A really interesting murder mystery, I was hooked from the start Honestly felt chills at some points.!

The Noh Mask Murder is, on the surface, just another Japanese locked room mystery. However, with added complexity through the exploration of the Noh tradition throught Japanese history and culture, I did feel like I was being educated as well as entertained.

This novel was clever, playing on many classic tropes of the genre but then turning them on their head. I was shaken by the conclusion, though there were multiple believable culprits, somehow the novel still managed to surprise me with its resolution. This book seemed to be ridiculing the locked room mystery genre whilst exploring important themes of family and betrayal. One of my favorites that I've come across!

A fun framing device of the author as a clumsy amateur sleuth, and a puzzle that really absorbed me. Set in a time and place...midcentury Japan...that's just foreign enough to make the attitudes and beliefs necessary for the plot to work credible.

I suppose that's a roundabout way to say "this story is of its time." I think that's okay...you should know that the conventions of that day aren't always polite to twenty-first century ears.

The locked-room aspects of the plot are the bits that get the praise. I'm always glad to read these because I don't expect to solve them. I didn't this time either. The resolution felt of a piece with the story, not pulled out of the parts bin and welded onto the frame built whether it fits or not. That made it satisfying to me, despite the reveal eliciting from me, "...really...?" when I first read it. Remember what I said about of its time. There's no way it would work in 2020s Japan.

So read it as an historical novel, a gothic-inflected piece of a past very much passed, and you're very likely to enjoy this trip into eighty-years-gone Japan.

Award-winning in its time, The Noh Mask Murder launched the career of an author synonymous with Japanese crime writing. It's clear from the translation that translator Jesse Kirkwood had a book to work with that was very well-crafted, and a job translating it that was enjoyable. There's that unexplainable sense of freshness that hangs over work that someone liked doing.

Four well-earned stars.

Not what I had anticipated, and I did struggle with it a little bit. A clever self-insert, however, and quite a tricky locked room mystery to figure out. As it's a re-print from it's original publication in 1950, the character tropes are quite dated, in that the women are either delicately lovesick, or locked in an insane asylum, leaving only the men 'capable' of figuring things out. But you can't place modern sensibilities on a book written over 75 years ago, so barring that, overall the story was clever and well done.

Recommended for those who enjoy locked room mysteries in the style of Agatha Christie, with old fashioned detective work - no mobile phones or computers in this!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy in exchange for honest feedback. This book slaps. Recommend for fans of Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes, and other classic mysteries.

If you're fan of locked room murder mysteries then this will be right up your street.

The more I got into this, the more it reminded me of Agatha Christie. We know our characters and backgrounds relevant to the family / case but nothing unnecessary is added (save a few red herrings obviously).

I found this an easy read and the more you read, the more you wanted to find out what happened.

Highly recommend and I'll definitely be checking out more by Akimitsu Takagi in the future.

Akimitsu Takagi’s The Noh Mask Murder is a brilliant piece of classic Japanese detective fiction that offers more than just a thrilling whodunit. What sets it apart is its ability to evoke a deep sense of unease as the reader is drawn into the sinister beauty of Noh theater, with its haunting masks and archaic rituals. Takagi uses the Noh mask as a symbol of hidden identities and facades, both literally and figuratively, which works beautifully in a mystery centered around deception and long-standing grudges.

If you appreciate detective stories that are more cerebral, rich in cultural detail, and laden with atmosphere, this book is an absolute must-read. Detective Kindaichi is one of those unforgettable characters with his methodical approach to unraveling complex cases, reminiscent of Hercule Poirot or Sherlock Holmes. However, the distinctly Japanese setting and themes of ancient tradition make it uniquely engaging for those interested in Japan’s post-war history and cultural heritage.

