The Detective Lists: End of 2021

 And, apparently, here they are. Enjoy the Japanese ratings of late 2021!

If a book has an additional European (ordinarily English) title on its cover, I add it after a comma. If in such a case that title is the exact translation of the Japanese one, I give no translation of the title.

In each subsequent list, I only emphasize titles that did not occur in the previous.

Honkaku Mystery Best 10 2022

(most orthodox-skewed one, November 2020-October 2021)

Japanese

1. 黒牢城, Arioka Citadel Case (Black Gaol Fortress) by Yonezawa Honobu (non-series collection of six stories)
2. 蒼海館の殺人, Murder of Aomikan by Atsukawa Tatsumi (the second entry in the planned "Yakata Quartet" series, continuing the Murder of Gurenkan of 2019, reviewed by Ho-Ling Wong here)
3. 兇人邸の殺人 (The Murders in the House of Maleficence) by Imamura Masahiro, the third novel in the series started by Death among the Undead, already reviewed by Ho-Ling Wong
4. 六人の嘘つきな大学生 (Six Lying Students) by Asakura Akinari
5. 硝子の塔の殺人, The Glass Tower Murder by Chinen Mikito, a non-series novel
6. 大鞠家殺人事件 (Murder in the Oomari House) by Ashibe Taku, a non-series novel
7. 孤島の来訪者 (Visitors on the Remote Island) by Hōjō Kie, second in the "Ryūzen Family" series, reviewed by Ho-Ling Wong
8. 忌名の如き贄るもの (Those Who Sacrifice like a Real Name) by Mitsuda Shinzō, the new, eleventh entry in the Tōjō Gen'ya series
9. invert 城塚翡翠倒叙集 (invert: The Inverted Detective Story Collection for Jōzuka Hisui) by Aizawa Sako, a collection of three stories featuring Jōzuka Hisui of the medium fame
10. あと十五秒で死ぬ (To Die in Fifteen Seconds) by Sakakibayashi Mei, the author's first published book, comprising two stories previously printed in magazines and two originally added

Translated

1. Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz
2. A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
3. 文學少女對數學少女, Le Dernier Problème de Fermat (The Literature Girl Vs. the Math Girl) by Lù Qiūchá (colleciton of four stories)
   
4. Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi
5. Black Summer by M. W. Craven
6. The Sleeping Tiger by Dominic Devine (D. M. Devine)
7. Cold Earth by Ann Cleeves
8. The Sleepwalker by Joseph Knox
9. Le Roi du Désordre (The Lord of Misrule) by Paul Halter
10. The October List by Jeffrey Deaver and The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths

The current list contains: five well-known names (Yonezawa, Atsukawa, Imamura, Ashibe, Mitsuda), two people who now stop being flukes and join the ranks of multiple winners (Hōjō, Aizawa) and three people who absolutely debut in the list (Asakura, who writes since 2012, but never got such a success before, Chinen, who also writes since 2012, and Sakakibayashi, who immediately got in the list with the first book-length publication).

Shūkan Bunshun Mystery Best 10 2021

(November 2020-October 2021)

Japanese

1. 黒牢城, Arioka Citadel Case (Black Gaol Fortress) by Yonezawa Honobu
2. テスカトリポカ (Tezcatlipoca) by Satō Kiwamu
3. 兇人邸の殺人 (The Murders in the House of Maleficence) by Imamura Masahiro
4. 硝子の塔の殺人, The Glass Tower Murder by Chinen Mikito
5. 白鳥とコウモリ (Swan and Bat) by Higashino Keigo, a non-series novel
6. 六人の嘘つきな大学生 (Six Lying Students) by Asakura Akinari
7. 機龍警察　白骨街道 (Inspector Kiryū: Skeleton Road) by Tsukimura Ryōe
8. 蒼海館の殺人, Murder of Aomikan by Atsukawa Tatsumi
9. 琥珀の夏 (The Amber Summer) by Tsujimura Midzuki
10. おれたちの歌をうたえ (Sing Our Song) by Go Katsuhiro and 忌名の如き贄るもの (Those Who Sacrifice like a Real Name) by Mitsuda Shinzō

Translated

1. Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz
2. A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
3. The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths
4. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
5. The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti
6. The October List by Jeffrey Deaver
7. Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi
8. Tokyo Redux by David Peace
9. 私家偵探, Private Eyes by Jǐ Yùrán
10. The Sleepwalker by Joseph Knox and Trois jours et une vie (Three Days and a Life) by Pierre Lemaitre

