Thank you Netgalley & Pushkin Vertigo Publishing for an eARC ♥️

"The Noh Mask Murder Case" is like a puzzle box filled with eerie vibes, family secrets, and a dash of Japanese folklore. The story follows Akimitsu Takagi as he investigates some seriously weird stuff going down at the Chizurui mansion - think Hannya masks, mysterious deaths, and a whole lot of suspicion.

Takagi's got some serious sleuthing skills, and I loved watching him piece together the clues and unravel the tangled web of motives and alibis. But even I was surprised by the mind-blowing reveal at the end - like, whoa, didn't see that coming! Yeah, it's a locked-room mystery, but it feels fresh and twisty, with a unique setting and cast of characters that kept me engaged from start to finish.

And don't worry if you're not familiar with Japanese mystery novels - this one's got a universal vibe that'll appeal to any fan of the genre.Settle in, and get ready to have your mind blown by the sinister secrets of the Chizurui mansion!🔥

3.5

Not the most enthralling Japanese crime fiction I've read but it is certainly twisty with a lot of the most intricate ones happening right at the end, keeping you guessing at to what the final outcome will be until the final pages.

The Chizui family appears to be cursed by a Noh Mask held at the family home. Strange deaths and madness seem rife and when the head of the family is discovered dead in a locked room the mystery deepens. What follows is an attempt to unravel this and historical murders by a man employed at the Chizui mansion along with the author of the book, Akimitsu Takagi.

The book itself alludes to other classic locked room mysteries throughout but the solution is in a class of its own, taking the locked room mystery to the next level.

I never guess whodunit but I knocked off a star because I did in this case. I suppose this cones of having been addicted to Japanese crime fiction and locked room mysteries for far too long.

An enjoyable read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for the advance review copy.

In the illustrious Chizui family not everything is as it seems and when the current head of the family, Taijiro, ends of dead an apparent victim of a two hundred year old cursed Noh Mask Koichi a scientist working for the family becomes a reluctant detective determined to deliver justice. The more he digs though the more he realizes that maybe the Chizui's aren't worth saving.

The Noh Mask Murders was a simply tragic book, just when you think that there couldn't possibly be one more tragedy thrown at you one is, literally till the very last page. There's maybe three people in this whole book who aren't guilty of some seriously abhorrent, inhumane behavior, or aren't a victim of this incredibly twisted family.

In terms of the mystery itself it's incredibly well written and very reminiscent of other Japanese murder mysteries from this time period; locked room, uber complicated settings to surprisingly simple killings. What makes this one stand out it *how* it was written. The book starts out by flat telling us that we've never read a mystery like this and that boast is 100% true. And what makes that even better for me is all of the clues are there as we are reading the story, we just don't even think to look for them. Even as Prosecutor Ishikari is laying it all out at the end I simply could not believe how Akimitsu just snuck all these clues on right under my nose! Simply for the uniqueness and sheer genius of it this is a five star book. The fact that it's fast paced and keeps the suspense up the entire time solidifies those five stars!

Overall, highly recommend this for fans of locked room mysteries. It definitely keeps you on your toes with twists that you never see coming!

As always thanks to Pushkin Press and Netgalley for the eArc!

A Locked Room..
A classic Japanese locked room mystery from the author of ‘The Tattoo Murder’ and set amidst a grand mansion steeped in history. When odd and bizarre occurrences are reported at Chizurui Mansion, amateur crime writer Takagi is roped in to investigate - only to discover the head of the family dead in a locked room. There are but a handful of clues - one of which is a mask. A gripping, sometime gruesome and cleverly intricate mystery with a well placed cast and a tense narrative.

For long I've been fascinated by the mystery books of past masters from Japan and the extremely slow trickle of translated books available in English. The few that I've read sit very high in the writing quality and I read a fair bit of books. The late Akimitsu Takagi wrote prolifically in the 50's to 70's but there are very few in fact 2 or 3 books available in English including his debut novel The Tattoo Murder Case and Honeymoon to Nowhere, both of which I have read earlier.

My thanks to the publishers Pushkin press and NetGalley for this lovely ARC. I wait for the release of the book in June so as to pick a copy for my collection. This review is based on my reading of this novel and reflects my comments as I progressed in the story.

