📓

Autumn is the season for reading. So, I would like to introduce the book that first got me hooked on novels.

That book is one of the Keigo Higashino mysteries titled "The Murder at the Shijin-so" (Masked Mountain Villa Murder Case).
I had always liked mysteries, but I lived my life just watching dramas and movies without ever picking up a novel.
Why did I read this book? The reason was my younger brother.
One day, this was the book he picked up aimlessly, wanting a novel to read at school.
It started from such a trivial trigger.
After my brother finished reading it, I also felt a sudden interest and said, "I want to read it too," and started reading it.

Since I had spent my days absorbed in smartphones and video games, it is a fact that, compared to those, a string of text in a novel feels somewhat plain.
But that was not the case here. It had been a long time since I read a novel, with small letters lining up and unfolding sentences over many pages. I remember that for some reason, I couldn't stop turning the pages.
I couldn't hide my surprise at Keigo Higashino's tricks, and I became so hooked that I read it even at the expense of my sleep.
That is how much Mr. Higashino's tricks moved me.

From there, I came to love mysteries—or rather, locked-room murder mysteries. It is extremely simple, but the question of why a murder occurs in a locked room is a reason that will always move me. For that reason, I have read many locked-room murder mysteries to this day, but still, the best one is "The Murder at the Shijin-so." Perhaps it is because it was the first locked-room murder mystery I ever read, but I could not hide my surprise at this ending. After all, this trick was something that transcended surprise for me, and at the same time, because it was the catalyst that made me reach for novels, it remains my number one.

Although I have spoken for my own sake, I will of course keep the content hidden in case it catches someone's eye.
I would love for you to read it for the first time and experience that surprise.
Perhaps other mystery lovers might not feel the same way, but even so, I cannot help but recommend this novel and its tricks, which brought me back to the act of reading novels.

I hope everyone will also pick up Keigo Higashino's "The Murder at the Shijin-so."

#ReadingRecord