Kono Mystery ga Sugoi! 2022

(November 2020-October 2021)

Japanese

1. 黒牢城, Arioka Citadel Case (Black Gaol Fortress) by Yonezawa Honobu
2. テスカトリポカ (Tezcatlipoca) by Satō Kiwamu
3. 機龍警察　白骨街道 (Inspector Kiryū: Skeleton Road) by Tsukimura Ryōe
4. 兇人邸の殺人 (The Murders in the House of Maleficence) by Imamura Masahiro
5. 蒼海館の殺人, Murder of Aomikan by Atsukawa Tatsumi
6. invert 城塚翡翠倒叙集 (invert: The Inverted Detective Story Collection for Jōzuka Hisui) by Aizawa Sako
7. 忌名の如き贄るもの (Those Who Sacrifice like a Real Name) by Mitsuda Shinzō
8. 六人の嘘つきな大学生 (Six Lying Students) by Asakura Akinari
9. 硝子の塔の殺人, The Glass Tower Murder by Chinen Mikito
10. 雷神 (God of Thunder) by Michio Shūsuke, third in "Gods" series

Translated

1. Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz
2. A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
3. The Sleepwalker by Joseph Knox
4. The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti
5. 私家偵探, Private Eyes by Jǐ Yùrán and The October List by Jeffrey Deaver
6. -
7. His & Hers by Alice Feeney
8. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
9. Tokyo Redux by David Peace
10. Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi

Mystery ga Yomitai 2022

(November 2020-October 2021)

Japanese

1. 黒牢城, Arioka Citadel Case (Black Gaol Fortress) by Yonezawa Honobu
2. テスカトリポカ (Tezcatlipoca) by Satō Kiwamu
3. 機龍警察　白骨街道 (Inspector Kiryū: Skeleton Road) by Tsukimura Ryōe
4. 蒼海館の殺人, Murder of Aomikan by Atsukawa Tatsumi
5. 兇人邸の殺人 (The Murders in the House of Maleficence) by Imamura Masahiro
6. 忌名の如き贄るもの (Those Who Sacrifice like a Real Name) by Mitsuda Shinzō
7. インタヴュー・ウィズ・ザ・プリズナー (Interview with the Prisoner) by Minagawa Hiroko
8. 六人の嘘つきな大学生 (Six Lying Students) by Asakura Akinari
9. invert 城塚翡翠倒叙集 (invert: The Inverted Detective Story Collection for Jōzuka Hisui) by Aizawa Sako
10. 蝶として死す　平家物語推理抄 (Die Like a Butterfly: Heike Monogatari Deductive Collection) by Saitō Asuka, collection of five stories

Translated

1. A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
2. Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz
3. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
4. The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti
5. The October List by Jeffrey Deaver
6. Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi
7. His & Hers by Alice Feeney
8. The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths
9. The Sleepwalker by Joseph Knox and 私家偵探, Private Eyes by Jǐ Yùrán

Thus, this year we have an absolute scorer on the Japanese side: 黒牢城, Arioka Citadel Case (Black Gaol Fortress) by Yonezawa Honobu got all for ratings - and also the Yamada Fūtarō Award. Congratulations!

On the translated side, one of four did not allw Anthony Horowitz to take a clean slate. Still, his ongoing popularity is obvious.

Honkaku Mystery Best 10: The Best over the Years

While we are all impatiently waiting for the release of new "Honkaku Mystery Best 10" 2022 ratings, here is a thing I decided to share with you. This is the ranking of the best book-length honkaku detective writers of Japan, as determined by the results of "Honkaku Mystery Best 10" since the entry of 1997 (that is, based on the publications between January 1996 and October 2020).

The methodology was as follows.

• I took the data of "Honkaku Mystery Best 10", as, out of the four main ratings, this one is the most honkaku-leaning, frequently providing the results drastically differing from the remaining thre in the terms of more classical and deductive content.
• I considered only the writers who appeared in the top-10s more than once (non-flukes); surely there might be some who had only one great novel that took the top place and could thus surpass those more stable but less successful who managed to get to the bottom of Top 10 year after year, but I would be hesitant in adding them until their success is repeated. The total number turned out to be 47 people.
• Among those, I added 10 points for each novel or short story collection that grabbed the first place some year, 9 points for a second-place entry, and thus until getting a 10th place, which provided one point. The sum is the final score.

Without further ado, here is the diagram of the results:

The final ratings!

