The Decagon House Murders

By Yukito Ayatsuji

Summary:
Students from a university mystery club decide to visit an island which was the site of a grisly multiple murder the year before. Predictably, they get picked off one by one by an unseen murderer. Is there a madman on the loose? What connection is there to the earlier murders? The answer is a bombshell revelation which few readers will see coming.The Decagon House Murders is a milestone in the history of detective fiction. Published in 1987, it is credited with launching the shinhonkaku movement which restored Golden Age style plotting and fair-play clues to the Japanese mystery scene, which had been dominated by the social school of mystery for several decades. [from Pima County public library https://pima.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1791178091_the_decagon_house_murders]

Group Review:
Thumbs Up: 12
Thumbs Down: 3

Comments from those who liked it:

• One reader felt this was an improvement on Agatha Christie, maybe because more modern.
• Really liked diagrams in the book! This is a classic component of locked room mysteries and it was a terrific addition.
• Liked how precise it was, without a lot of exposition about characters and setting. It did what it proposed to do succinctly.
• Many readers commented on how the men ordered the women around all the time, and the women were always the ones preparing and serving the food. A few people mentioned this seemed very much in line with Japanese culture.
• Introduction was interesting and gave good context to the sub-genre of Japanese classical mysteries. It really framed the novel for a reader, who then knew what to expect in terms of style of writing and cultural perspective.
• Quite a few people mentioned liking the very technical and clever puzzle, and how the author respected the Goldren Age Mystery notion of “fair play” for the reader.
• Those who liked it were willing to suspend disbelief for it, which a number of people echoed being true for the Christie novel on which it was based. It was worth it because once you did this it was quite a fun read.
• Ending was a surprise for most readers–but not all!
• Yes, the writing was simplistic but group realized that may have been because of translation.
• Even those who guessed “who did it” didn’t guess the motive; but, once motive was disclosed it really upped the appreciation of how well it was done.
• Readers commented that the motive seemed very Asian–in the way that the group as a whole was help responsible for the [SPOILER ALERT] one death that started it all.

Comments from those who didn’t like it:

• There was no real heart in it.
• The introduction turned a number of people off..pedantic, dry,
• Not much personality of characters.
• Too much like And Then There Were None
• No real explanation of the initial murder
• The motive seemed a stretch