From the mystery writing maverick behind The Decagon House Murders comes another classic Japanese whodunit revolving around a famous artist who has worn a rubber mask ever since a disfiguring car crash.
A twisty and ingenious classic Japanese murder mystery from the author of The Decagon House Murders
Every year, a small group of acquaintances pay a visit to the remote, castle-like Mill House, home to the reclusive Fujinuma Kiichi, son of a famous artist, who has lived his life behind a rubber mask ever since a disfiguring car accident. This year, however, the visit is disrupted by gruesome murder, a baffling disappearance and the theft of a priceless painting.
The brilliant Kiyoshi Shimada arrives on the scene, but as he investigates the seemingly impossible events of that evening, death strikes again, and again...
Can Shimada get to the truth before the killer gets to him? And can you solve the mystery of the Mill House Murders before he does?
Publisher: Pushkin Press
ISBN: 9781782278337
Number of pages: 256
Dimensions: 198 x 129 mm
From the first page you know you're in the hands of a master. The atmosphere, the setting, the characters... it is flawless. - Ian Moore, author of Death and Croissants
If you enjoyed Yukito Ayatsuji's ingenious The Decagon House Murders - and how could you not? - you will love this quasi-Christie locked-room mystery - The Times and Sunday Times Crime Club
A psychological-mystical thriller built on tropes from cozier crime fiction. Agatha Christie-type stopwatch sequences and John Dickson Carr-style locked-room conundrums coexist with Poe-like Gothic sequences full of severed limbs and charred flesh... No one can accuse Mr. Ayatsuji of not sustaining the eerie mood of his strange story until its very last sentence - Wall Street Journal
The dénouement was fiendishly clever... An engaging, entertaining mystery with a puzzle fit for the most ardent of armchair detectives - NB Magazine
Just as clever and delightful as the locked room mystery that got Ayatsuji on our radar last year... [The characters have] their agendas, complex backstories, and shifting allegiances, and by the end of the novel, I fear many of them shall be dead... - Crime Reads
A first-rate mystery, whose tight plot and deliberate structure will keep readers guessing until the very end-and might even clue them into a wide new world of international mystery - The Dispatch
Another ingenious puzzle... John Dickson Carr would be proud to come up with as clever a locked room mystery as this... exceptional fun and superbly plotted - Paul Burke, Crime Time FM
This chilly, elegant tribute to the locked-room mysteries of the golden age of crime writing offers a challenge in clue spotting to readers who enjoy pitting their wits against an author's - Literary Review
A great classic, Japanese locked room mystery perfect for fans of Agatha Christie!... I thought I had the mystery solved but lo and behold, the unraveling was completely unexpected and I loved it - readamongstthecrime
Praise for The Decagon House Murders - .
Highly ingenious - Guardian, Best Crime and Thrillers
A knowing tribute to classic crime, it features all manner of puzzles, including locked rooms, jigsaws and magic tricks - Mark Sanderson, The Times
Very clever indeed - Anthony Horowitz
Fiendish foul play... taking its cues from Agatha Christie's locked-room classic And Then There Were None... Ayatsuji's skillful, furious pacing propels the narrative... This is a homage to Golden Age detective fiction, but it's also unabashed entertainment - Sarah Weinman, New York Times
The Decagon House Murders is one of the most enjoyable classic crime novels I've ever read. An evocative island setting, a perfectly constructed puzzle, and an entirely satisfying solution. It'll keep you guessing until the very end. - Alex Pavesi, author of Eight Detectives
[A] landmark 1987 puzzle mystery - New York Times
Behold, the perfect escapist drug! If I could crush this book into a powder and snort it, I would - Vulture
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
Exceptional... The denouement is clever, entirely plausible and not far short of poetic... The Decagon House Murders is sharp and witty and very much in the spirit of the golden age mystery; superbly plotted and wickedly entertaining - NB Magazine
A terrific mystery, a classic... very much in the manner of Agatha Christie or John Dickson Carr - Michael Dirda, Washington Post
A real page-turner... Highly recommended - Classic Mystery
A captivating read, culminating in an ending as satisfying as it is shocking... The solution to the novel's puzzle unfolds in a way so ingenious and logical it can stand shoulder to shoulder with the very best mystery novels - The Japan Society 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
First published in Japan in 1988 this mystery is another welcome addition to the Japanese crime collection from Pushkin Press. I enjoyed this book. Yes, I did work out to a degree what had happened very early on in... More
multicultural, Japan, locked-room-mystery, 1980s, betrayal, creepy, detective, disability, murder, murder-investigation, rural, secrets, storms, surgical-history, suspense, thriller, unexpected-deaths,... More
The Mill House Murders are a classic "someone in this house is a murderer" novel, with old school vibes and a slow burn plot that jumps from present day to past to uncover the mystery.
I liked that it...
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