Some random observations are in order:

• The absolute winner overall is Maya Yutaka, who got 81 points over 10 books, four of which got number one! In sheer number, Shimada Sōji (26) was equal to him, and both Arisugawa Alice (73) and Ashibe Taku (57) surpassed (12 books each), but neither of them was able to stay so consistently beside the top. Meanwhile, he was apparently never translated into a Western language... Arisugawa and Ashibe complete the top 3.
• Noridzuki Rintarō (52) at fifth place was the highest positioned entry who was never chosen "Person of the Year" by the rating compilers (the Person of the Year prize was given from 1998 to 2015 only).
• Of the top ten, additionally Yonezawa Honobu (53) on the 4th place, Mitsuda Shinzō (51) on the 6th, Utano Shōgo (37) on the 9th, Nishizawa Yasuhiko (36) on the 10th were apparently never translated. This is five of ten!
• Atsukawa Tatsumi (31) on the 13th place is the highest-rated newcomer, among those who only started scoring in the 2010s or later. His four books scored in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. He is closely followed by Aosaki Yūgo (27) on the 16th place (four books scored in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2017) and Shirai Tomoyuki (26) on the 17th place (five books scored in 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, and 2021).

An alternate rating could be imagined, with the previous score divided by the number of books that got to the rating, to achieve an 1-10 ranged "average score" for a single book by an author in the list. In this case, the top three changes as follows: Imamura Masahiro (9.50), who got just two books, but with gold and silver score, respectively; Noridzuki Rintarō (8.67), out of six books by whom four were first or second winners; and, Mitsuda Shinzō and Shizaki Yū (8.50), who were equally stable, but one over six, the other over two books, which would probably score more for Mitsuda.

Appended are the whole charts for your perusal.

Alex: Honkaku on Screen

 Many of us bemoan the non-availability of Japanese orthodox deductive stories on our bookshelves, with translations being sporadic or non-existent, based on our location. But there is another way to enjoy those, and perhaps it might become more accessible than printed books - or at least provide a way to consume honkaku in a different way. I'm speaking about live-action adaptations.

In this post I will concentrate on some of the arguably biggest names in new orthodox movement and their best known sleuths in order to give some points as to which films and series to watch.

Shimada Sōji

We start with the patriarch himself, who can boast two episodes starring his primary sleuth, Mitarai Kiyoshi.

The sleuth is played by Tamaki Hiroshi

This version of the character debuts in the extensively named TV episode 天才探偵ミタライ〜難解事件ファイル「傘を折る女」〜 (Genius Sleuth Mitarai: Archive of Complex Cases, The Woman Who Broke an Umbrella, 2015), adapting (faithfully) the short story of the same name from the UFO Avenue collection (2006). Mitarai is joined by his faithful Ishioka, portrayed by Dōmoto Kōichi.

The cases continue in the cinema release, 探偵ミタライの事件簿 星籠の海 (The Case-Book of Sleuth Mitarai, The Clockwork Current, 2015), which adapts the similarly titled novel of 2013 and for no reason replaces Ishioka with an original female character played by Alice Hirose, which arguably takes half of the fun out of the story.

Arisugawa Alice

As far as I know, as early as in 1994 there was a serialized TV adaptation of a novel from Arisugawa's most valued series, the Egami Jirō one: it was a version of Two-Headed Devil, and Kagawa Teruyuki played Egami Jirō. But now it is not easy to find it.

Himura Hideo, however, appeared in a high-profile TV series which arguably still continues!

Saitō Takumi and Kubota Masataka star as Himura and the writer Arisugawa

 

The series, called 臨床犯罪学者 火村英生の推理 (Clinical Criminologist: The Deductions of Himura Hideo, 2016), started as a ten-episode extravaganza, adapting the following plots:

1. "The Castle of Screams Murder Case" (short story, 2001, collected in the volume of the same name)
2. "The Strange Visitor" (short story, 2000, collected in Dark Lodgings)
3. "Ransom of the Associate Professor" (short story, 2004, collected in The Moroccan Crystal Mystery, originally called "Ransom of the Assistant Professor")
4. Dali's Cocoon (novel, 1993)
5. "Break the Display Window" (short story, 2014, collected in The Suspicious Store)
6. A Study in Vermillion (novel, 1997, part 1)
7. A Study in Vermillion (part 2)
8. "The Knife of Apollo" (short story, 2010, collected in Murder in The Bodhi Tree Estate)
9. "Execution in the Cellar" (short story, 2001, collected in The White Rabbit Runs Away)
10. "Logical Death Game" (short story, 2010, collected in The House of Long Corridors)

