MYSTERIES – IT’S A MATTER OF TASTE

by Steven Steinbock

Last week I said I’d tell you the story of The Three Princes of Serendip. It turns out that the 16th century story from which Horace Walpole coined the term “serendipity” is more of a novel than a short story. Structured a bit like One Thousand and One Nights, it is a series of stories within stories. The specific story on which Walpole based his concept appears early in the book, and is, in fact, a crime story. It involves a lost camel, the three men accused of stealing it, and how they use their powers of ratiocination to prove their innocence.

But I’m going to save that story for another day. For now, we are leaving that island nation of Serendip (Sri Lanka) and traveling four-thousand miles north-east to another island nation.

A few days back, James Lincoln Warren, our Master and Commander here at Criminal Brief Central, made some observations about Japanese aesthetics. He contrasted the artistic styles of shibumi (subtle elegance) and kawaisa (over-the-top cuteness).

This week I’d like to tell you, preachingly (that’s for you, Rob), about another aspect of Japanese taste: detective fiction. The Japanese take recreation serious, and the playful seriousness with which the people of Japan afford their mysteries is pretty impressive. I am humbled when I look at the depth and breadth with which Japanese appreciate mysteries. There is no condescension that highbrow literati frown on mysteries, as they do here in the States. Ironically, while Japan has a rich body of native detective fiction, Japanese readers know more about British and American mysteries than we do in the English speaking world. Sure, Sue Grafton is as popular in Japan as she is in the States, but if you go back into mystery’s history, authors that are virtually forgotten in the States are widely read in Japan.

Just now I browsed over to Amazon.com to see what sort of Ellery Queen novels are available. Sadly, of the couple dozen titles that came up, only three were currently in print, and two of these were Crippen & Landru story collections. By contrast, I went to Amazon.co.jp where a whopping 48 titles came up, nearly all of which were in print and readily available. Similarly, Amazon.co.jp listed five pages of volumes by John Dickson Carr (59 titles). A Japanese friend once paused while looking at my own bookshelves. Her hand stopped on the Queen’s The Tragedy of Y. She became very sentimental, and said it was one of her favorite novels. How many American readers even know who Ellery Queen or John Dickson Carr were?

But I’m preaching to the choir.

Back to Japan and tastes. The Japanese reader, by and large, has a much better propensity than the American reader to appreciate puzzle mysteries. But lest we label them geeks, the Japanese reader also has excellent taste in whiskey.

Each year for the past decade, in cooperation with the Mystery Writers of Japan , Suntory Yamazaki Distillery produces a limited edition single-malt Special Mysterious Whiskey. Last month, a panel of prominent Japanese mystery writers sat before an audience and discussed crime fiction as they analyzed the bouquet of this year’s Mystery College. Hello, Kitty!