April 13, 2025

Monkey's Paw Mysteries!

Two connected murder mystery stories, which feel like very classic style.

E.g. Alibi's, Locked rooms, lots of puzzle pieces which don't fit until the end.

The first story (one from the blurb), feels like it could have been longer, but had a lot of fun imagery/characters. Having a mystery centre around a self named princess who owns a cursed monkey's paw isn't a half bad set up.

The second, was even more classic style. An earthquake struck Osaka, and at the same time, a man died in a locked room, with any reasonable suspects having solid alibis.

There's a little Osaka-ben from a few characters, but nothing major.

Also, I believe the author's works are all in the same world, with mystery writer Alice and criminology professor Himura solving cases. You need no prior background (and I had none), but I suspect some of the background cops pop up across his novels and have a bit of a back story.

All very Sherlock vibes, but slightly more modern.

Gradings:9
2
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urikk2npg graded
on May 4, 2025
urikk2npg graded
on April 13, 2025
urikk2npg graded
on April 13, 2025
harder than三人屋L31
urikk2npg graded
on April 13, 2025
similar in difficulty to六番目の小夜子L31
urikk2npg graded
on April 13, 2025
similar in difficulty to店長がバカすぎてL31
urikk2npg graded
on April 13, 2025
easier than1R1分34秒L33
urikk2npg graded
on April 13, 2025
similar in difficulty to木洩れ日に泳ぐ魚L32
urikk2npg graded
on April 13, 2025
urikk2npg graded
on April 13, 2025
harder thanひとり日和L30