Immediately after the conclusion of the TV run, Hulu started airing additional episodes, entitled "Another Story":

1. "The Sleuth and the Young Age" (short story, 2012, collected in Murder in The Bodhi Tree Estate)
2. "Waiting for Jack the Ripper" (short story, 1997, collected in The Persian Cat Mystery, part 1)
3. "Waiting for Jack the Ripper" (part 2)

 In 2019, the series returned with the TV special:

1. "The ABC Killer" (short story, written in 2001 for an anthology of The ABC Murders pastiches, later collected in The Moroccan Crystal Mystery)

Once again, the season then moved to Hulu:

1. The Hunter's Nightmare (novel, 2017, part 1)
2. The Hunter's Nightmare (part 2)

There have been no new episodes since then.

 

Noridzuki Rintarō

There has been only one attempt to bring Rintarō the writer' Rintarō the sleuth on screen: the TV special called 誘拐ミステリー超傑作 法月綸太郎 一の悲劇 (Abduction Mystery Super Masterpiece: Noridzuki Rintarō, The Tragedy of One, 2016), adapting the novel of 1991.

Hasegawa Hiroki stars as Noridzuki, supported by Okuda Eiji as his police dad

Weirdly, the changes included in the adaptation completely demolished the meaning of the original title.

Ashibe Taku

There has been an attempt to bring Ashibe's attorney, Morie Shunsaku, on screen. Strangely, the decision was made to rely mostly on the original stories...

弁護士・森江春策の事件 (The Cases of Attorney Morie Shunsaku, 2009-11) ran in three special episodes.

Kabuki-trained Nakamura Baijaku II plays Shunsaku

First episode was based on the Lay Judge anthology of 2008, but the remaining two were done with the plots not authored by Ashibe!

Thankfully, he had more success on screen when he made a career of an official sequel writer for Ranpo's Akechi Kogorō and Yokomizo's Kindaichi Kōsuke franchises. These produced two TV adaptations:

1. 金田一耕助VS明智小五郎 (Kindaichi Kōsuke vs. Akechi Kogorō, 2013), based on a pastiche of 2002 with a slightly different name "Akechi Kogorō versus Kindaichi Kōsuke";
2. 金田一耕助VS明智小五郎ふたたび (Kindaichi Kōsuke vs. Akechi Kogorō, Once Again, 2014), based on the 2013 work "Akechi Kogorō versus Kindaichi Kōsuke, Once Again."

Yamashita Tomohisa (Yamapi) as Kindaichi, Itō Hideaki as Akechi

 

 Ooyama Seiichirō

We  conclude this post by one of the best currently living short story masters, who has been staggeringly adapted twice.

The TV series 犯罪資料館 緋色冴子シリーズ『赤い博物館』 (The Crime Records: Hiiro Saeko Series, The Red Museum, 2016-2017) is based on the "Red Museum" cycle. There are two specials, jointly adapting three stories.

アリバイ崩し承ります (Alibi Deconstruction, At Your Service) was just released in 2020, containing seven episodes plus two more streamed at AbemaTV. It does not only adapt the book of the same name completely, but also adds one more story that has just had its journal premiere.

Alex: Japanese Detective Ratings, 2019

Time to learn what the Japanese think about the current trends in detection by observing the rating lists they compiled in December!

Bungeishunju: Shukkan Bunshun Mystery Best 10

Japanese

1. North Light (ノースライト) by Yokoyama Hideo

2. Furrow of Crime (罪の轍) by Okuda Hideo

3. The Murders In the Box of The Devil Eye (魔眼の匣の殺人) by Imamura Masahiro [Ho-Ling's review]

4. The Tragedy of I (Iの悲劇) by Yonezawa Honobu

5. medium: Spirit Detective Jōzuka Hisui (medium 霊媒探偵城塚翡翠) by Aizawa Sako

6. Do Not (いけない) by Michio Shūsui

7. Once Upon A Time, There Was a Corpse (むかしむかしあるところに、死体がありました。) by Aoyagi Aito

8. Our Girl A (我らが少女A) by Takamura Kaoru

9. Thread of Hope (希望の糸) by Higashino Keigo

10. Sword and Umbrella: A Meiji Capital Deduction Book (刀と傘 明治京洛推理帖) by Ibuki Amon

Translated

1. The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz

2. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

3. Her Every Fear by Peter Swanson

4. The Three-Body Problem (三体) by Liu Cixin

5. The Border by Don Winslow

6. Punishment (Strafe) by Ferdinand von Schirach

7. The Diogenes Variations (第歐根尼變奏曲) by Chan Ho-Kei

8. Rosy & John by Pierre Lemaitre

9. Yellow (黄) by Lei Jun

10. The Cutting Edge by Jeffery Deaver

Takarajima: Kono Mystery ga Sugoi!