The story is a classic locked room mystery, several of which have come out of Japan over the last several decades. One of the things to keep in mind is that the story is from 1950, a good three quarters of a century before and the story paces in a way similar to the Agatha Christie books. Some parts does seem dated but when the time period is considered they do not matter.
The story starts slow as Takagi starts setting up the story and the characters. The details of the Noh mask and what it means is well explained. The mansion of the Chizurui family has a haunting presence with someone moving around with a mask on and Takagi adds more interest with him going in to investigate the story as himself. The family presence is the late owner's brother, and the children of both brothers. The stated mask is a family heirloom and has a sordid history and considered cursed. The new head of the family is the first to die and more murders follow.
Takagi gives time to the characters and also the era with Japan coming out of the grip of the devastating world war. The story is dark and enjoyable till the last page.

A mystery novel, where death is merely a mask for deep tragedy. Akimitsu Takagi is very ambitious in "The Noh Mask Murder": as he puts it in the introduction, in which a self-insert character receives the manuscript recounting the facts of the investigation, it's a book that's trying to be both a mystery and a psychological novel. Does it succeed? Well... not really, even if it's a decent mystery.

I'll start with the ending, since it's fresh in my mind: it feels like it's a bit much. There's too much happening in quick succession, and while the events are mostly justified, there isn't a lot of breathing space to really take in the tragedy. It's just one thing after another, and even with the hints scattered across the book that allow the mystery to work, the *tragedy* is hit and miss. The motivations work, the stories make sense, but if it you're not in a mood for he beats to hit properly, it feels almost rushed and exaggerated enough to turn almost into comedy.

I'm also not entirely convinced by the greatest clue leading up to the murderer's reveal. It feels almost too conveniently placed, as if appealing to the reader more than having internal logic for the character. (Or maybe he was trying to show off?)

I feel like in a different era, not in the 1950's, this could have been developed into a book that really achieved everything it set out to do; but I think genre conventions might have been too strong back then to really experiment. It's interesting to read, but ah! I feel like it's such a missed opportunity.

Last year I read The Devil’s Flute Murders by Seishi Yokomizo and thoroughly enjoyed that Japanese locked room murder mystery. As such, I was really excited to read The Noh Mask Murder by Akimitsu Takagi.

I found the translation by Jesse Kirkwood excellent and it was really accessible.

The Noh Mask Murder is set in the summer of 1946 post-war Japan in a coastal resort near Tokyo. There are references to life in post-war Japan, with demobbed servicemen returning to Japan, soldiers with PTSD not being understood, bombed houses, men who didn’t return form the war, etc, which really set the scene.

The Noh Mask Murder centres on the Chizuri family. Koichi Yanagi has returned from the war and is staying and working for the wealthy Chizuri Family. The head of the family, Taijirio Chizuri, is concerned that there are something strange is going on as someone wearing a Hannya mask is seen around the family mansion. Koichi approaches his old school friend, Akimitsu Takagi, an amateur murder mystery writer to ask him to carry out an investigation.

I’m a fan of the Hawthorne and Horowitz books and love how Antony Horowitz writes himself into the books playing a fictionalised version of himself. In this book Akimitsu Takagi is a fictionalised version of himself - he is an amateur murder mystery writer called upon to act as an amateur sleuth. Koichi becomes his sidekick.

Without wishing to give away any spoilers. This book is a fantastic read. It’s a great lock-room mystery. There are so many twists and turns - just when you think there aren’t any more twists - more come along! It is a rollercoaster read and I couldn’t put the book down. I hope that more Akimitsu Takagi books will be translated into English.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, Pushkin Press, for making this ARC available to me in exchange for a fair and honest review.

A gripping locked room murder with a family with a horrible history and a thrilling ending. Having read the Tattoo Murder I was intrigued but the Noh Mask Murder is just as thrilling. Fans of locked room murders will love this; a must read!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

3.75 stars

This was such an interesting read! Originally written after WWII, this translated Japanese locked room mystery is heavily, and lovingly, inspired by Agatha Christie and her contemporaries. Featuring a Watson, who fancies himself a Sherlock, this story is steeped with intentional references to great detective fiction of the era. It's so over the top at some points, I found it was more enjoyable to read it as a gentle ribbing of the genre - a less slapstick, more Japanese version of Clue.

