Preface
There is a popular series by Yukito Ayatsuji, famous for his mystery novels, called the "Mansion Series."
This series, which includes works such as "The Decagon House Murders" and "The Clock House Murders," evokes images of murder cases unfolding in unusual mansions.
The book I read this time, "The Gymnasium Murder," is not by Yukito Ayatsuji, but by Yugo Aozaki, a writer who debuted with this work in 2012.
Although the title, "The Murder at the XX Mansion," is reminiscent of the mansion series, this work surprised me in two different ways.
While the title format gives a sense of gravitas, simply changing the word in the blank to "physical education" instantly shifts the setting to a school, making it feel more relatable.
It's surprising how much the feel of a word can change just by changing the two characters you put here.
As the title suggests, the story is set in a school, making it easy to pick up and read even for readers who aren't used to reading books.
However, another surprising point is that this work is not a gimmicky mystery, but a full-fledged detective novel whose selling point is its meticulous logic-based reasoning.
The book has been described in reviews as "the Ellery Queen of the Heisei era," and before the resolution, there's a "challenge to the reader."
I think this is a genuinely engaging yet easy-to-read mystery novel that I would recommend even to those who are tired of the "Mephisto Prize" type of works that primarily focus on surprising the reader.
Good points
First and foremost, I appreciated that, despite being a mystery novel known for its intricate logic, it was very easy to read.
I used to think that serious mystery novels were stuffy and difficult to read.
However, this book is primarily composed of dialogue, and the story progresses at a very brisk pace.
Even those who have previously avoided classic works considered "authentic" might pick up Queen after reading this book.
(I think I might end up like that.)
Secondly, a good point is that you can enjoy a fair and objective deduction.
As is clearly stated in the story, there is a challenge from the author just before the resolution.
In short, all the clues have been provided, and you're under the same conditions as the detective in the story, so try to solve it.
Up until now, even when reading mystery novels, I would only vaguely guess who the culprit was, and I never actually did any proper deduction.
However, when a challenge is presented so clearly, it makes me want to seriously consider it.
When I was little, I remember enjoying watching Detective Conan and saying things like, "This guy seems suspicious, so he must be the culprit," but at some point, I became more passive.
Reading this work may have helped me rekindle a little of my old desire to try solving mysteries.
Review (contains spoilers)
I thoroughly enjoyed this work.
I got the feeling that the other elements were intentionally made lighter precisely because the main mystery aspect of this work is so rigorous and rigid.
The anime references that the detective, Urazome Tenma, frequently makes give the impression that he's not a die-hard anime otaku, but rather a "genius who's temporarily obsessed with anime."
I'm guessing they added these approachable attributes to make it appealing to readers beyond just hardcore mystery fans.
You have to turn the page a few times before Tenma appears and presents his initial deduction, which proves Sagawa-senpai's innocence.
However, I was absolutely astonished that they were able to uncover so much information just from the presence of a single umbrella.
The same applies to things like the storage location for the remote control in the broadcasting room.
The fact that they were able to deduce this much from seemingly insignificant details that don't appear to be directly related to the crime is truly astonishing; their deductive reasoning and observational skills are remarkable.
We suspected the vice-chairman was the culprit, but it turned out he was the mastermind behind it all.
When they named the culprit, I thought, "Hmm, I was wrong," but after reading the epilogue, I understood.
I've always had a hunch that characters like Irisu-senpai from "Hyouka" are either the mastermind or they know who the culprit is but choose to keep quiet about it.
Whether it was the chairman or the vice-chairman, neither had conclusive physical evidence, so their careful planning of the setting and the order in which they presented their deductions, and the way they created an atmosphere of cornering the other, all to elicit a confession, was truly impressive.
The confrontation with the mastermind in the epilogue felt like an unnecessary addition that didn't suit Tenma's character, but it was good because it gave the story a satisfying conclusion.
I think one reason he's being called the "Ellery Queen of the Heisei era" is that he hinted at the existence of a mastermind, which is one of the "later Queen problems."
My impression after finishing the book is that, although it's written in a light novel style, it was a fair and honest mystery puzzle.
The characters other than the detective are more like symbols in constructing the case, and the main story doesn't have much in the way of unnecessary, tangent sentences.
In this day and age, these kinds of full-fledged mystery novels are thoroughly scrutinized and criticized by everyone online.
If a fatal inconsistency is found, the overall quality of the work will be undermined.
However, I respect and support the spirit of the author who took on the challenge of writing a fair and straightforward mystery novel in such times.
The works I introduced are here.
Rakuten Market: 体育館の殺人（楽天ブックス）