Japanese

1. medium: Spirit Detective Jōzuka Hisui (medium 霊媒探偵城塚翡翠) by Aizawa Sako

2. North Light (ノースライト) by Yokoyama Hideo

3. The Murders In the Box of The Devil Eye (魔眼の匣の殺人) by Imamura Masahiro

4. Furrow of Crime (罪の轍) by Okuda Hideo

5. Sword and Umbrella: A Meiji Capital Deduction Book (刀と傘 明治京洛推理帖) by Ibuki Amon

6. Murder of Gurenkan (紅蓮館の殺人) by Atsukawa Tatsumi

7. World of Deceit (欺す衆生) by Tsukimura Ryōe

8. If There Was No Yesterday, There Will Be No Tomorrow As Well (昨日がなければ明日もない) by Miyabe Miyuki

9. The Book and the Key (本と鍵の季節) by Yonezawa Honobu

10. Cuckoo Calls on Shiokubi Cape (潮首岬に郭公の鳴く) by Hiraishi Takaki

Translated

1. The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz

2. She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper

3. The Border by Don Winslow

4. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

5. The Diogenes Variations (第歐根尼變奏曲) by Chan Ho-Kei

6. November Road by Lou Berney

7. The Red Envelope and Other Stories by Robert Lopresti

8. 1793 by Niklas Natt och Dag

9. Love Ain't Nothing But Sex Misspelled by Harlan Ellison

10. The German Teacher (Die Deutschlehrerin) by Judith W. Taschler

Hara Shobō: Honkaku Mystery Best 10

Japanese

1. medium: Spirit Detective Jōzuka Hisui (medium 霊媒探偵城塚翡翠) by Aizawa Sako

2. The Murders In the Box of The Devil Eye (魔眼の匣の殺人) by Imamura Masahiro

3. Murder of Gurenkan (紅蓮館の殺人) by Atsukawa Tatsumi

4. Sword and Umbrella: A Meiji Capital Deduction Book (刀と傘 明治京洛推理帖) by Ibuki Amon

5. And Then They Never Die (そして誰も死ななかった) by Shirai Tomoyuki

6. Mystery of an Egyptian Cross (或るエジプト十字架の謎) by Tsukatō Hajime

7. The Hourglass of the Time-Space Traveller (時空旅行者の砂時計) by Hōjō Kie [Ho-Ling's review]

8. Island of Prediction (予言の島) by Sawamura Ichi

9. Once Upon A Time, There Was a Corpse (むかしむかしあるところに、死体がありました。) by Aoyagi Aito

10. Cuckoo Calls on Shiokubi Cape (潮首岬に郭公の鳴く) by Hiraishi Takaki

Translated

1. The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz

2. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

3. The Diogenes Variations (第歐根尼變奏曲) by Chan Ho-Kei

4. If and Only If the Snow Is White (当且仅当雪是白的) by Lu Qiucha

5. The Gold Watch (La Montre en Or) by Paul Halter

6. Yellow (黄) by Lei Jun

7. Sealed Room Murder by Rupert Penny

8. Yesterday by Felicia Yap

9. The Red Envelope and Other Stories by Robert Lopresti

10. The Jack of Diamonds by Q. Patrick

Hayakawa Shobō: Mystery ga Yomitai

Japanese

1. Sword and Umbrella: A Meiji Capital Deduction Book (刀と傘 明治京洛推理帖) by Ibuki Amon

2. North Light (ノースライト) by Yokoyama Hideo

3. The Murders In the Box of The Devil Eye (魔眼の匣の殺人) by Imamura Masahiro

4. Furrow of Crime (罪の轍) by Okuda Hideo

5. Murder of Gurenkan (紅蓮館の殺人) by Atsukawa Tatsumi

6. Murders (マーダーズ) by Nagaura Kyō

7. Do Not (いけない) by Michio Shūsui

8. Once Upon A Time, There Was a Corpse (むかしむかしあるところに、死体がありました。) by Aoyagi Aito

9. If There Was No Yesterday, There Will Be No Tomorrow As Well (昨日がなければ明日もない) by Miyabe Miyuki

10. Mystery of an Egyptian Cross (或るエジプト十字架の謎) by Tsukatō Hajime

Translated

1. The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz

2. The Border by Don Winslow

3. The Diogenes Variations (第歐根尼變奏曲) by Chan Ho-Kei

4. The German Teacher (Die Deutschlehrerin) by Judith W. Taschler

5. Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke

6. The Red Envelope and Other Stories by Robert Lopresti

7. Her Every Fear by Peter Swanson

8. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

9. She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper

10. Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay

To conclude: these are the two books that excited the Japanese most this year:

Local: The Murders In the Box of The Devil Eye by Imamura Masahiro

Foreign: The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz

Roger: Golden Age Adaptations in the Soviet Union

This post is exclusive for the current blog. However, if you read Russian, still check us out at impossible-crimes.ru/Forum/index.php.

