In this Japanese cult classic (a loving nod to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None), the island of Tsunojima is the setting for strange, unsolved murders. So when a group of students from K-University Mystery Club go there for their annual trip, they think it will be great inspiration for the crime fiction magazine.

But when one of their member is murdered, the others realise that they are trapped on the island with no way to escape or call for help. And the murderer has made it clear to them that all of them won’t survive by the end of the trap.

At the same time, back on the main land, poison pen letters have been sent, accusing the receivers of the tragic death of a young woman who died of alcohol poisoning. But how is that connected to the terror that’s unfolding on the island?

I’m going to admit this: I did find this quite clinical, but I can’t tell if it was because of the writing, the translation or the audiobook narrator. But it took a while time for me to warm to the story and, even then, I felt like I was being kept at arm’s length. I was being told what was happening and I never felt a connection of what these characters are going on.

Because of this, this suffered a little from show and tell. I kept feeling as if I was being told these things were happening or the characters were feeling this way, but I was never shown. I was told these characters were scared, but I never felt I was shown, if that makes sense. Plus, the one or two occasions I was shown, I felt I was kept at a slight distance.

Maybe I felt this way because I keep comparing it to Agatha Christie and other Golden Crime novels (something this book does often) and, because this book was self-aware, I couldn’t let this stand up on its own two feet and, by the time it did (15 to 20% towards the end), most people would stop caring about the perils these characters are going through.

But the reveal and the solution were interesting and how everything was explain was clever. This makes me want to read the author’s other titles, The Mill House Murders and The Labyrinth House Murders (both are locked room mysteries). But I don’t think it’s a crime novel that will stick with me, sadly…

I could definitely see the Agatha Christie inspiration on this one. I loved And Then There Were None, and The Decagon House Murders certainly capture some of the great elements of that book.

A great little twist at the end and the translation of the book both made for an enjoyable experience!

"The Decagon House Murders" by Yukito Ayatsuji is a gripping and ingenious homage to classic locked-room mysteries. Set on an isolated island with a peculiar decagon-shaped house, the novel follows a group of university students who embark on a mystery game, only to find themselves entangled in a real-life series of murders that mirror the game's premise. Ayatsuji masterfully constructs a labyrinth of twists and turns, keeping readers guessing until the very end. The characters are intricately developed, each with their own secrets and motivations, adding layers of complexity to the plot. The novel pays homage to the works of Agatha Christie while introducing its own unique elements, making it a must-read for fans of the mystery genre. With its clever puzzles and suspenseful atmosphere, "The Decagon House Murders" stands out as a captivating and intellectually stimulating whodunit.

This is an isolated murder mystery with numerous twists
It was a very engaging novel and it was well written
A good read

"The Decagon House Murders" by Yukito Ayatsuji is a mind-bending, classic locked-room mystery that had me hooked from the first perplexing murder. Set on a remote island with a group of intriguing characters, it's a thrilling rollercoaster of twists and turns that kept me guessing until the very end. Ayatsuji's writing is masterful, and the puzzle he presents is both intricate and tantalizing. If you're a fan of mysteries that challenge your deductive skills, this book is a must-read. It's a brilliantly crafted and immersive whodunit that will leave you craving more of Ayatsuji's enigmatic storytelling.

The story follows a group of 7 university students who are part of the mystery club as they go on a trip to the Island of Tsunojima, notorious for a series of unsolved crimes. The plot is inspired by Agatha Christie's novel And Then There Were None (which I haven't read yet!).

This book belongs to the honkaku genre (puzzle mysteries), where the reader is encouraged to solve the mystery alongside the characters. I discovered this genre previously with The Tokyo Zodiac Murders by Soji Shimada which I loved, therefore I had I high hopes for The Decagon House Murders. I was not disappointed.

The book made me realized that I'm actually a bad detective, the person who I thought was going to die first, ended up being the killer. However, it was nice to play along and try to guess too. All of these elements make the book fast-paced, since you want to see how the story unfolds.

However, the epilogue kind of confused me, I feel like I have missed something.

I loved this!

So I love a whodunnit, and I love self-aware novels done well and this ticked both boxes!

The pacing and storytelling was excellent. The characters are all well defined and easy to follow despite the quite large cast and nicknames for all characters.

This book had my jaw literally drop and nervous laugh with surprise of some reveals.

A very annoying book to read on a busy holiday as I never had a chance to properly sink my teeth in like I otherwise would!

I DNF'd this at 19% I could not keep up with all the character names and I found the constant referencing to Agatha Christie annoying. It was far too self-aware for me and not in an entertaining way. Also did not like the stereotyping of certain characters and the way that their body type was used as a reason to isolate them from the group, it's lazy and old fashioned.

I really quite enjoyed this. A blend of classic and 'golden age' crime, but not quite full on noir in my opinion, this was a really good book and a nice twist on the usual templated crime novels. The characters were good and the story not too difficult to follow, though I did have to re-read a few passages that weren't entirely clear. All in all though, a satisfying read.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in return for my honest opinion.

I really enjoyed this japanese crime fiction, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys this specific genre or crime fiction in general

I really enjoyed this mystery novel. It was a mix of contemporary crime but paid homage to golden age crime fiction through the plot and the characters. The action was exciting and it gave me serious "And then there were none vibes" due to the location and the way the story was set up. I would read more by this author as this was the perfect crime novel. The only thing I think I would like to be different was the final few pages as the ending note had a tiny bit too much ambiguity for me.but that didn't affect my view of the ending too much.

This book is absolutely brilliant. The pace was excellent, and I could not help get completely lost in it. I loved how it constantly paid homage to other detective novels and authors, and there was a definite Agatha Christie feel throughout. It is incredibly cleverly written, and totally unique!