Interspersed with the country house murder hijinks are some unexpectedly deep philosophical conversations about the lingering effects of war on returning soldiers, and on those who suffered on the home front. Tonally, it was a bit jarring, but I enjoyed those tangents quite a bit.

While this wasn't my favourite mystery - I think the author tried to hard to make something that had 'never been seen before', and some of the twists were a little silly - I enjoyed the look into post-war Japanese culture.

I received this arc for free on netgalley.

As complex as it may seem, maybe the solution is simple enough

As an outsider working for the wealthy family, Koichi Yamagi cannot help to wonder what really has happened to the family. The head of the family was claimed by heart attack and the mother was at the asylum. The daughter Hisako seemed to lost her mind and Kenkichi worked hard although many could see, he may not even make it to the university.

Love and money, the cause of many wars and clashes in the world. These two also caused the murders in the house of Chizui. Told in a series of correspondence to Akimitsu Takagi, the story was gripping and fast. The issues and personal struggles were presented early to ensure that we got into this and to be honest, the letters tugged my heart. I really sympathise with a lot of people in the book. Even the nihilist.

However, the beauty of the book for me was the simplicity of how the crime was committed using almost anything that can easily be obtained or purchased. Like the Noh and Kabuki shows (not that I've been to both), there were props and tricks that distracted us from getting to the bottom of the case. All it takes were some elementary chemical knowledge and other worldly knowledge, which to be fair, were not quantum physics. When they were about to solve the issue, they were dumbfounded about the lingering jasmine smell, which signalled the appearance of ghosts in Malay beliefs.

For example, one only need basic chemistry knowledge to reveal the mystery on how the late Professor Chizui died. Despite the fact that the renowned professor passed away due to heart attack, it was later discovered that someone left enough ether residue in a glass flash that led to the glass explosion, causing him to be burned badly. And a few days later, he died in a heart attack.

In addition to this, I love how pieces of puzzles acted as breadcrumbs that led to where the wealth of the family was. The Noh mask served as a huge distraction and I agree, it served its purpose up to a point. And then, it was just using simple but very important knowledge to discover what really happened.

It is hard to pick a favourite character but I like Sawako a little bit more. Maybe her being a hopeless romantic made me feel as if I'm closer to her.

I was trying so hard not to hate Rintaro from the start to end, not because I was trying to be nice but I was wondering if someone else was worth the hate that I was about to throw. But how vile can a person be that he can put up such unsavoury picture of his own family? I guess that comes with his STD but maybe, it was just him being him.

At the core of it all, I learnt that sometimes, we take the long and complicated way to solve a problem although the explanation was really simple. Sometimes we forgot that simplicity is key.

Anyways, anyone remember why doctors hold up the syringes before they gave us an injection?

3 ⭐

Okay so I don't even know how to start with this one...

First, the formatting is absolutely horrendous 😩 there's times I didn't know if things were being said or explained and parts where sentences suddenly stopped and continued in a new paragraph.
The POV was also confusing on some parts.

Sadly, the book was written in quite old style/language/writing which made it a bit difficult to read but this may just be because I'm not a native English speaker 😅

It did take 10-12% to actually get going which made it difficult for me to actually keep going but once it got going, the story/case itself was actually pretty good.

I did find it intriguing to figure out who the murderer was - mainly cause I over think and kept changing my mind of who it was even though it was made obvious before things had a massive twist 👀😂

I probably, in my honest opinion, wouldn't recommend it to people who read a lot of myatery/detective stories as it's probably slightly too obvious for them. However, I will recommend it to friends who don't read those genres a lot.

