Perhaps こもれび商店街のチェンジングワンダー 第1巻 | L24?? ?
I don’t really have any good suggestions bc I’m at the same place you are, but I recently started 奇譚ルーム | L24 which is kind of a mystery. Also 四つ子ぐらし 1 ひみつの姉妹生活、スタート! | L22 has a small amount of Kansai ben (one of the sisters speaks it), I’m guessing that’s not what you’re looking for.
Curious to know what 探偵部 is referring to?
The last story in 父と私の桜尾通り商店街 | L30 is set in and all about a 商店街
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My personal recommendation is 森崎書店の日々 | L32
It’s set in the Jimbocho bookshop district of Tokyo and it’s a very charming story! It’s a bit higher rated than the other suggestions here though so I don’t know if the level suits 
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This manga is about a boy who looks like a girl being turned into a girl ボクガール (series) | L22
It is pretty funny and meets your requirements, but contains an outrageous amount of fan service 
Haven’t really read it but got 狼少年は今日も嘘を重ねる (series) | L29 recommended to me. This is just about cross dressing though.
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Hi!
I’m looking for murder-mystery books that are maybe similar to 変な絵 (already finished 変な家 
)
also if someone has any info on 読むゾゾゾ I would appreciate it 
(I already checked bookmeter but was hoping for a bit of difficulty wise comments 
)
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Amazon has a quite lengthy sample read.
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Similar in what way? For us who haven’t read it, it would be helpful to know what you’re looking for in terms of elements you like in mysteries.
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I actually didnt notice that the sample is that long
thanks
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I’m gonna describe it and it’s gonna sound ridiculous, hopefully I’m not overexaggerating too much?
the main qualities I’m looking for is that its a mystery, instead of super random conclusions and out of wack physics there’s an actual “puzzle” to kind of “build your case on”, smooth story telling will be super appreciated but not a must
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So in essence you’re looking for a 本格派推理小説? This is a whole official category of mysteries, where the author plays fair, and gives all the clues so that the readers can solve the mystery themselves. Often there’s even a “challenge to the reader” before the solution is revealed, so that readers can try to work it out themselves before reading on. Is this what you’re after?
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Yukito Ayatsuji-he is said to be a Japanese pioneer in classical mystery writing. I cannot confirm as I so far only read his horror books. But even they are well thought through stories.
Edit: he even is co-founder of the 本格ミステリ作家クラブ. Among its members you will find more true mystery writers.
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We’ve read 十角館の殺人 | L34 (learnnatively.com) with the mystery club. I’d recommend it as far as honkaku mysteries go.
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knowing that its an actual genre would have saved me so much grief, thank you for enlightening me, I needed that 
that’s exactly what I’m after!
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I’ll check him out!
thank you 
I have a slightly off topic question, but is there something online where you can find names and descriptions for certain Japanese genres?
I’ve picked up a few genre names (mostly within manga/ anime) but it would be really helpful to know what is what so I can use it to ask for things specifically. 
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thats a good question and I would love to join in this discussion
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I happen to know about honkaku mysteries because of my interest in the mystery genre. I don’t know of any genre list as such, although I’d also like to know if there is a definitive one somewhere.
Mysteries are supposed to be divided into honkaku and social mysteries. The former focus on the puzzle, the latter focus on the social conditions where a crime took place. The former usually take place in closed rooms or secluded environments with a limited set of characters, the latter are set in a wider world with more variables at play, more social commentary than logical puzzle. Of course there’s also all sorts of mysteries that don’t fall neatly into either of these categories.
Outside of mysteries, Japanese literature seems to more or less use the same genres as we do. There’s horror, romance, historical fiction, etc etc. Of course there’s also purely Japanese subgenres like isekai and iyashikei. I’m sure there’s many more.
I know that “literary fiction”, fiction outside of genre and generally regarded as of higher value, is generally called 純文学.
And I’m afraid that’s the extent of my knowledge on genres
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Except as we’ve found, Japanese horror and western horror don’t always look at the same criteria
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Huh, I can accept some fan service but that sounds like more than I can handle. I have seen that title and cover before, though.
Edit: Oh, I just saw @Athakaspen’s review and I will indeed avoid this one
I didn’t recognize the title (nor the cover, to be honest) but that series is already in my TBR… maybe I should bump it up a notch.
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