The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji

The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji

Yukito Ayatsuji is famous for his mystery and Japanese detective fiction who takes inspiration from the classics, like Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He has also created several manga series, including the popular Another series. The Decagon House Murders was published in 2015, the first of his The Bizarre House Mysteries Series. It deals with death, mental illness, vomit, grief, murder, fire and injury, and alcohol.

Six months ago, there was an awful triple murder in which the killer himself died while burning his house down - and those numbers don't include the missing groundskeeper. When the opportunity to stay on the island where the murders occurred, but in a different house, members of the local University's mystery fiction club jump at the chance. They plan for a full week on the island, practically inaccessible to the outside world. When someone displays seven placards on a table for them to find in the morning: designating five victims, the detective, and the murderer, the students write it off as a joke at first. Surely, the first victim will be the victim of some innocent prank - like salt in their coffee instead of sugar. They don't have long to wait, the first victim is found dead in the morning. Can they figure out who is "the murderer" before all five victims have been killed? Is the murderer one of them? And why would they stop at only five victims instead of killing them all off?

Yukito Ayatsuji's third novel in the Bizarre House Mysteries series released in May of this year, which is what brought this novel to my attention. Unfortunately, I was unimpressed. I'm sure that some of what makes this book well loved is lost in translation, but the only thing I really liked about this book was the setting. I thought the Decagon house was interesting and well thought out. However, the characters were not easily likeable and I didn't care as they got picked off one by one, they were not particularly bright considering they were all slated to be doctors, lawyers, or something similar, and they honestly didn't act like I would expect. At least one of these people should be absolutely losing their mind upon finding the first victim's body but they all discussed it rather calmly, if suspiciously. I didn't particularly like the wrap up or the ending. I felt like some characters were unnecessary and superfluous. And it was a bit confusing since the characters refer to themselves as the names of famous mystery writers "Poe, Ellery, Agatha, etc." for most of the book until the end when they are referred to as their given names.

All in all, this was not the book for me. A bit slow and confusing, and I was not a fan of the conclusion. I'm giving The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji 3 stars out of 5 and I probably won't be reading more of his work.

For more information on Yukito Ayatsuji, check out his Good reads author page at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3201493.Yukito_Ayatsuji

Pairs well with pizza toast and washing all your dishes before AND after using.