Takagi's writing transports the reader into a world where masks are not just part of theater but serve as metaphors for the personas people wear. His depiction of Japan’s post-war uncertainty, combined with the personal grudges festering within a wealthy family, keeps readers on edge throughout the novel. The eerie use of Noh masks will leave you with an unsettling feeling, as the line between the past and present, theater and reality, seems to blur.

A fun and classic locker room mystery! I enjoyed the plot and it was paced well. I like that these old detective books usually reference the genre and feel very meta. It makes them really fun to read and they do feel like a little puzzle.
I didn’t like the portrayal of women in this one, but I am still glad I read this and it had a very satisfying ending.
Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC!

This is my first experience with classic Japanese mystery investigation book from Akimitsu Takagi Sensei. And I am so excite.

Since falling in love with Keigo Higashino's books I am start searching more into the genre from similar taste. The Noh Mask Murder cover is displaying classic vintage element into the design. It give me chills and goosebumps without any display of gore illustration. Such a strong design.

The story is written around 1950's so the early vibes was almost like Agatha Christie books. It is start with slower pace and take time to introduce the characters, atmosphere of the setting detailed case work and some mysteries surrounding the suspects. I always found that conversation from Asian literature translation is kinda lack emotions, but maybe it is just my things.

The plot itself following the investigation of traditional a locked room murder trope with family megadrama. The unique about this book is how the author inserted himself as supporting character. And the most funny is it is not even a competence character. I found it as refreshing experience and I absolutely will searching more reads from this author.

Thank you Netgalley and Pushkin Vertigo from Pushkin Press for providing copy of this ebook. I have voluntarily read and reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Expecting release date : 4 Juni 2024

Wanted to like this book. Stop and started so many times. On the 3rd try, I made myself finish. There's a good story here. It's the execution that didn't work with me. I'm okay with unlikable characters, but there's gotta be something there for me to invest myself into. It just wasn't there for this story.

THENOHMASKMURDER. #AKIMITSUTAKAGI. #NETGALLEY

Another classic Japanese locked room mystery from the fabulous Pushkin Vertigo series.
This has all the elements of a great murder mystery – spooky mansion, estranged family members, madness and multiple murders. It even provides a fascinating lecture on Noh Theatre. This series never fails to deliver.
My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own unbiased opinion.

Thank you to netgalley for the free ARC of this book! I will say, this book had me scratching my head right up to the reveal, it was a very clever locked room mystery that I really cannot begin to figure out how to describe without spoilers. Essentially, an old man is found dead beside a cursed Noh mask, and although it looks like he died from natural causes, the circumstances are just too coincidental for that to be the case. THEN, a few more members of his family die in a similar way. There's an insane person and a nihilist and you probably just need to read it to really get what's happening. Very satisfying read.

A locked room murder precedes several other murders as a detective, taught only by reading classic gold age mysteries attempts to solve the case. Originally written in 1950, the first English translation brings this story to life. It's a page turner and a stunning example of Japanese mysteries.

It's like the Japanese version of 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd', classic locked room mystery. I feel like it got distorted a bit in the author's excitement to prove themselves. It got a little boring in the middle, but the ending was great.

This is an outstandingly unique mystery drenched in culture and science. It was slow moving for a good portion of the story, but I was pleasantly surprised at how many plot twists were uncovered. If you’re interested in unexpected outcomes, deep rooted family secrets, and Japanese culture you’re going to want to pick this book up asap.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pushkin Vertigo for providing me an ARC copy of The Noh Mask Murder. All opinions stated are my own.

I was not expecting this story to have so much history and culture attached to it, but I found I loved it being the history nerd I was. What originally interested me was the Japanese setting and the striking cover art (yes I will admit it). Throughout the entire story I was pleased that both remained important factors in the plot and the setting. We were constantly reminded of the importance of different symbols and the history of everything from the infamous mask to the Chizurui family, and even some of the science used. As much as I loved the info dump, it felt like I was reading a textbook and had to remind myself that this was in fact a murder mystery. The end result was a lackluster read that was slow-paced till the very end and felt like walking through quicksand. I was infinitely not a fan of the letter-style writing, and immediately was put off. This of course is personal preference so just be warned if it is indeed a like or dislike for you.

