Norwegian Wood

It’s no secret that I’m interested in Japanese entertainment, as well as the language itself, but most of my interest is limited to mysteries. I’ve only recently started watching more anime and live-action Japanese shows to improve my listening, but I still had a huge gap in my knowledge of Japanese literature in the shape

Top 5 Taped Room Mysteries

While you’ll often hear hardcore, borderline obsessive mystery fans talking about locked room mysteries, there’s one type of such a room that I feel triumphs over the others—the taped room. While typical locked rooms have all their exists locked or blocked off in some way, taped rooms go a step further, ensuring that nothing—not even

Record of a Spaceborn Few

If I had to describe Record of a Spaceborn Few in one word, I’d say polarizing. Among people I know, my brother’s roommate calls it her favorite of the books in Becky Chamber’s Wayfarers series, while my dad had the opposite opinion (but still thinks it’s good). However, Goodreads reviewers are much more negative, some

The Caretaker

I always love hearing about authors’ creative processes, especially if I get the chance to hear about them unfiltered. It’s interesting how many ways there are to construct a story. Some people need to have every detail written down first, while others (like me) stumble blindly through and somehow connect the dots at the other

The Christmas Miracle Crimes

I’ve never understood the interest in seasonal mysteries. Christmas is a time of birth and hope (or generosity and compassion in secular circles). Taking the atmosphere and shoving in a murder always felt incongruous to me, but people sure like to attempt it. However, thanks to today’s book, I can kind of see the appeal.

Winterset Hollow

Nature is scary. Have you ever really been out there? It gets dark really fast, and there’s trees everywhere, and coyotes that will eat you and forest people that will beat you up. We expect to at least understand what’s happening in cities, so many of the thrillers set there are psychological. But once you

Miles Edgeworth: Ace Attorney Manga (vol. 3 & 4)

You might recall me discussing the Miles Edgeworth Ace Attorney Investigations manga on this blog, or perhaps you’ve never heard of it before and are wondering who this strange man with the wrinkly ascot is. Either way, you can click here to view my thoughts on the first four cases and an overview of the

Miles Edgeworth: Ace Attorney Manga (vol. 1 & 2)

While I started out reading juvenile mysteries like Ron Roy’s A to Z Mysteries or watching mystery thrillers like Castle, Ace Attorney was the series that had the most influence on me. I started playing the series in high school and was hooked. It might look like a funny anime lawyer game, but it’s full

The Devotion of Suspect X

I really like this book. I could possibly just end it there. Something about this book goes beyond mysteries and crime fiction for me. Reading it feels like being submerged in a dream-like world, yet it’s completely bounded in reality. Indeed, the characters are some of the realest I’ve encountered in a long while. I

Monkey See, Monkey Murder

Mysteries and monkeys have a surprisingly deep history, one that’s often written in tears. You might start with a perfectly capable writer, but the moment they try to put a monkey in their story, they lose their minds. I’ve seen it theorized that it’s a curse involving a particularly influential detective story (whose identity I’m