The Tokyo Zodiac Murders by Sōji Shimada

I don't even know if it's appropriate to call this book a novel, because it's a literary game. and a story just a convenient package for a riddle. 

It's hard to make a review of this book because it doesn't try to meet our expectations for a novel. It barely has any characters and a plot. Well, technically there are two amateur detectives who investigate the case and bunch of suspects and witnesses, but it's pretty obvious that the author didn't care to make them interesting and well-developed characters or make their investigation exciting. They are just chess pieces for one big and very intricate riddle. 

It's pretty hard to write a review of this book. A can say that characters are bland, and the pacing of the book is extremely slow, and the author gives us too much unnecessary information about the case, and some parts of the book are annoyingly misleading, but I understand it doesn't matter at all. If you want to read this book and enjoy it, you shouldn't expect Tana French's (for example) writing with a carefully depicted investigation, deeply written characters, and a well-built plot. The only important thing here is the case. 

So, here is a case. 

Heikichi Umezawa, a painter, was found dead in his studio and police found with him a really weird "last will" about his desire to kill his daughters and stepdaughters to create a perfect woman from their bodies. This essay is full of astrology bullshit, and Heikichi Umezawa even claims to be possessed. Okay, he is dead, it's over now, isn't it? Actually no. After his death, all these women were found dead and mutilated according to his plan. For the next forty years, everyone tries to solve this mystery, there are tons of theories from "these crimes were committed by Heikichi Umezawa's apprentice" to "aliens or intelligence agency did that". The actual investigation starts in the 1970s when a woman brings her father's last confession to Kiyoshi Mitarai, a full-time astrologist and a part-time detective, and his assistant Kazumi Ishioka. It happens to be related to this old cold case. 

The author gives us all the clues and even breaks the fourth wall to tell us about it. You should try to connect all the dotes by yourself and then compare it to Kiyoshi Mitarai's explanation. 

In reviews on Goodreads and our local Livelib Kiyoshi Mitarai and Kazumi Ishioka are usually compared with Sherlock and Watson, but "quirky detective and his down to earth assistant" is just a common trope in XX century detective stories, so I find this comparison a bit annoying. Overall The Tokyo Zodiac Murders gives a huge "classic detective" vibe, and I like it. Some of the bits of Kadzumi's own investigation were written beautifully. Kiyoshi's rant about Sherlock Holmes was cringy and funny in the same time because he was like "meh, all these western detectives suck, I'm better, astrology will help me to solve a mystery", but of course astrology didn't help him, and he solved the mystery in the same way that western detectives do. 

I really liked this first part with Heikichi Umezawa's "last will": it was wild. 

Virgin modern serial killers from modern thrillers: I will kill them because I hate them and I'm evil! 

Chad serial killer from 1930s: Here is 50 pages long essay where I justify killing my own daughters because of astrology. 

Unfortunately, for me crime seemed to be overcomplicated, the riddle was very interesting, but I found an answer a bit unsatisfying. 

3.5 out of 5 for me, but I think this book is hard to recommend to someone.