So in part 2 I could not understand the paragraph where Maho started talking about North Korea and the Soviet Union, anyone able to decipher that part?
I think she was basically saying “if all businessmen are like this guy, I’d rather be communist,” though I didn’t really understand the ゴルビー (Gorbachev) part.
Yeah, that was my take on that line as well, but it was the Soviet Union part that really stumped me…
Here’s the full line: 「知ってる。ママより一つ年下の脂ぎった男。見映えは悪くないんだけど、もの欲しそうな目できょろきょろして生きてるような奴よ。ああいうのを実業家っていうんだったら私は絶望して北朝鮮にでも亡命したくなるな。大好きだったソ連の根性なしったら、潰れちゃうんだもの。ゴルビーかわいそう。で、そいつね、お金、という日本語を全然使わないで、必ずマネーって言うの。それってぞっとしませんか？」
Anyway, it’s interesting that Alice seems to have solved it? I guess he’ll probably be wrong in some fashion? I have no idea how the basement door slightly opening creates a locked room tho
We also finally got info on the mystery man! A lot of the book until now has been focused on digging for a motive, and I’ve found it kind of pointless because so much of it has been on motives for murdering Makabe, but the motive has to account for the other guy too. We also have that mysterious posthumous work. A lot of times in mysteries things will be the opposite of what they initially appear, so what if instead of the dead guy (whose name I already forgot) trying to get revenge on Makabe for leaving him to die, Makabe tried to get revenge on the dead guy for causing the manuscript of his masterpiece to get destroyed in the hotel fire (somehow)? If the dead guy got the manuscript destroyed and Makabe refused to rewrite it that could also be a motive for the editor. I just feel like the footprints in the snow and apparently untampered door suggests someone in the house let the dead guy in, meaning his presence had to be intentional and part of everything that went on.
I finished this week, barely in time. Some very dense info dumps this week it felt like.
Glad I’m not the only one
I still am inclined to think Kouji is involved. He’s the child of the dead firefighter and seems to have known his dad long enough to mourn his loss. Also Kouji sleeps downstairs, doesn’t he? Did I misremember that? And he lives there and knows the house well, all which seem likely to make both the ‘pranks’ and moving around unnoticed easier.
Yeah, I think all the family members are on the first floor. Kouji’s backstory definitely has to play into it somehow but idk if he’s actually guilty. I thought the long passages trying to think about where the trick came from also felt pointless (like the motive) cuz… anyone could’ve just thought it up. Like yeah maybe the mystery writers are more likely than the others, but if any of them (including the teens) hunkered down and decided they were gonna kill someone, there’s no reason to think they couldn’t have come up with a locked room trick if they put their minds to it
I also got some help on the silly USSR passage above! Basically complaining that her beloved USSR is going under (poor Gorbachev!), which is why her disillusionment with capitalism is forcing her to flee to N. Korea instead of Russia.
