two friends, but, for some reason, her friends have stopped talking to her. She has no idea why or what she might have done to upset them. Shinra and Tatsuki take upon themselves to clear away the pileup of misunderstandings between the shopkeeper and her two friends. Not bad but very minor stuff.

This volume also ends on a high note with "The Woman in the Flower Shop." Kizaki Kousaku, a law student, is hopelessly in love with Sone Keiko and even spies on her with binoculars from his apartment completely unaware a colleague at his part time job, Wakui Chisato, secretly likes him. A situation that becomes terribly complicated when Kousuka discovers through his binoculars Keiko has a secret lover. Kousuka is the only one who knows about this lover and that becomes a dangerous problem when this lover brutally kills Keiko. So he decides to send the murderer a letter, "hurry up and turn yourself in," but the murderer returns it in person. What's more, he knows all about Kousuka spying on Keiko ("...sunlight will reflect off the lens and give away your position"). The killer is determined to make Kousuka the scapegoat for his murder, until Shinra turns up to save the day. Not a series classic, but still a good, solid story and closer to this volume.

C.M.B. vol. 14 is not so different from the previous volume, except this one has three instead of four stories with two best stories, "World's End" and "The Woman in the Flower Shop," sandwiching "Sugoroku." Not necessarily a bad story, but very minor, forgettable stuff. Those four stories book ending the weaker, slighter stories more than make up for them, especially "The Music Box."