I really enjoyed The Red Locked Room, a collection of short stories by Tetsuya Ayukawa, so when I saw this newly translated novel in the bookshop I snapped it up right away. And I’m very happy with my decision – the intricate yet simple alibis that worked so well in the short stories are present here, and Ayukawa’s determination to pack in as many unexpected developments as possible works fantastically for this book. The initial setup is very similar to Tokyo Express from 1958, another police procedural featuring a train-based alibi. But despite the realist cladding, The Black Swan Mystery is more of a playful puzzle at heart. It discards Tokyo Express‘s no-doubt-realistic frustration and (metaphorical) wheel-spinning, and instead maintains a constant forward momentum. In Tokyo Express we were let in on some of the early tricks in the killer’s plot, and so there was a kind of inevitability to the proceedings – Black Swan keeps us in the dark, and keeps its plot developments surprising. Just when I thought I might know what the next chapter would bring, some totally unexpected new factor would be introduced.

The novel length – and this book is a little longer than most mysteries I read – also allows a new ingredient to be added to the mix. Ayukawa brings the attention to detail that’s required for tricksy crime fiction to bear on the minutiae of daily life, too. He alights on many different points of view throughout the book – from bystanders to suspects to detectives – and always manages to convey the impression of a snapshot of their life in motion, as though the narrative is skimming through many people’s lives. Despite the death in this book, life will go on for everyone else. In some cases things are not wrapped up nicely – that’s the “realism” strand of the book.

“Philosophers deny the existence of chance. Even if something appears to be accidental at first, it is only perceived as such because the cause has yet to be investigated fully.”

The narration there gives an idea of the philosophy of The Black Swan Mystery. It’s meant in a more general sense, but in terms of the crime, only Inspector Onitsura is thorough enough to discover the truth behind certain “chance” events.

Inspector Onitsura is the most central detective figure in the book, though I think the other detectives Sudo and Seki appear more frequently. We learn little about Onitsura – just glimpses as he goes about his investigation. The same way we get snapshots from the lives of minor characters, we get snapshots of the detectives, except that theirs build up to an overall impression of their take on the world. Though the narration does not always reflect their views – a few times the narration gives a poetic description before admitting that the viewpoint character would not have thought of it. I found the almost-imperceptible voice of the narration charming and at times wryly funny.

The two officers who paid a visit to the head office of Towa Textiles in the west Ginza were Detective Inspector Sudo, a veteran of the force with over twenty-five years’ experience, and Constable Seki, who had been appointed to the post only last year.
This combination of experience and inexperience was standard procedure, so that the new recruits could learn the ropes from their superiors. Or at least that was the theory.
“Reporting for duty, sir,” the constable said, bowing his head.
“Oh,” was all the inspector could muster as he slumped back in his chair.

I have to admit, I have perhaps buried the scariest part of this book further down in the review. You see, The Black Swan Mystery contains not one, two, or even three, but four train timetables printed in full (and two network maps). Even one train timetable is intimidating enough. I’m not really sure why it’s necessary to print them in full – verisimilitude, perhaps. They’re not necessary to look at to follow the mystery; in fact I often found myself more confused after looking at them. You can’t pick up any clues from them early, either – new timetables are displayed when Onitsura picks up a clue. This does raise a question – is this a fair-play puzzle? I’m not sure it is. Often, the key clue that Inspector Onitsura mentions is one that we readers haven’t been shown before. And yet, despite the train timetables, the concepts behind the core puzzle are simple enough to grasp, and I even had glimmerings of them when reading. So the solution is satisfying in the fair-play way, even though you couldn’t really exercise-book it out.

All in all, this has to be one of my favourite reads of 2024, coming in just under the wire. It’s a shame it came too near the end of the year to get a proper nomination for Reprint of the Year, even though it’s eligible. A realistic milieu blends perfectly with a game-playing puzzler’s approach to plotting. In fact, ROT13 hayrff V’ir zvffrq fbzrguvat, rira gur irel gvgyr bs gur obbx nccrnef gb or n gevpxl srvag gb chg gur ernqre bagb gur jebat genpx. As always with crime fiction from a different culture, the social details are fascinating, but on top of that the details are linked in purpose with those of the crime puzzle. I really, really hope Pushkin Vertigo brings us more translations of Tetsuya Ayukawa in years to come!

Other opinions:

The Case Files of Ho-Ling