This thread will cover the (dreaded) Prologue, and chapter 1. Since this is very much a trial run, I’ve lumped all 4 subsections (Prologue, chapters 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3) together.
The suggested pace is one sub-section a week, but this grouping should give people leeway and still keep comments relatively together
Everybody should feel free to post and ask questions–it’s what makes book clubs fun! But please do not post until you are familiar with Spoiler Courtesy!
Spoiler Courtesy
Please follow these rules to avoid inadvertent ネタバレ. If you’re unsure whether something should have a spoiler tag, err on the side of using one.
Any potential spoiler for the current week’s reading need only be covered by a spoiler tag. Predictions and conjecture made by somebody who has not read ahead still falls into this category.
Any potential spoilers for external sources need to be covered by a spoiler tag and include a label (outside of the spoiler tag) of what might be spoiled. These include but are not limited to: other book club picks, other books, games, movies, anime, etc. I recommend also tagging the severity of the spoiler (for example, I may still look at minor spoilers for something that I don’t intend to read soon).
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Proper Nouns
Name
Reading
Notes
法水麟太郎
のりみずりんたろう
The Detective
支倉 肝
はせくら かなめ
his side-kick; also, an regional prosecutor
熊城卓吉
くましろたくきち
the chief police investigator
降矢木旗太郎
ふりやぎはたたろう
the current master of 黒死館
降矢木 算哲
ふりやぎさんてつ
The former master of 黒死館
テレーズ・シニオレ
Thérèse Signoret
算哲’s wife
グレーテ・ダンネベルグ
Grete Danneberg
First Violin
ガリバルダ・セレナ
Garibalda Serena
Second Violin
オリガ・クリヴォフ
Olga Krivov
Viola Player
オットカール・レヴェズ
Otto Karl Leverz
Cellist
降矢木伝次郎
ふりやぎでんじろう
降矢木算哲 's little brother
神鳥みさほ
かんどりみさほ
伝次郎’s mistress
筆子
ふでこ
算哲’s cousin
嵐大十郎
あらしだいじゅうろう
筆子’s lover
津多子
つたこ
算哲’s niece
岩間富枝
いわまとみえ
算哲’s mistress, and 旗太郎’s mother
Participation
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Right after the St Alexei Case, 法水 is once again called upon to solve a new mystery : There has been a murder at 黒死館. 黒死館 is the family home of the 降矢木 family.
黒死館 is in itself a strange mansion, built in the manner of middle ages european castles, though decorated and worked upon by japanese art masters, and is surrounded by an aura of mystery and dread ever since previous strange deaths have been linked to it. It is at this point the home of 降矢木旗太郎, and the four members of a string quartet who have been adopted by 旗太郎 's father, 算哲.
While japanese, the 降矢木 family has historical ties to Europe. It is said that his founder was the natural child of 千々石星座右衛門直員 and the Italian Grand Duchess Bianca Capello. Bianca Capello was implicated in poison murder cases, and was part of a tradition of murderous upperclass women in Italy such as Catherine of Medici and Lucretia Borgia. As such, it seems the 降矢木 family may have a predilection for the macabre.
In modern times, the previous master of 黒死館, 降矢木算哲, previously known as 降矢木 鯉吉, was a doctor; he studied in Germany, and was then sent to England, though he was later dishonorably sent back to his german university for associating with black magic circles. 降矢木算哲/鯉吉 received some magical artefact ( a sorcery tome, a chaldean pentagram, a hand-of-glory) from his former associates.
While in Europe, 降矢木算哲 married Thérèse Signoret, and had his home, 黒死館, built to resemble her home in France. However, during the trip back to Japan, Thérèse fell ill and died. 算哲 himself never lived afterwards in 黒死館, but several murders or suspicious deaths befell the inhabitants and their acquaintances over the year; all the inhabitants were more or less closely related to 算哲. He himself went back to Japan, and wrote about pharmacology and poisoning; he also entered into a controversy regarding phrenology and hereditary predisposition for murder, though this controversy suddenly ended by itself. Finally, a few month before the beginning of the case, just has he had revceived a life-like automat of Thérèse, 算哲 killed himself.
I started reading today! Barely on page 2 and I’m already looking up so much. I took some notes too, like Showa 8 = 1933, Meiji 18 = 1887 and the like. Will check the reference thread too, thanks for the detailed work!
(The link to the reference thread doesn’t work btw)
Thank you for this prologue write-up, by the way; it’s much appreciated. I started the book today, and while the prologue’s not too bad, I definitely appreciate having something to check my understanding against.
Finished with the prologue today; definitely appreciate the write up too. Much more concise and easier to remember that way, haha. I’d missed that the marionette was made in Therese’s likeness in checking back, I do agree that it’s strongly implied.
Not sure how useful it’s going to be, but I wrote up a timeline.
This is published 1935, so presumably the story plays shortly before that. It fits with the other events. Do we have an exact year mentioned somewhere?
Timeline
1870: Furuyagi family goes to Tokyo. Koikichi (Santetsu) overseas.
1885: Santetsu builds (commisions) the manor.
1886: Santetsu and wife Therese voyage to Japan, Therese dies.
1888: discourse over hereditary criminology
1890: Santetsu remodels inside of manor. Younger brother Denjirou begins to live there.
1996: first strange death. Denjirou’s lover Misaho kills first him then herself.
1901: article in evangelist about quartett
1902: 2nd strange death. Santetsu’s cousin Fudeko’s lover Taijuurou kills first her then himself. 3 year old Tsutako is Master of the manor for a short while
1915: Santetsu’s mistress Iwama Tomie is pregnant with Hatatarou
(presumably 1933): roughly 10 months ago from story start, 3rd strange death. Santetsu’s suicide with marionette. Hatatarou is 17.
January 28 (presumably 1934): Inspector Hazekura visits on Norimizu about Grete Danneberg’s death by poison
Edit: forgot to post this before. There’s another picture from the original publication in the prologue, shortly before the end. It doesn’t show any spoilers.
I also started reading yesterday, but did not get very far yet; after the first shock I found it much more accessible than I had feared, but otoh I’m not diving deep on every detail (e.g. I simply guessed that the two persons mentioned must be painters; I admittedly don’t care too much about them in the context of this novel )
You can always calculate it yourself, starting from the first year which you can find e.g. on simple pages like Japanese History or on very detailed pages like Japanese era name - Wikipedia if you want to know more (it’s enough to open the “Early modern” and “Modern” sections in the box on the right). Meiji starts in 1868 which is Meiji 1 (no shit Sherlock ) and so to get Meiji 18 you need to add 17 years to 1868 which gives 1885
For me the trick is really knowing that the starting year is already year 1 (so this year has two names, it’s the last year from the previous period and also the first year of the new period) because otherwise you might be off by a year or so, just like Google
I’m looking forward to that! Even in the prologue and with all the info dumps in there, the dialogue was already a nice contrast. Hoping for a varied cast.
(I fixed the dates in the timeline. Order at least wasn’t affected by my miss )
黒死館殺人事件 
I took some notes too, like Showa 8 = 1933, Meiji 18 = 1887 and the like. Will check the reference thread too, thanks for the detailed work!
! It’s fixed.
(it’s enough to open the “Early modern” and “Modern” sections in the box on the right). Meiji starts in 1868 which is Meiji 1 (no shit Sherlock 
) and so to get Meiji 18 you need to add 17 years to 1868 which gives 1885 
