謎解きはディナーのあとで

Basic detective comedy

As a note, I only listened to the audiobook, I do not own the text.

The audiobook was at the upper edge of my current listening abilities. If I didn't focus it was easy to lose the thread of what was happening. However, when I did focus I could tell where it would fall compared to texts I've read so I feel comfortable grading it. To get by with this book you will need a decent (but not extensive) crime vocab and comfort with formal speech. The acting is a bit tropey. You'll understand when you hear the butler talking. Lots and lots of 左様でございます from him and なんですって！ from the お嬢様.

I'm not entirely sure why this book won an award. It's a pretty much a bog standard detective comedy. It reminds me a lot of 押井刑事 honestly. As such, I wonder if the TV show based on it is better (certainly true for the other book). I can't say I enjoyed it much, but I didn't dislike it enough to stop it midway. It was good training for my ear as so far I've been listening to easier books.

The tl;dr of the plot is that a rich girl is working as a detective with a boss who is horrible at deduction. Her butler, on the other hand, is excellent at it. She explains the cases to him and he solves them.

Edit: I recently had a Japanese acquaintance refer to this as a children's book, and reframing in it that light, it's probably a 4/5. For adult fiction it's honestly pretty bad, but for something aimed at middle schoolers it's appropriate.