{"id":2737,"date":"2023-04-27T08:58:36","date_gmt":"2023-04-27T08:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=2737"},"modified":"2023-04-27T08:58:39","modified_gmt":"2023-04-27T08:58:39","slug":"japanese-murder-mystery-book-recommendation-the-tokyo-zodiac-murders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=2737","title":{"rendered":"Japanese Murder Mystery Book Recommendation: The Tokyo Zodiac Murders"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hi Readers! April has been a fantastic reading month. I read 14 books and I might just read one more before the end of the month. Here’s a short review of a gory yet fun murder mystery novel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever read a mystery that has so many angles to it that it becomes impossible to understand what’s going on but also makes it kind of fun? In The Tokyo Zodiac Murders, we obviously have astrology. There’s also a lot of geography, mathematics, alchemy and at times history and astronomy too. Even from a mystery standpoint, we have three cases with eight murders including one locked room mystery with a lot of grotesque details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book is divided into five main parts and a few interludes. The first part is reviewing all the murders that happened in 1936. That was 100 pages of information overload. I did lose interest a lot and had to take occasional notes. But after that, the remaining four parts were all in 1979 (40 years after the murders) with active detective work. So, that was more lively and interesting. There are two interceptions wherein the author has written a note to the reader to let us know that we have all the clues to solve the murder. That was unique and I absolutely loved it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As in most Japanese murder mysteries, there were abundance of characters. But I did enjoy the two main detectives, with all their quirks. The ending was fascinating as well. Even if I had attempted to figure it out, I’m sure it would’ve been really challenging. So, the unpredictability of it was what I love in a mystery novel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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All in all, this is a recommendation for those who love reading the crime and mystery genre. If you’re willing to look past some gory details, you’ll come to enjoy the story. I have rated The Tokyo Zodiac Murders by Soji Shimada at 4\/5 stars!<\/strong><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Until next time,<\/p>\n\n\n

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Hi Readers! April has been a fantastic reading month. I read 14 books and I might just read one more before the end of the month. Here’s a short review of a gory yet fun murder mystery novel. Have you ever read a mystery that has so many angles to it that it becomes impossible […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,23,3],"tags":[29],"class_list":["post-2737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","category-books","category-book-reviews","category-mindscape-reviews","tag-japanese-books"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/PSX_20230426_185017-01.jpg?fit=2500%2C2500&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2742,"url":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=2742","url_meta":{"origin":2737,"position":0},"title":"Japanese Murder Mystery Book Recommendation: The Decagon House Murders","author":"Aishwarya Shenolikar","date":"April 26, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi Readers! If you follow me on Instagram, chances are that you have already read this super short book review. But, I always tend to come back here to read my thoughts on a particular book after a while I have read it. So, here we go. This is probably\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book review"","block_context":{"text":"Book review","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/PSX_20230421_133857-01.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/PSX_20230421_133857-01.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/PSX_20230421_133857-01.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/PSX_20230421_133857-01.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/PSX_20230421_133857-01.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4265,"url":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=4265","url_meta":{"origin":2737,"position":1},"title":"Japanese Murder Mystery Book Recommendation: The Labyrinth House Murders","author":"Aishwarya Shenolikar","date":"June 15, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi Readers! After months I finally read a book at a stretch for 5+ HOURS!! What a feeling to feel like myself! Whatever you are reading now, pause it, and pick up the latest by Yukito Ayatsuji novel!! I had been reading The Labyrinth House Murders for two weeks. But\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book review"","block_context":{"text":"Book review","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/PSX_20250615_125456-2-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/PSX_20250615_125456-2-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/PSX_20250615_125456-2-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/PSX_20250615_125456-2-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/PSX_20250615_125456-2-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3281,"url":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=3281","url_meta":{"origin":2737,"position":2},"title":"Japanese Murder Mystery Book Recommendation: The Mill House Murders","author":"Aishwarya Shenolikar","date":"January 29, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi Readers! January has been super exhausting. I read only two books in the first week and then literally nothing. So, for the Republic Day long weekend, my only plan was to read. So, I read two more books! The first was The Glass Palace, for which I will need\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book review"","block_context":{"text":"Book review","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/PSX_20240129_115122-02.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/PSX_20240129_115122-02.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/PSX_20240129_115122-02.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/PSX_20240129_115122-02.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/PSX_20240129_115122-02.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2747,"url":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=2747","url_meta":{"origin":2737,"position":3},"title":"Books Read in April 2023!","author":"Aishwarya Shenolikar","date":"April 29, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi Readers! After a long long time, we are at the end of the month. It has been an amazing month. I paused on the hustle and took some time to relax and reflect. Spent a lot of time home reading and writing. Also watched some really good movies and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book review"","block_context":{"text":"Book review","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/PSX_20230428_211331-02.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/PSX_20230428_211331-02.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/PSX_20230428_211331-02.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/PSX_20230428_211331-02.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/PSX_20230428_211331-02.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1984,"url":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=1984","url_meta":{"origin":2737,"position":4},"title":"Book Recommendations: Seishi Yokomizo’s Murder Mystery Novels!","author":"Aishwarya Shenolikar","date":"March 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi Readers! The reading slump is finally broken with three murder mystery books with a lot of gory, bloody, horrifying, creepy, lunatic characters from Seishi Yokomizo\u2019s three books translated from the Japanese! I did not intend on reading such highly detailed books about multiple murders, especially not 3 books in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book review"","block_context":{"text":"Book review","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/PXL_20260413_123655254-2-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/PXL_20260413_123655254-2-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/PXL_20260413_123655254-2-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/PXL_20260413_123655254-2-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/PXL_20260413_123655254-2-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2197,"url":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?p=2197","url_meta":{"origin":2737,"position":5},"title":"New Books in this House!","author":"Aishwarya Shenolikar","date":"August 4, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi Readers! 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The less I post about the massive book hauls putting a hole in my pocket, the more I can stay\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "books"","block_context":{"text":"books","link":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/PSX_20220730_153131-02.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/PSX_20220730_153131-02.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/PSX_20220730_153131-02.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/PSX_20220730_153131-02.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mindscapeinwords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/PSX_20220730_153131-02.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2737"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2741,"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2737\/revisions\/2741"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindscapeinwords.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}