I really did like the mystery aspect of the story. The murder is certainly completely unique and very intricate. I did get Sherlock Holmes vibes with the science added and the explanations, which is my eyes isn’t a bad thing, The family drama though? Absolutely wild, honestly I couldn’t believe what I was reading. To me it really livened the story up and gave it personality.

This was a decent read, I was definitely hung up on the dryness that seem to permit through the entire story. It made it hard to get through and fully enjoy the mastery of the plot. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️

3.5 stars

this was a very intresting read, if you enjoy Agatha Christie you'll likely enjoy this a lot.
For the most part, I didn't manage to put together all the clues until it was revealed and then I was like OHHH. I thought it was very well executed, unique and took me by surprise. I was just a little underwhelmed by the reasons for the why. I also loved how Akimitsu inserted himself into the story, I thought that was very clever. Its full of suspense, melodrama, and tragedy.

read this if you enjoy: mystery/thrillers, Agatha Christie, whodunits, translated fiction, murder mysteries, journal style story telling.

Thank you to Pushin Press, Netgalley, and Akimitsu Takagi for sharing a digital copy. As always. opinions are my own.

This was a truly classic lock room mystery and great for fans of classicssuchas Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
The ending was what made this book the true masterp piece was. I felt it had a slow beginning but im glad I preserved because that ending was worth it.

First published in Japan in 1949; published in translation by Pushkin Vertigo on June 4, 2024

Locked room mysteries are an abundant staple of Japanese crime fiction. The Noh Mask Murder is a classic example. Akimitsu Takagi published the novel shortly after World War II. A protagonist alludes to Japan’s collective shame, but the story is about murder rather than war or politics.

Akimitsu Takagi is the novel’s initial narrator. In 1946, he tells his old friend Koichi Yanagi about his idea of writing a detective story based on his firsthand account of solving an actual crime, making the novel a detective memoir. Koichi is staying at the mansion of Taijiro Chizui, whose father was a professor and also Koichi’s mentor. Taijiro’s father died of a heart attack ten years earlier. Unfortunately for the Chizui family, he may have hidden a family fortune before he died.

By chance, Koichi encounters another old friend outside Taijiro’s mansion. The friend is now a public prosecutor. They see a demon in one of the mansion’s windows and meet with Taijiro to investigate. They discover that the demon is actually a fearsome Noh mask that, according to legend, was cursed by a Noh actor.

Akimitsu gets his chance to investigate a crime when Koichi gives his name to Taijiro. Taijiro phones Koichi and tells him he has learned who is behind the mask. Akimitsu agrees to meet him immediately. Unfortunately, an “invisible killer” takes Taijiro’s life before Akimitsu can meet with him.

Taijiro died inside a locked bedroom from an apparent heart attack. The Noh mask was found on the floor. The body has been sprinkled with jasmine-scented perfume. Someone had ordered the delivery of three coffins in advance of Taijiro’s death. Before long, three coffins fall short of the family’s needs.

Akimitsu cannot solve the crimes, but the public prosecutor eventually sends him a journal — a detective memoir — that unravels the mystery. The journal was written by Koichi. After he provides a lesson in Noh theater and reviews the literature of locked room mysteries, Koichi introduces members of the Chizui family, including a madwoman who plays the piano and a monstrous man named Rintaro who scorns humanity. Only Sawako seems normal, but at 28, never permitted to love or marry, she is expected to be the lady of the house, little more than a glorified maid. Sawako’s dreams about the mask put her in fear for Koichi’s life.

One of the armchair detectives favors Sawako as the prime suspect. The other believes Rintaro to be the culprit, yet suspects abound. Several clues are found in a poem in the madwoman’s diary. A note written in shorthand provides another. An STD provides a clue that adds the possibility of incest to a dark plot. A key clue is in the phrase (repeated by two ill-fated characters) “eighty-eight in eighty-two” followed by the word Portia.

