[Spoilers Included] I Tried Reasoning Seriously! My Thoughts on "You Are Also a Great Detective"

"What an interesting project!"
I realized this while reading, not knowing it was this kind of book.
To be able to challenge the 'Challenge to the Reader' in stories of a few dozen pages—not too short, not too long—where you know for sure that hints are provided!
For this dream-like project, I properly prepared a notebook and took on the challenge by noting down the characters' names, personalities, timelines, and so on.

Out of the six stories, I will announce my top 3 that were particularly interesting!

3rd Place: "Red Pencils Are Unnecessary" by Yuto Ichikawa

With floor plans included, I thought this was the most authentic (classic? standard?). However, it seemed too authentic and difficult, so I left it for last.
I thought about the answer seriously, but I couldn't grasp the direction of what hints to use to solve it, so I ended up giving up. Even after looking at the answer section, I thought it was difficult, but since the fact that there were only five soups was a difficulty level I should have been able to notice... I wanted to notice it! So frustrating!!

I thought it was too difficult to infer that there was a power outage when it wasn't written that "the power went out," but when you consider the information that "the lights came on when I went into the hallway" and "the passcode was reset" together, I wonder if people who notice will notice...? I didn't understand it, but since I was made to think "some people might understand," I thought the difficulty level of the reasoning was just right.

However, I thought it was too much of a red herring and unfair that the estimated time of death was completely different. You wouldn't think it was that different, right...

Also, I thought the title payoff was beautiful, so I felt the story was well-structured.

2nd Place: "Brocade of Autumn Leaves" by Yusuke Maya

I have read a few of Maya-san's books. I had an image of him writing many strange stories, so I prayed that it wouldn't be a gory or mentally disturbing type. (What do I think he is?)

After finishing the problem section, I laughed.
"A major incident happened in just the last little bit!?"
I was surprised that a murder case suddenly occurred. A sudden turn of events in just five pages.

And, in the middle of the story, another mystery arises and is solved. When I was reading halfway through the problem section, I thought, "I see. The mystery this time is 'why the sasanqua flower was at the bedside.' Understood, understood." But I was surprised that the mystery was solved. To have another problem solved while presenting a problem is crazy! (A compliment)

Also, it was interesting to guess not only the culprit but also the victim. I thought about it quite thoroughly, but I couldn't narrow it down to the last step. I understood the combination of the culprit and the victim, but I couldn't tell which was which. I wanted to guess the reason for dropping the body and the key part. I was convinced that that's how you narrow it down.

(What I couldn't quite accept was the ping-pong ball. Does it mean they didn't collect it because it wouldn't lead to identifying the culprit even if it was dropped? That judgment is too calm. Wouldn't you just pick it up if it stood out? Wouldn't it be better to throw it off the cliff?)

Also, this is a problem with my ability, but no matter how many times I read it, I couldn't understand the positional relationship between the open-air baths (men's/women's), the wooden fence, and the white wall. What kind of bath was it in the end?

While thinking, I thought the motive was a complication of a romantic relationship, but since it was said in the problem section that "the motive is currently unknown," I thought it was a kind design that I didn't need to speculate on the motive. (And I thought it was very Maya-san-like that I didn't understand the culprit's motive even after reading the answer section. It's an homage to some famous work, right? No, I don't get it.)

It was the most wild and interesting one. But since the story itself was quite normal, I think it was interesting because the structure of the story seemed wild. In terms of how interesting it was, this was 1st place.

1st Place: "The Mystery of the Berlin Fried Bread" by Honobu Yonezawa

I skipped the first story, so I ended up solving this one first, but I'm glad this was the first one. The content is peaceful, and the difficulty didn't seem that high. Perhaps because I reached the correct answer, it was the most fun to solve.

I have read a few of Yonezawa-san's books. I had read "Hyouka," so I understood the origin of this book itself, thinking, "The existing worldview of each author is coming out," so it felt even more like a tutorial.

I reached the correct answer, but I couldn't figure out that they lied or didn't say something because of their pride. But I think it might be possible if I try hard, so I thought the difficulty level was appropriate.
However, there are settings that are not clarified, such as what kind of relationship they have with Oyamada-san, so I thought it was difficult to understand what the requirements for clarification were.

I had always thought 'Berlin' (written as 伯林) was some mysterious word like 'Kashiwabayashi?' or 'Hakubayashi?', and I kept waiting for the answer to appear somewhere, but it never did. I just looked it up a moment ago and learned for the first time that it meant 'Berlin.' (I mean, there's no way I could have known that...)

I said it was the easiest to solve, but it still took a tremendous amount of time. I wrote things down in a notebook, stared at it, and reread every little detail over and over again. Even so, it was the best fit for this project where the reader is the one doing the reasoning. Since this book is meant for reasoning, whether or not the reader can guess the solution is important. I imagine it's difficult for the author to set the difficulty level, but I felt this was the best fit for the book's purpose.

Overall, it was a really interesting project of a book!
There were parts where I thought, 'Wait! Is that kind of development even possible?', but it was a good experience. I looked at reviews online and it's not that well-received (lol), but I want to read more things like this!
I look forward to the next installment (?).