Seishi Yokomizo is sometimes called the “Japanese John Dickson Carr,” and this is the book that established his credentials as a master of the locked room mystery. The detective who solves this case, Kosuke Kindaichi, proved so popular that Yokomizo would feature him in another 75 novels—which have sold in aggregate more than 5 million copies. This is an extremely intricate story, with many moving parts contributing to the solution. In Japan, these elaborate tales are called honkaku mysteries, and the word honkaku translates as “orthodox.” But it might be better to describe them as mind-boggling logic problems dressed up as a crime narratives. This is one of the finest and, even today, one of the most popular.