Koichi works out the locked room mystery, deduces how each victim was made to die from a heart attack, and discovers the killer’s identity while a third of the story remains to be told. The novel ends with a letter from the prosecutor, written after Koichi finished his journal, that adds a twist to Koichi’s account of the murder. A postscript to the letter adds a final surprising revelation that completes the story. As is common in Japanese mysteries, the plot is intricate and no plot threads are left dangling.

Greed or revenge are the likely motives for the murders, depending upon the killer’s identity. Takagi offers philosophical discussions about the difference between revenge and justice, illustrated with examples from feudal Japan, including the 47 Ronin. Takagi leaves it to the reader to decide whether revenge might justify the killings (or some of them) that fill the pages of The Noh Mask Murder.

Crime fiction fans don’t need to be locked room mystery fans to appreciate The Noh Mask Murder. The locked room is almost a sideshow. The story is akin to the traditional mystery in which all the suspects are assembled in a room while the detective talks through the clues and reveals the killer’s identity. Takagi provides enough suspects to keep the reader guessing as Koichi works his way through the possibilities. It is the ending, however, that gives the mystery its classic nature by forcing the reader to rethink an apparently sound solution to the killer’s identity.

RECOMMENDED

I was not aware, when I started reading it, that this novel was first published in Japan in 1949, or that this is a posthumous English translation, the first for this text; it’s important to keep this in mind, as it informs some of the narrative choices regarding characterization and mental health.

The conceit of the book is that the author, a self-proclaimed writer/detective, was personally involved in the investigation of a series of murders, essentially because they happened nearby to where he was staying after being demobilized post-WWII. However, the story is in fact narrated mostly through a journal kept by another character, a close acquaintance of both the would-be sleuth and the family at the center of the mystery.

As is often the case, the cover caught my eye and the blurb intrigued me, so I requested an ARC.

Beware: rape; misogyny; suicide; some ugly late 1940s stereotypes on women, mental health, etc.

This novel is a magnificent example of a fairplay mystery, where the reader knows everything necessary to solve the crime well before the climactic revelation of the truth; all the evidence and testimonies are there, and all that’s needed is to examine them without prejudice.

And therein is where the genius of the writing comes in: we are led by a master into thinking we know who did what, and when, and soon the last thorny question–how?–is answered for us. And just as we congratulate ourselves on our cleverness, everything we thought we knew is proven false.

My only complaint with the book is that the passion and melodrama motivating the characters is not evident in the text; given that this is a translation, I cannot be sure whether this lack of emotion is an artifact of the translation itself, or if the dry delivery of such deep feelings is present in the original.

The tenor of the writing is very much of the time; when there’s any detail regarding the character’s physicality, it’s entirely devoted to how their bearing and physiognomy reflect their personality and intentions, and very little-to-nothing about how they dress or stand or walk or sit.

Instead, there’s quite a bit of pontificating on one topic or another, from the differences and similarities between Noh and Kabuki, and the finer points of Noh masks, to the corrosive effects of power on morality, to the masters of detective stories and Shakespeare. Indeed, some of these dissertations can feel like nothing but filler as we read along, convinced that we know what matters, and it’s only in hindsight that we realize how masterfully we were being led down the garden path.

As a somewhat jaded reader, who over the course of five decades has surely read a few thousand mysteries, I confess myself in awe; and I deeply appreciate the sly homages to all the Western greats of detective stories.

The Noh Mask Murder gets a 9.50 out of 10

**3.5 stars**

Another good classic Japanese locked room mystery. I’m proud of myself for picking up on a few small details but glad I was surprised by the ending. Good quick read for fans of classic mysteries like Agatha Christie.

**thanks to the publisher for the e-arc I received via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.**