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers and the author for an ARC of this book!

OOH so I love detective fiction, and I was so excited to pick this up! A university mystery club investigating a murder on a lonely island? Sign me up! I enjoyed the nod to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None — one of my favourite detective fiction novels!!! — and I'm please to say I loved the structure of the novel. As another reader noted, it definitely feels like such a dialogue between the author and the reader. We get all these clues, and as the characters attempt to figure out the crime, we the readers are right along with them. If you're a fan of the boardgame Clue, or any Agatha Christie, I would recommend this!!!

A brilliant little crime novel that nods at Agatha Christie and other classic crime authors. Some twists in the tale lead to a compelling premise and a very satisfying climax. The author weaves a clever narrative, leaving the reader in their thrall. I absolutely devoured this book!

In my opinion, this book was a bit overcomplicated. It was like the author was trying to stuff too many plots and inspirations from novels by western authors such as Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie or Edgar Allen Poe into one story. Nonetheless, as entertainment, it was an engaging read.

Thankyou to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I was hooked on the synopsis. A group of students who are part of a mystery club decide to take their annual trip to an island, where the year before numerous murders happened. As the students start dying one by one they have to work out who is behind it, this book was good, i liked the characters and the plot and although i did not guess who did it when i thought about it it made perfect sense,

"The sea at night. A time of peace. The muffled sound of the waves welled up from the endless shadows, only to disappear again. He sat down on the cold concrete of the breakwater and faced the deep darkness, his body veiled by the white vapour of his breath. He had been suffering for months. He had been brooding for weeks. He had been thinking about just one thing for days..."

I know prologues are often hated but I loved that opening paragraph.

I struggled a little to balance the plots at first.
There's the alleged murder of a young woman in the mystery club, her parents and two servants were later murdered in a separate event which remains an open case. Now there are mystery club members at the site of the family murder who've received accusatory letters from the original murder victim's dead father blaming them for her death.
Did you follow that? Because that's just the opening set up to this story!

I have to say I wasn't particularly endeared to any of the mystery club members, all of them pompous literature students -going by literary nicknames- trying to one up eachother. They don't even seem to particularly like one another and are in constant competition as to whom is most intelligent, though their exchanges of Japanese myths were interesting.

I enjoyed the remote island setting of the book, it has only one building, one ruin and no means of communication or escape to the mainland- perfect for creating and maintaining tension.

The Decagon House Murders was first published in the 80s and I received an ARC of the 2021 publication translated from Japanese. Definitely a new direction for me, all my previous experience of Japanese fiction had been in the fantasy genre.

This novel is a twice over whodunnit with a brilliant ending, join the mystery club as they hypothesise over the means, motive and murdered in the case of their own deaths. Will you get it right? I certainly didn't.

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Pushkin Press in exchange for an honest review.

There are genuinely few things in the world which can compare with a truly well-written murder mystery to me. Every since I discovered Agatha Christie, I have constantly been looking for other authors which can match her tone and ingenuity. I do not say it lightly when I say that Ayatsuji is up there with the best.

This book starts so strong that it instantly got my attention. A group of college students are part of a club dedicated to mystery stories. Each one has taken the name of a mystery author (including my dear Agatha) and they have embarked on a trip to stay in the infamous Decagon house. This house was previously the site of an unsolved grisly murder, and the students are staying there as a chance to experience something from a real-life murder mystery. As can be predicted when a bunch of people go to stay in an unusual house on a remote island, it soon becomes clear that there might be an all-new murder mystery starring them.

This book does reference Agatha Christie and And Then There Were None a lot, but apart from the basic premise of a murder island there isn't much in common with the book. I really appreciated that as a lot of people lift from Christie without adding anything new, whereas this felt much more like a standalone work with some neat references. Tonewise though this very much felt like the classic mysteries I love, and it was so refreshing to find that from a different author. This book also created some serious tension. I was genuinely scared reading it at times and I never felt like I had worked it out, so it was this delicious combination of not wanting to stop reading to reach the solution whilst also being incredibly tense as I waited to see what would happen next.

Overall, there's not much else I can say about this book without giving stuff away, but if you're a fan of classic murder mysteries then this is one you have to check out. I was gutted to discover that this is the only one of Ayatsuji's mysteries translated so far, and I really hope the rest of them receive the same treatment. For a spooky, intriguing, murderous time, you can't go wrong here.

Overall Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for a review copy of this work in translation in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:
The lonely, rockbound island of Tsunojima is notorious as the site of a series of bloody unsolved murders. Some even say it's haunted. One thing's for sure: it's the perfect destination for the K-University Mystery Club's annual trip. But when the first club member turns up dead, the remaining amateur sleuths realise they will need all of their murder-mystery expertise to get off the island alive.
As the party are picked off one by one, the survivors grow desperate and paranoid, turning on each other. Will anyone be able to untangle the murderer's fiendish plan before it's too late?

Thoughts:
I really loved this!
It reads as an Agatha Christie- type murder mystery, with the added bonus that the victims are into crime fiction and murder mysteries, so they get right into solving the deaths, asking questions, and discussing theories, even though the killer might be among them.

This was just so clever and a really great take on the genre.
Originally written in the late 80s, this is Ayatsuji's first work translated into English - I hope there will be many more!

This was okay...it’s more or less “and then there were none”, but it more or less tells you that it is in the story. I found it to be really slow to get going, nothing really happens until about halfway through and it didn’t hold my interest much.

Maybe a lot of this was due to it being a translation though, the original may be more exciting. I just found it a bit boring - I didn’t expect the ending though, but by the end I have to admit that I didn’t really care. I was really looking forward to this as well as I’m a huge fan of Japanese writing as a general rule.

My thanks to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for the advance copy