The next morning, a female student is found strangled with her left hand missing (like Seji’s wife) and the plaque with 1st victim glued to her door. And then, 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. and I'm fine being right as long as I'm constantly guessing, it's actually my best possible outcome. What begins as a week of fun and writing time for seven members of their university's Crime Club at an uninhabited island quickly turns into a nightmare.

As I've always said about this particular genre that really stands on its own within the genre of crime/mystery fiction, these stories are less character oriented and more about how the deed was done. Also, there seems to be a lot lost in translation as the dialogue is very stilted and not all that realistic, which can leave the reader rolling their eyes and being pulled out of the story. I admire that Ayatsuji took on a classic Christie - there's so much love for the Golden Age mysteries in this book.Meanwhile, back on the mainland a former member of the club named Kawaminami receives a letter saying that the death of a girl who died at a club party one year earlier was murder. But I did really enjoy the book (PS: The narration style was not a problem for me and if you enjoy cozy mysteries, Agatha Christie mysteries, it would not affect your enjoyment of the book either) and if you love And then there were none, definitely give this a try. Ayatsuji honors the traditions of mystery’s honkaku, Japan’s take on the Golden Age puzzle-plot, while putting his own spin on the form.

Soon after their arrival they begin to suspect that one of their members is intending to kill them one at a time, but who?

In January of the year the architect got murdered, Chiori died during a mystery club afterparty (alcohol poisoning or an overdose, I can’t remember which exactly). I do think I would like to take a look at the original though, because I'm not sure I would have translated some things in this book the same way, for example, in having one character refer to the group as "y'all. Except that the second day of their trip, they wake up to find seven plastic nameplates with the labels First Victim, Second Victim, and so on to Fifth Victim, with the final two plates labelled Detective and Murderer. This one is my favorite of the genre so far, hitting all the beats you want, while balancing surprises with the tropes.