46番目の密室 (Murder Mystery Series Meta Book Club)

Japanese Language Book Clubs
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Join the Murder Mystery Series Meta Book Club here!

Welcome to 46番目の密室

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Where to buy

See 46番目の密室 | L30??

Discussion Threads and Reading Schedule

We started reading on January 3, 2026.

Week Start Date Chapter Start Page Page Count
Week 1 Jan 03 Flashback + Chapter 1 7 52
Week 2 Jan 10 Chapter 2 59 43
Week 3 Jan 17 Chapter 3 + 4 102 65
Week 4 Jan 24 Chapter 5 167 50
Week 5 Jan 31 Chapter 6 217 69
Week 6 Feb 07 Chapter 7 286 56
Week 7 Feb 14 Chapter 8 + Epilogue 342 56
Week 8 Feb 21 Afterword 398 NaN

Discussion Rules

  • Please use spoiler tags for major events in the current chapter(s) and any content in future chapters.
  • When asking for help, please mention the chapter and page number. Also mention what version of the book you are reading.
  • Don’t be afraid of asking questions, even if they seem embarrassing at first. All of us are here to learn.
  • To you lurkers out there: Join the conversation, it’s fun!

Member List

Are you planning to read 46番目の密室 with the book club?

  • Yes
  • Yes, but I might start late
  • Not sure
  • No
0 voters

If so, which version will you be reading?

  • eBook
  • Paperback
0 voters
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Week 3: 46番目の密室
Murder Mystery Series Meta Book Club
Week 1: 46番目の密室
Week 2: 46番目の密室
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Hey all, to kick off our trial reading phase, I’ve created the first book club :tada:

The agenda is somewhat preliminary. Please note that I recalculated the pages from the digital book. If anybody has the physical book with real page numbers, I’d be happy to fix the numbers above.

FYI these are the lengths of the chapters I grouped together:

  • Flashback: 5 pages
  • Chapter 4: 24 pages
  • Epilog: 9 pages
    (And then there are two あとがき which I’ll leave to the discretion of the reader.)

So this was the best I could come up with, while staying in the 50-70 page range. (And without breaking chapters.)
If you have another idea for a schedule, I’m all ears!

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Thanks for hosting this. The schedule seems reasonable to me. I can provide the physical page numbers when I get my copy in a few weeks.

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Pinging everybody who expressed interest or maybe interest in the Murder Mystery Series Meta Book Club and who hasn’t listed themselves in the OP yet:
@BadPlayer @MaraVos @Belerith @downtimes @polv @Redglare @simias @taiyousea

This is the first book of our three series evaluation period, so maybe you want to join?

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It’s really tempting but way too many clubs and not enough time… I already hesitated to commit to the upcoming IMC mystery novel.

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I know the problem all too well :sweat_smile: No need to apologize. I just wanted to make sure everybody who was sort of interested knows about it.

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Thanks for the ping! I’m sitting this one out, but I already ordered books for the next two. :blush:

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I might not join this one, or simply just start late, but I’ll consider. (But I might change my mind.)

It starts around the same time as 怪人二十面相, and I also want to finish 国宝 (下) (at least not 4 volumes) where I am proven not to read as fast as other ABC club members. Besides, I could consider reading some books in text for myself, even if no club.

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Thanks for the ping, Nicole! November was crazy for me so I’ve fallen a bit behind in general ( @Escalus @pm215 I promise I haven’t dropped 獄門島) but will definitely join!

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Here’s the physical table of contents:

Chapter Page
Flashback 7
Chapter 1 12
Chapter 2 59
Chapter 3 102
Chapter 4 143
Chapter 5 167
Chapter 6 217
Chapter 7 286
Chapter 8 342
Epilogue 389
Afterward and stuff 398
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I got an early start yesterday and realized that Chapter 1 takes place on 12/24 :slight_smile:

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Hahaha you had a good instinct then :grin:

I wonder if this is a special trope :wink:

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I finally got it!
Like the title, the cover is quite intriguing, so I can’t wait to start reading it :eyes:

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Sorry for the delay everybody! (I was travelling and this club just slipped my mind…)

Without further ado, here is week 1:

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I finally managed to get around to putting the real page numbers and counts in our reading schedule, thanks to @Escalus for providing them!

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Here is the thread for week 2!

Meanwhile, I’ve decided to drop this book for now. I can’t really tell why, but I find it incredibly hard to understand what they are talking about. Sometimes I have this with authors :woman_shrugging: Interestingly, I had this at the same time with 国宝 (the current ABC book) and this got me really frustrated - I even thought that maybe my brain had deteriorated all of a sudden :scream: but then I tried a different book, and this worked just like normal. I think maybe if the author puts too much tacit knowledge in their descriptions and conversations that I simply don’t have, then I just don’t get what they are talking about :thinking:
(On top of that, I am currently very occupied (literally and also mentally) with other things, so I don’t feel like spending hours and hours trying to figure out things. There will be another time for this book for me, I’m sure.)

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I actually really enjoyed it! :laughing: (I just finished it)

As I said in Week 1 thread, what stood out to me the most were the old-fashioned atmosphere, the self-awareness of the narrative and the relationship between the duo.

This might sound obvious, but this book truly shines when you actually try to solve the case yourself.
And the 謎解き part made me realize a lot of interesting things! The first one is obviously all the misdirection we were subjected to (all the fire-related elements, the heterosexual relationships between the characters and the criminology class about criminals being born evil), the second is that 光司 could have also been the murderer (that was my theory :sob:) and the third one is so stupid it’s genius: the (main) locked room wasn’t even intentional. :joy: The last thing is how even the best trick can fail in the face of coincidence like サンタクラウス breaking into the adjacent house. Usually randomness is the enemy of 本格ミステリー, but that’s exactly why I fell for the first closed-room trick, because there were none!

Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I read a 本格ミステリー this clever and funny. Even the あとがき made me laugh.

That said, the beginning of the investigation can be a bit slow and repetitive compared to other novels of the genre, but it pays-off if you’re actually trying to solve the case! Also, to me, the final revelation wasn’t particularly moving. I see what he tried to do, but I didn’t have the time to attach to any of the characters. And 石村 having a homosexual relationship won’t be that shocking for 2026 readers. But, for some 1992 readers, that must have been quite something.

The あとがき and the 付記 are worth reading. The 付記 is quite interesting, especially if you enjoy 本格ミステリー!

From a language-learning perspective, this novel is very rich! It’s perfect for 漢検２級 reading practice haha. But, at no point it felt overwhelming! Some sentences can be a bit long, but nothing unreasonable :japan:

Overall, this book is very enjoyable, just don’t expect a『方舟』type of fast-paced, jam-packed mystery with a crazy twist-plot, but with thin characters and a dull detective. This book is pretty much the opposite of that, while managing to be entertaining!

Anyway, I’m excited to read more adventures featuring our goofy duo, 火村 and アリス！

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Here is week 3:

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:shaking_face:
How did I miss this starting… :thinking:
I think I maybe just cleared a lot of notifications and completely missed the first two weeks of this club :see_no_evil_monkey: I’ll see if I can catch up

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