In 1946, Japan, when Koichi Yanagi returns after serving in the war, he has nowhere to go and so is offered a job with the Taijiro Chizui family and lives at their mansion estate. Akimitsu Takagi is residing at the Marine Hotel resort in town meets up with is old friend Koichi. Also meeting Koichi is the prosecutor, Hiroyaki Ishikari who was an old friend of his farther.
One night out, Koichi and Hiroyaki notice, in one of the mansion's windows, a demon face and screaming so go to investigate. It seems that there is a demon Noh Mask locked in a cabinet and when Taijiro hears of it appearing in the window he asks if Koichi knows of anyone who can help to find out what is happening. Koichi enlists his friend Akimitsu, who believes himself to be a detective. But it is too late when the head of the Chizui family is found dead in a locked room with the Noh Mask on the floor with him.
So begins a series of deaths in the family. Is it supernatural or a very cunning killer?
An interesting tale of love and revenge and how far some will go to achieve it.
Thank you NetGalley and Pushkin Vertigo Press for this e-galley of "The Noh Mask Murder".

And overall good book, though slow in the beginning despite the locked room mystery. Most of the characters don't become important to you until the very end when the secondary connections are established. I would totally read this while sitting on a bench in the park or by the beach when you aren't looking for a romance.

First off the cover is stunning!!

I loved this book and will look for more from this author!

The book, writing, character build just overall this book was fantastic! If all the books by this author are the same I will be auto buying the books !

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review

Akimitsu Takagi started writing in the late 40's and was a hugely popular crime writer in Japan, so it's great that Pushkin Press are releasing some of this classic crime writer's work. The Noh Mask Murder follows in the footsteps of the British Golden Age of crime writing giving the reader a locked room murder mystery to solve. The are plenty of twists and turns to challenge the reader, a cast of suspects, and a complex plot to engage with.

I would also suggest reading Takagi's The Tattoo Murder Mystery which is an absolute gem of Japanese crime writing.

An intriguing and gripping story, I loved the characters and can't wait to read more by this author.

This book was interesting especially if you already have a slight idea of the early after war period in japan. While the mystery itself was mediocre, there was a lot of commentary on war and its philosophies. The author himself was a young adult at war times and this book was released only 3 or 4 years after the end of WW2, so I consider this his personal way to act out his critique on war philosophies. Especially since he wrote himself in as a character in his own book. Next to the war aspect the structure of the book was interesting, though I must say slightly pretentious in my opinion. But I find old/classic mysteries to be pretentious most of the times, so if you enjoy the old classics I don't think you will have any problems.
For the actual mystery I guessed many connections somewhen on the way to the actual conclusion, tho there was a small plottwist at the end that I didn't see coming. I must say tho the first conclusion dragged on for too long since most of it I guessed it beforehand.
Since it partly has to do with family drama, which I have had an overabundance from with all of Seishi Yokomizo's translations in the last years, I might also have been slightly less intrigued. But it was a fast read and if you like Seishi Yokomizo I highly recommend.

Overall a 3.5/5 for me

The Noh Mask Murder is a very clever and entertaining Japanese "locked room" mystery by Akimitsu Takagi, who predated Anthony Horowitz by over 6 decades with the device of writing himself into his own novel.
Takagi casts himself as a bumbling,amateur, arrogant author and wannabe detective, I'm guessing he had great fun writing this.
Takagi is invited to investigate sightings of a sinister masked figure roaming the palatial home of the Chizurui's by the head of the family. Almost immediately the first murder occurs and as the bodies continue to pile up Takagi's investigations lead him,and friend Koichi Yamagi who has lived with the family after returning from the war, to unearth all kinds of unsavoury family secrets and who Takagi believes is the killer.

Takagi is a fan of,and acknowledges, several "golden age" crime writers and I'm sure that if his work had been translated back in the era they were written he'd be as famous and popular as the likes of Agatha Christie and Josephine Tey in this country. His plots are darker , more complex and very clever.
I'm a big fan already and hope there are more translations of his work to come.

I loved this book! Twist after twist. A British country house murder mystery but with a distinctly Japanese style and setting. Highly recommended

I loved this! I enjoy Japanese stories and I enjoy locked-room mysteries, so I was excited that NetGalley made this ARC available to me to read. It was such a great mystery, with family mysteries and people behaving badly. I was surprised when the mystery(ies) were finally revealed, but I had to admit that the writer played fair and gave me a lof of clues along the way. Thank you NetGalley.