When The Red Locked Room was released earlier this year, I mentioned how Locked Room International didn't have a full-length Japanese release in 2019 after the annual releases of The Decagon House Murders (2015), The Moai Island Puzzle (2016), The Ginza Ghost (2017) and The 8 Mansion Murders(2018). And that's why I assume few people were expecting to see Locked Room International publishing two of these books translated by me this year.
I first read the book myself in 2011, and in the review I wrote "A funny novel with a satisfying plot-structure that is sure to entertain the reader," which is an opinion I still had when I went through the book again while translating it. And on a side-note: huh, that was the first review since this blog got its current look. But it's no secret that I love mystery stories with a comedic atmosphere and Higashigawa always delivers in that respect. Higashigawa's work has been rather popular on the screen too by the way, with numerous adaptations of his novels. The best-known adaptation is probably the series and movie of Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de AKA The After-Dinner Mysteries, but the Ikagawa City series, including Lending the Key to the Locked Room, had an entertaining television adaptation too in 2014.
Anyway, I hope the release of Lending the Key to the Locked Room is a nice end-of-year surprise for you. It's a genuinely entertaining locked room mystery that sure got me hooked on Higashigawa's mystery stories (seriously though, I'm going through old reviews now for this post and I only now realized this novel was the first full-length book of Higashigawa I ever reviewed). And if you're still looking for some more winter reading, why not try The Red Locked Room or perhaps the re-released The Decagon House Murders?