[DeepL Translation - needs review] Seiichi Makabe, known as Japan's Dixon Carr, is a master of mystery novels who has published as many as 45 locked room tricks. Invited to his vacation home in Kita-Karuizawa on Christmas Day, the guests witness the author's brutal death. Was he killed by his 46th trick? The first novel in the masterpiece "Himura Series," which forms the core of Arisugawa's works.
(Translator: DeepL)
I had high hopes for this book as the previous book I read by the author I adored, but this one didn't really deliver for me. It's a slower burn and the build up to the reveal was enjoyable (if a bit drawn out) but the reveal itself didn't really satisfy me and I felt a bit underwhelmed by how the ending compared to the theories I'd cooked up in my own head.
This has a decent stretch of vocab, some older kanji usage, and a bit of Kansai dialect, but nothing too intense on any of those fronts. The writing itself is not particularly flowery.