08-11-2026, 08:17 AM
My Grandfather, the Master Detective by Masateru Konishi
A very meta book that talks about historic mystery novel tropes while solving little mysteries that align with those tropes. Kaede visits her grandfather regularly while he suffers from a very particular form of dementia. One of the ways they help strengthen his mind by talking about little mysteries that occur. Kaeda also has male friends, one of which is an actor and the other a teacher. The actor talks a lot about mysteries, too. Mysteries keep popping up. There is murders and kidnappings and missing persons and Grandfather solves them all easily despite his diminished capacity.
The book ends with a not to the Lady or the Tiger by having you determine which of the two suitors Kaede ends up with.
It all felt very forced and simplistic. Not a lot of insights given in to how murder mysteries work, they just acknowledge the tropes and then use the tropes.
A very meta book that talks about historic mystery novel tropes while solving little mysteries that align with those tropes. Kaede visits her grandfather regularly while he suffers from a very particular form of dementia. One of the ways they help strengthen his mind by talking about little mysteries that occur. Kaeda also has male friends, one of which is an actor and the other a teacher. The actor talks a lot about mysteries, too. Mysteries keep popping up. There is murders and kidnappings and missing persons and Grandfather solves them all easily despite his diminished capacity.
The book ends with a not to the Lady or the Tiger by having you determine which of the two suitors Kaede ends up with.
It all felt very forced and simplistic. Not a lot of insights given in to how murder mysteries work, they just acknowledge the tropes and then use the tropes.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm