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georgakey's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
4.0
izzatiidrus's review
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
First published in 1978 as Japanese Golden Dozen, this is so far the best collection of short stories I have ever read, and I have read quite a few. Most of the short stories were 5 star reads for me, except a few which were a little too romantic or sexual, the typical elements that are not my cup of tea.
While I think Dannay, the one half of the pseudonym Ellery Queen did a swell job on his selection, there were some inaccuracies in his introduction. The biggest error was in referring to Seishi Yokomizo as Masahi and then Masashi Yokomizo. And through out my copy of the book, there were a lot of spelling errors and full stops being written as commas instead, which really took away from the stories for me. The most confusing was the sentence "I don't regret telling you Move you" which was supposed to be "I don't regret telling you I love you".
My 5 star reads are:
⭐The Cooperative Defendant by Seicho Matsumoto
⭐A Letter From the Dead by Tohru Miyoshi
❤️Devil of a Boy by Seiichi Morimura
❤️The Kindly Blackmailer by Kyotaro Nishimura
⭐Invitation From the Sea by Saho Sasazawa
⭐Write In, Rub Out by Takao Tsuchiya
❤️Perfectly Lovely Ladies by Yasutaka Tsutsui
With ❤️ being my top 3 favourites.
While I think Dannay, the one half of the pseudonym Ellery Queen did a swell job on his selection, there were some inaccuracies in his introduction. The biggest error was in referring to Seishi Yokomizo as Masahi and then Masashi Yokomizo. And through out my copy of the book, there were a lot of spelling errors and full stops being written as commas instead, which really took away from the stories for me. The most confusing was the sentence "I don't regret telling you Move you" which was supposed to be "I don't regret telling you I love you".
My 5 star reads are:
⭐The Cooperative Defendant by Seicho Matsumoto
⭐A Letter From the Dead by Tohru Miyoshi
❤️Devil of a Boy by Seiichi Morimura
❤️The Kindly Blackmailer by Kyotaro Nishimura
⭐Invitation From the Sea by Saho Sasazawa
⭐Write In, Rub Out by Takao Tsuchiya
❤️Perfectly Lovely Ladies by Yasutaka Tsutsui
With ❤️ being my top 3 favourites.
lou1sb's review against another edition
5.0
This collection is English but the goodreads title is in Japanese - huh?
vcods's review against another edition
3.0
Mostly fun, but many of the stories seem to rely on the 'unexpected' villainy of women or their 'sinful' natures.
melg's review against another edition
4.0
This was a fun read. Not all the stories are amazing, but a majority of them are quite good. Nice compilation, and certainly worth a read.
nabilah's review against another edition
4.0
I have to thank Ellery Queen for compiling this collection. Anyone new to Japanese detective fiction should check this out. It would be a perfect introduction.
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