It was nice to meet you again, Kiyoshi Shimada! I met him once in The Decagon House Murders and reading this book’s blurb making me intrigued more about his character when he became an amateur sleuth trying to unfold a fiendish murder mystery involving one of his friend at the remote Mill House owned by the son of a prodigious visionary painter. As they do every year, a small group of acquaintances pay a visit to the castle-like Mill House, home to Kiichi Fujinuma who has lived his life behind a rubber mask after a disfiguring car accident. Reminiscing on what had happened a year ago at the house, this time too their visit was distrupted with another series of baffling murders.

As the plot was told alternatingly in between two settings of present-day crime and a year ago murder scene, I find the plot structure as neat and enthralling much to delve into. So descriptive and quite haunting esp to read its thoroughly plotted storyline (both settings were set in the course of one night)— on the backstories of each characters, their conflicts, alibis and motivations, the unknown mystery of the house as well the howdunnit plan that can be both ingenious and devious.

Locked-room mystery always excites me and I think that was the main reason why the storytelling still thrilled me even though I could make an easy guess on the whodunnit and his motive. Loving both Kiichi (he was mainly the narrator in both settings and I like his well-rounded character) and Shimada (he can be witty and too unexpected) as well the secondary characters which I find quite grippingly crafted.

The ending chapter really summed up the whole howdunnit perfectly, bit surreal and spooky too for me— still think the cut to pieces and burnt the corpse into the incinerator scene as gory much. Highly recommend for locked-room mystery fans, also I think to read The Decagon House Murders before this book would help you more in observing Shimada’s dynamic and the history of Seiji Nakamura who built these unique and mysterious houses.

Thank you Pansing Distribution for sending me a copy to review!