🕵️‍♀️ 推理小説読書会 📚 Mystery Novel Book Club 👮‍♂️ NOW VOTING!

I’m always going to vote for any book about books or reading, so 私が大好きな小説家を殺すまで it is! :grin: Tbh if it doesn’t win I may just buy it anyway…

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You might enjoy この本を盗む者は | L36 or 本を守ろうとする猫の話 | L31 - I thought both were a lot of fun and are books about books :smiley:

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Ooh thank you for the recommendations! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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Looks like I won’t be reading with the club this time either, since I already read 告白. I’ll be watching your discussions with interest though :popcorn: Have fun!

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Yes, I’m excited to read it! :smiley: I remember reading your commentary on it (sans spoilers) when you read it and it sounded quite interesting. I’ll make a home thread for it shortly, I was a bit wiped out last night after traveling so forgot to do it then :sweat_smile:

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Home thread for 告白 is open!

Also 3 books were cut :hocho: in this round, グラスホッパー, 柔らかな頬, and 黒牢城. They can of course be renominated after 2 cycles have passed. While I am sad to see them go, I look forward to seeing what nominations take their place :slight_smile:

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I’m surprised 黒牢城 got cut, seemed like it was getting hyped up :o

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Probably the difficulty and the price (maybe I’m thinking of the wrong book but isn’t it still pricey?).

I personally voted only for books I already own as my backlog is pretty big :sweat_smile:

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Picked up a copy couple days ago, so would have voted for that next time :face_with_peeking_eye: but it’s long. :face_holding_back_tears: anytime a book is split into multiple parts it makes me hesitate :see_no_evil:

Will be back home when the club starts. Looking forward to this round. But then I always do and get disappointed. :face_holding_back_tears:

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Book: https://learnnatively.com/book/e26091ccc4/
Is there an ebook available?: yes

Summary - Japanese

左腕に黒蜥蜴の刺青をした美貌の黒衣婦人。社交界の花形にして暗黒街の女王は、大阪の富豪岩瀬家の秘宝「エジプトの星」とその愛娘を狙って、大胆にも明智小五郎に挑戦状を叩きつけてきた! 三島由紀夫の脚色による映画・演劇によって、さらにその名を天下に知らしめた、妖しい女賊と名探偵との宿命的な恋を描く長編推理。

Summary - English

A beautiful lady in black with a tattoo of a black lizard on her left arm. The socialite and queen of the underworld boldly challenges Kogoro Akechi for the “Star of Egypt,” a hidden treasure of the wealthy Iwase family in Osaka, and their beloved daughter! This full-length mystery depicts the fatal love affair between a mysterious female bandit and a famous detective, whose fame was further made known to the world through films and plays adapted by Yukio Mishima.

Content warnings if known

None I know of, although the author can straddle the line between mystery and horror at times. That being said, this doesn’t look like one of his more gruesome works.

Why are you nominating this book: 江戸川乱歩’s writing style is a joy to read. So far he is my favourite Japanese author and the main reason I’m into mystery novels right now. I’d love to read one of his works with the club

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love 乱歩 :heart_eyes: I read 怪人二十面相 as one of my first Japanese books and I was amazed that somehow a book an author wrote in a completely different language and culture could feel nostalgic

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I know what you mean. It probably helps that it’s a classic of the genre that gets referenced a lot, but still.

And I just love his writing style, it’s so distinct. After 怪人二十面相 I just had to read more of his stories. Out of curiosity I checked my library, turns out I ended up reading 6 of his stories in under 2 weeks. I think it’s save to say that I’m a fan. 乱歩 gets me more emotionally engaged within a few pages than a lot of authors manage with full-length novels. Looking at you 人間椅子. God, the sheer relief I felt at the end…

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I was chatting with ChatGPT and it gave me recs for mystery books N3 or lower and I don’t think I have heard of any of them. :thinking: But apparently “The books have been popular with Japanese language learners, and have received positive reviews from readers who are studying Japanese at the N3 level or lower.” :eyes: 探偵倶楽部 and トリック sound particularly interesting to me, personally.

  1. 「探偵倶楽部」(Tantei Kurabu) by Kyotaro Nishimura - A collection of short stories featuring a detective club that solves various mysteries.

  2. 「名探偵の掟」(Meitantei no Okite) by Keigo Higashino - A novel about a detective who gets involved in a murder case and must solve it before the killer strikes again.

