ぎんなみ商店街の事件簿 Sister編 / Ginnami Shopping Street Case Files: Sister Edition
Author: 井上 真偽 (いのうえ まぎ)
Page count: 256 pp
Natively link: ぎんなみ商店街の事件簿 Sister編: Sister編 | L31
Summary
This one goes into more detail than I like to know in advance, so I put the second half of the book blurb under a spoiler.
Japanese
古き良き商店街で起きた不穏な事件。探偵役は三姉妹と四兄弟、事件と手がかりは同じなのに展開する推理は全く違う!? 〈Brother編〉との「両面読み」がおすすめです!
ぎんなみ商店街に店を構える焼き鳥店「串真佐」の三姉妹、佐々美、都久音、桃。ある日、近所の商店に車が突っ込む事故が発生した。運転手は衝撃で焼き鳥の串が喉に刺さり即死。詮索好きの友人を止めるため、都久音は捜査に乗り出す。
continue summary in Japanese
まずは事故現場で目撃された謎の人物を捜すことに。(第一話「だから都久音は嘘をつかない」)
交通事故に隠された謎を解いた三姉妹に捜査の依頼が。地元の中学校で起きた器物損壊事件の犯人を捜してほしいというものだ。現場には墨汁がぶちまけられ、焼き鳥の串が「井」の字に置かれていた。これは犯人を示すメッセージなのか、それとも……?(第二話「だから都久音は押し付けない」)
「ミステリーグルメツアーに行く」と言って出掛けた佐々美が行方不明に!? すわ誘拐、と慌てる都久音は偶然作りかけの脅迫状を見つけてしまう。台風のなか、姉の足跡を追う二人に、商店街のドンこと神山が迫る――。(第三話「だから都久音は心配しない」)
English
Volume 1 Synopsis: A new reading experience. A startling parallel mystery! A disturbing incident unfolds in a charming old shopping street. The detectives are three sisters and four brothers. Though the case and clues are identical, their deductions diverge completely!? We recommend reading this alongside the 〈Brother Edition〉 for a dual perspective! Sasami, Tokune, and Momo, the three sisters who run the yakitori shop “Kushimasa” in Ginnami Shopping Street. One day, an accident occurs where a car crashes into a neighbouring shop. The driver dies instantly when a yakitori skewer pierces his throat from the impact. To stop her nosy friend, Tokune launches her own investigation.
continue in English - Deepl translation - I did not double check
First, she searches for the mysterious person witnessed at the accident scene. (Episode 1: ‘That’s Why Tokune Never Lies’) After solving the mystery hidden within the traffic accident, the sisters receive an investigation request. They are asked to find the culprit behind a vandalism incident at the local middle school. At the scene, ink had been splashed about, and yakitori skewers were arranged in the shape of the character ‘井’. Was this a message pointing to the culprit, or…? (Episode 2: ‘That’s Why Tokune Doesn’t Push’) Sasami, who left saying she was ‘going on a mystery gourmet tour’, has gone missing!? Panicking that she might have been kidnapped, Tokune accidentally finds a half-written blackmail letter. As the two sisters track their elder sister’s footsteps through the typhoon, the shopping district’s big shot, Kamiyama, closes in on them… (Episode 3: ‘That’s Why Tokune Doesn’t Push’)
Availability
Personal Opinion
I love the premise of a mystery told from 2 perspectives: this book tells it from the sisters’ side, and the 2nd book tells it from the brothers’ side. I am proposing that we read the Sister book first, and then if there is interest, create an offshoot club for the Brother book afterwards.
Pros and Cons for the Book Club
Pros
- Mystery books seem to work well for book clubs and lend themselves to discussion
- Accessible modern Japanese, looks to me like primarily daily life vocabulary
- Easy to follow (text reads to me like young adult target, ie, from about age 13 up), and judging by the Amazon reviews, it’s also interesting for adults.
Cons
- I haven’t read it yet, and there are no reviews on Natively, so you’ll have to explore Amazon reviews to decide if it’s for you.
- What you won’t see are the upper level “hard” range of Joyo kanji (the last 300-500) and “adult words” like
- To have is 持つ (younger audience) instead of 所持 (しょじ) する (adults)
- To take/get is 取る (younger audience) instead of 取得（しゅとく）する (adults)
(but to be honest that is true for many IBC books and nominations, I think it’s just not always listed so clearly, and for many of us it would be a pro rather than a con) - In other words, this isn’t the book to build confidence in reading a more literary style with advanced kanji
Pictures
Additional Pages
You can read up to page 40 on the Bookwalker preview link above