A classic Japanese murder mystery inspired by the golden age of British crimewriting.
The members of a university mystery club decide to visit an island which was the site of a grisly, unsolved multiple murder the year before. They're looking forward to investigating the crime, putting their passion for solving mysteries to practical use, but before long there is a fresh murder, and soon the club-members realise they are being picked off one by one. The remaining amateur sleuths will have to use all of their murder-mystery expertise to find the killer before they end up dead too.
This is a playful, loving and fiendishly plotted homage to the best of golden age crime. It will delight any mystery fan looking to put their little grey cells to use.
"A terrific mystery, a classic of misdirection very much in the manner of Agatha Christie or John Dickson Carr'" - Washington Post
"Behold, the perfect escapist drug! If I could crush this book into a powder and snort it, I would."
- Vulture"A real page-turner... Highly recommended" -
Classic Mystery"Ayatsuji's brilliant and richly atmospheric puzzle will appeal to fans of golden age whodunits... Every word counts, leading up to a jaw-dropping but logical reveal" -
Publishers Weekly (starred review)"A stunner of a plot, with an ending which I simply could not believe when it was first revealed... Rivals Soji Shimada's
The Tokyo Zodiac Murders for sheer audacity and ingenuity"
- At the Scene of the Crime
"A knowing tribute to classic crime, it features all manner of puzzles, including locked rooms, jigsaws and magic tricks."
- Mark Sanderson, The Times
"highly ingenious" -
Laura Wilson, Guardian
"The Decagon House Murders, is a thrilling homage to Christie’s And Then There Were None, following a group of amateur sleuths on a trip to a lonely island, the site of several unsolved murders. In the opening chapter, one character remarks: “Enough gritty realism please! What mystery novels need are a great detective, a mansion, a shady cast of residents, bloody murders, impossible crimes and never-before-seen-tricks played by the murder.” It’s impossible not to agree."
- The Guardian