  3. 「猟奇的な彼女」(Ryōkiteki na Kanojo) by Shuichi Yoshida - A thriller about a group of friends who become entangled in a mysterious disappearance.

  4. 「百合と薔薇」(Yuri to Bara) by Fuminori Nakamura - A suspenseful novel about a man who becomes involved in a dangerous plot to steal a valuable diamond.

  5. 「トリック」(Trick) by Mitsuharu Yanamoto - A series of short stories about a magician who uses his skills to help the police solve crimes.

I dunno how reliable that list is… For instance,トリック sounds like the j-drama (there is a novel, but not by Mitsuharu Yanamoto) and 猟奇的な彼女 appears to actually be a Korean romantic comedy.

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ChatGPT is a certified liar. I’ve tested it before and it happily makes things up. I once asked it to give me a list of 横山秀雄’s best works and it gave me stuff by 東野圭吾 and コンビニ人間 :upside_down_face:
Other similar tests are the same. I won’t take it’s “recommendations” for books. I’ll stick to humans.

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As 告白 is wrapping up week after next we’ll be doing our usual pattern of taking a week break, then voting for 1 week, then giving 2 weeks for people to obtain books should they want physical copies.

:calendar: What that means in terms of dates:

June 26th: Voting opens

July 2nd: Voting closes (coincidentally, this is also the date of the JLPT)

July 17th: First week for the chosen book

:pray: I’ll need a volunteer to open the first week’s thread for me as I’ll be traveling that week. If anyone wants to volunteer now I’m happy to have you, but I understand if people would prefer to see if a book they like gets voted in first.

:arrow_right: Nominations can be found here and removed nominations as well as the nomination template can be found in the top post. We stop accepting nominations at 20, so we have 4 remaining spots.

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Editing to split into two posts!

If I may, I’d like to make two nominations :slight_smile:

Book: medium 霊媒探偵城塚翡翠 | L33 (learnnatively.com)
Is there an ebook available?: yes!

Summary - Japanese

死者が視える霊媒・城塚翡翠と、推理作家・香月史郎。心霊と論理を組み合わせ真実を導き出す二人は、世間を騒がす連続死体遺棄事件に立ち向かう。証拠を残さない連続殺人鬼に辿り着けるのはもはや翡翠の持つ超常の力だけ。だがその魔手は彼女へと迫り――。ミステリランキング5冠、最驚かつ最叫の傑作!

Summary - English

Hisui Shirozuka, a medium who can see the dead, and Shiro Kazuki, a detective writer. Combining spirits and logic to derive the truth, the two confront a series of corpse abandonment incidents that have caused a stir in the world. Only Hisui’s supernatural power can reach the serial killer who leaves no evidence.

Content warnings if known

Unknown

It got a great review on a blog I read:

Mystery Writer and Medium Detective Duo (medium) (jtalkonline.com)

I am pretty sure Ho-ling also reviewed it on his blog pretty enthusiastically! Personally I do enjoy Japanese mystery short story collections as they are very satisfying to work through.

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Could you split these into 2 posts? :sweat_smile: Reason is that we link to the nominations for people to read and 2 in one post would be confusing.

edit: also Medium does have an ebook available

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Thanks for picking this up! Corrected, and I have edited so that it’s just Medium in the original post, will add the second nomination below :slight_smile:

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Book: 眠りの森 | L30?? (learnnatively.com)
Is there an ebook available?: No

Summary - Japanese

青年刑事が追う踊り子の美しくも哀しい秘事華麗な舞を舞うバレエ団のプリマが
正当防衛とはいえ、レッスン場に忍び込んだ男を殺害してしまった。
捜査に当った青年刑事は次第にあるバレリーナに魅かれていく。
加賀恭一郎シリーズ.

Summary - English

A beautiful but sad secret about a dancer pursued by a young detective A ballet prima performing a brilliant dance
Even though it was self-defense, I killed a man who sneaked into the lesson hall.
A young detective who investigates gradually becomes attracted to a certain ballerina.
Kyoichiro Kaga Series

Content warnings if known

Unknown, but Keigo Higashino doesn’t tend to go heavy

Why are you nominating this book: Keigo Higashino tends to write pacy thriller/mystery books that are pretty comfortable to read; there are always plenty of twists to keep you going and the vocab and grammar tends not to be too difficult. Although this is the second in the series, I have read on different blogs that for this series it doesn’t really matter, each book is a standalone. I also love ballet and books about the theatre world!

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