The Great Detective's Sacrifice
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Summary
Do not be afraid, do not cry out.
There is no illness and no pain; even lost limbs are restored. This is a paradise of miracles—Jordan Town.
Detective Otsuka, who enters Jordan Town to investigate after worrying about an assistant who has not returned, encounters a series of suspicious deaths. Can a great detective armed with logic defeat the collective delusion of fanatical believers who trust in miracles?
Editor's review
In terms of reading value, the book's most striking feature is its "conceptual subversiveness." The author constructs a stage that seems absurd yet is internally coherent, making the act of detective reasoning itself an object of scrutiny and doubt. The puzzle design concerns not only "who the culprit is" but also "why deduction exists" and "the value boundaries of truth." The seemingly counterintuitive premises ultimately serve a deeper inquiry into the nature of mystery fiction. For readers weary of formulaic works, this creative stance—treating the genre framework itself as an object of deconstruction—offers rare intellectual stimulation and intellectual weight.
A word of caution: Shirai's works are known for intense logical deduction and dark elements that occasionally push readers' limits. While presenting precise reasoning, this book also contains developments that require some mental preparation. It is not light leisure reading but a serious work that demands full attention and perhaps repeated revisiting. If you expect pure intellectual-game pleasure from a mystery, you may find your expectations challenged; but if you are willing to explore the boundaries of what mystery literature can do, this book will leave a lasting intellectual resonance.
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Veteran mystery fans who seek novel premises and dislike formulaic puzzles
- Readers who expect human depth in social mystery fiction
- Readers who can accept a dark tone and appreciate cold, meticulous narration
- Research-minded readers interested in "mystery metanarrative" or "genre deconstruction"
Not a good fit for
- Beginner readers seeking light entertainment or pure honkaku puzzle pleasure
- Readers with low tolerance for potentially cruel depictions
Reading tips
- Set aside expectations of a traditional detective role and regard the detective as one of the objects to be observed and analyzed in the story
- Pay attention to the tension between the "village rules" and "real-world logic"; this is key to understanding the work's deeper meaning
- If the plot feels oppressive, read intermittently and give yourself space to digest and reflect
About the publisher
Jiuzhou Press is a comprehensive publisher with humanities, social sciences, and classic works as important publishing directions, maintaining a sustained focus on philosophy, history, literature, and social culture. Its catalogue includes works by modern literary masters such as Xiao Hong and Lu Xun, as well as intellectual and art history works by Xu Fuguan, including A History of Chinese Theories of Human Nature: Pre-Qin Volume, A History of Han Thought, and The Spirit of Chinese Art: A Study of Shitao. It also translates and introduces overseas academic works such as Peter H. Wilson's The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy and Peter Suber's The Case of the Speluncean Explorers, and covers cross-cultural exchange themes such as From Dunhuang to Samarkand. Its publishing character lies in balancing the organization of original texts with academic translation, forming relatively stable author and title resources in categories including philosophy, military affairs, theory, and social culture. More complete information about the press's publishing history and plans is limited in publicly available sources; this summary is based only on the titles in the catalogue.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 乔丹镇
- 前日谈
- 开端
- 访问
- 第一日 1978年11月15日
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 第二日 1978年11月16日
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 第三日 1978年11月17日
- 1
- 2
- 第四日 1978年11月18日
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 终局
- 后日谈
- 简体中文版寄语
FAQ
Is this mystery honkaku or social school?
Do I need to know other works by Tomoyuki Shirai before reading?
Does the concept of "sacrifice" involve sensitive content?
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About the author
Tomoyuki Shirai is a Japanese mystery and detective fiction author introduced to Chinese readers in recent years, known for tightly constructed puzzles and striking reversals. Five of his works are included here, among them The Detective's Sacrifice, The Dead Never Die, and I Am the Odd One, You Are the Monster, as well as the multi-author collections Classic Japanese Mystery and Suspense Novels in Eight Volumes and the Douban-acclaimed Bestselling Japanese Suspense Collection in Two Volumes. These titles show him drawing on motifs such as the master detective and sacrifice, placing unconventional premises and twists within a classic honkaku framework, so that the cases offer both puzzle-solving pleasure and an unsettling, offbeat atmosphere. Because public information about his life, nationality, and awards is limited, this introduction focuses on subject matter and style, presenting him as a distinctive voice in contemporary suspense and detective fiction.
Lü Lingzhi is a translator of Japanese and English who holds a master's degree in Japanese from Xiamen University. She has long worked on translating foreign literature and social science books, with more than thirty published translations spanning literature, social science and mystery fiction. Her work covers Japanese authors such as Kawabata Yasunari, Dazai Osamu and Yanagi Muneyoshi, as well as social science and mystery titles including Chizuko Ueno's From Zero: Feminism and Kotaro Isaka's Vacation for the Rest of My Life and Gravity Clown. Forty-five of her translations are included in this catalog, commonly classified under foreign literature, mystery and detective fiction, culture and social culture. In 2023 she was selected for Douban's annual list of translators, and her translations have reached a wide readership in Chinese.
