MANSION W/7BD, 6B, 4CORPSES, & VIEW: The Mill House Murders

We are only a couple weeks shy of the seventh anniversary of the first time I posted about shin honkaku on this site. Since then, those of us who are extremely grateful for the Japanese obsession with the Golden Age of Detection have reveled in one release after another of both classic honkaku novels from the likes of Soji … Continue reading MANSION W/7BD, 6B, 4CORPSES, & VIEW: The Mill House Murders

GHOSTS IN SHORTS: “The Sleeper of Coldwreath” by Tom Mead

Fellow GAD enthusiast Tom Mead has met with great success with Death and the Conjuror, his first novel to feature magician-detective Joseph Spector. It’s a loving and clever take on the classic locked room mystery, and it has garnered deservedly nice reviews for its strict adherence to the rules of classic detection and its multiplicity of … Continue reading GHOSTS IN SHORTS: “The Sleeper of Coldwreath” by Tom Mead

RE-BRANDING #5/BOOK REPORT #WHATEVAH: Death of Jezebel

For the second lovely time, my Book Club has chosen Christianna Brand, and the timing couldn’t be better. For one thing, Death of Jezebel (1948), her fifth mystery, happens to be next on my list for the glorious wallow that is the Re-Branding Project. For another, it happens to have been, for many a year, the most … Continue reading RE-BRANDING #5/BOOK REPORT #WHATEVAH: Death of Jezebel

読書クラブ DOES HONKAKU: Death on Gokumon Island

Westerners’ love for Japanese mysteries is gaining a lot of momentum, shown by the increasing release of new honkaku and shin honkaku titles. In terms of shin honkaku, I’m most excited to learn that The Mill House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji will be coming out next spring. The publication by Locked Room International of Ayatsuji’s The Decagon House Murders is what got me started on … Continue reading 読書クラブ DOES HONKAKU: Death on Gokumon Island

RE-BRANDING #4: The Housing Crisis – Suddenly at His Residence

Two years after crafting Green for Danger, a classic wartime puzzle, Christianna Brand wrote Suddenly at His Residence, (a.k.a. The Crooked Wreath, a.k.a. x 2 One of the Family, its U.S. serialized title), her only extended family mystery and her first impossible crime novel. Inspector Cockrill appears for his third case, which means that, for as many times in a row, … Continue reading RE-BRANDING #4: The Housing Crisis – Suddenly at His Residence