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shihangh 's review for:
The Noh Mask Murder
by Akimitsu Takagi
The second of Takagi's works to be translated, this novel is a puzzle-like, well-plotted attempt from an obvious lover of the detective fiction genre. The crime itself is more interesting than the previous book - The Tattoo Murder.
Written in the form of a series of letters and journals from his childhood friend Koichi and the prosecutor Ishikari, the novel tells the story of the Chizui family, an upper class family of some standing headed in the past by a Professor of radiology of some distinction. The family is divided into the main family of the Professor, including Kayoko the wife, the daughter Hisako, and the son Kenkichi, and the sub-branch including Taijiro, the Professor's brother, his two sons Rintaro and Yojiro, his mother Sonoe and his daughter Sawako. The brother's branch of the family conspire to kill the Professor in hopes of inheriting his fortune, and does so by injecting air into his blood stream, leading to a fatal heart attack. Meanwhile, Rintaro rapes Hisako and infects her with syphilis, leading to her deteriorating mental condition.
Having figured out the murder of the Professor and in love with Hisako, Koichi plots to bring the perpetrators of the crimes to justice. With Kenkichi as his accomplice, he kills Taijiro and stages a locked room using an aparatus involving a balloon. He then in turn kills Yojiro and Sonoe, intending to frame Rintaro for his crime. He eventually succeeds and Rintaro commits suicide by ingesting cyanide (which turned out to be the work of the prosecutor Ishikari).
It is an emotional plot which contrasts well with the officious and straightforward tone of the narrators. Akagi the crime novelist imagined as detective is also written as a pedantic, somewhat arrogant character, although he is shown to have solved the crime in the end.
Takagi tries to play with the classic forms of the detective novel, and part of the conceit is that unlike the Murder of Roger Akroyd where the narrator is the murderer, here he tries to write a novel where the narrator, the detective and the murderer are the same person. The murderer Koichi also never lies in his journals, and part of the solution involves thinking about what omissions are made from his narrative.
For readers who are not as interested in detective fiction, this book can be a bit workmanlike. Indeed, the motivation of the crime is relatively less interesting - revenge in a country manor. However, I thought the planning and execution of the crime was a bit better than average and made for a satisfying conclusion.
Written in the form of a series of letters and journals from his childhood friend Koichi and the prosecutor Ishikari, the novel tells the story of the Chizui family, an upper class family of some standing headed in the past by a Professor of radiology of some distinction. The family is divided into the main family of the Professor, including Kayoko the wife, the daughter Hisako, and the son Kenkichi, and the sub-branch including Taijiro, the Professor's brother, his two sons Rintaro and Yojiro, his mother Sonoe and his daughter Sawako. The brother's branch of the family conspire to kill the Professor in hopes of inheriting his fortune, and does so by injecting air into his blood stream, leading to a fatal heart attack. Meanwhile, Rintaro rapes Hisako and infects her with syphilis, leading to her deteriorating mental condition.
Having figured out the murder of the Professor and in love with Hisako, Koichi plots to bring the perpetrators of the crimes to justice. With Kenkichi as his accomplice, he kills Taijiro and stages a locked room using an aparatus involving a balloon. He then in turn kills Yojiro and Sonoe, intending to frame Rintaro for his crime. He eventually succeeds and Rintaro commits suicide by ingesting cyanide (which turned out to be the work of the prosecutor Ishikari).
It is an emotional plot which contrasts well with the officious and straightforward tone of the narrators. Akagi the crime novelist imagined as detective is also written as a pedantic, somewhat arrogant character, although he is shown to have solved the crime in the end.
Takagi tries to play with the classic forms of the detective novel, and part of the conceit is that unlike the Murder of Roger Akroyd where the narrator is the murderer, here he tries to write a novel where the narrator, the detective and the murderer are the same person. The murderer Koichi also never lies in his journals, and part of the solution involves thinking about what omissions are made from his narrative.
For readers who are not as interested in detective fiction, this book can be a bit workmanlike. Indeed, the motivation of the crime is relatively less interesting - revenge in a country manor. However, I thought the planning and execution of the crime was a bit better than average and made for a satisfying conclusion.