Meitantei No Okite (Bunko) [Japanese Edition]

Unlike Higashino’s more serious mystery novels like The Devotion of Suspect X or Malice, Meitantei no Okite is a parody and satire of the classic Japanese detective genre. The story humorously plays with all the familiar clichés of detective fiction — the locked room, the eccentric detective, the clueless police officer, the conveniently gathered suspects, etc.

The protagonist, Detective Ukai, operates in a world where everyone seems to know they’re in a detective novel. Characters comment on the absurd “rules” of mysteries, such as why the detective always solves the case at the end, or why everyone gathers in one room for the big reveal.