The utter rejection of the detective genre by the Soviet official culture (which, for a long time, allowed only those examples to appear in translation that could be disguised as children's adventure books) is a topic in itself, but it defined the peculiarities of the Golden Age whodunits when adapted for screen in the Soviet Union. The emergence of these adaptations themselves is directly connected to those first book series, launched in the early 1970's, that started to offer detective novels in translation, primarily from the ideologically similar writers of the Eastern Europe, but including the Western classics as well. The directors were not interested in looking for foreign content on their own, preferring the texts already cleared for publication and existing in Russian, which limited the possible source for adaptations severely. Furthermore, the resulting works were frequently done in the uniquely Soviet genre of "television film," телефильм, containing normally two or three episodes, but more than an hour long each. These "TV films" (which sometimes, when especially low-budget, were even called "TV plays," телеспектакли) included many adaptations of extremely various foreign authors, from the classics of "literary" fiction such as Dickens and Wilde, or "adventure" fiction such as Dumas-père, down to the unmasking political novels of Robert Penn Warren and Irwin Shaw or crime works of Simenon, Dick Francis, and J.H. Chase. They could be all characterized, as formulated by a character in another of these TV films, The Pokrovsky Gate (1982), as attempts for "our people to play French lives." Adaptations of whodunits turned out to be a perfect fit for this system. The decisive factors in the genre's development were, first, the extreme cheapness of such productions, and, second, its great (at least 2.5 hours) total length, allowing to transfer plots of detective novels to screen almost word-for-word. This, however, could backfire in drowsily moving and overextended plots. We note that the Soviet take on the genre remained completely unchanged even after the appearance of the classical American adaptations of Agatha Christie such as Murder on the Orient Express (1974), Death on the Nile (1978), and The Mirror Crack'd (1980), which were screened in the Soviet Union to great success. 

Before moving to the screen, however, it should be mentioned that there is a radio version of Murder on the Orient Express from 1966, including many famous actors (quite comparable to the number of stars in Lumet's version); at least half of the characters had voices recognizable to any Soviet viewer. The format based on multiple separate episodes extending to about five hours in total length allowed to keep Christie's text unchanged and play it with the unhurriedness of old theatre. Hercule Poirot's first voice in the Soviet Union was Vsevolod Yakut, whose most famous role was one of the poet Alexander Pushkin. Yakut played Poirot with Pushkin's careless irony and aristocratic passion, though Suchet's fans would this this Poirot is too hasty and passionate when talking to the suspects. One could only pity that the dubbing of Lumet's version was later done by a much weaker team of actors.

V. Yakut starring in Sergey Lazo (Сергей Лазо, 1967): this could be the face of his Poirot

Apparently, the first Golden Age adaptation in general and of Agatha Christie in particular was the TV play "Sleuths and Ministers" (Сыщики и министры, 1969), based on "The Second Stain" by Doyle and "The Augean Stables" by Christie. It has been lost, as the Soviet television wiped the older recordings for the sake of tape economy, and barely anything remains known of it. The highly critical review in the Literaturnaya Gazeta, which is the only source available without special archival work, does not denounce its quality but rather bemoans the very fact of that such a pointless show could be produced at all, yet the only thing it mentions plot-wise is the fact that Poirot is reciting Icelandic sagas in it. Even the performer of Poirot's role remains unknown.

The key moment for all the following development came when Samson Samsonov, an experienced director and master of adapting Chekhov (The Three Sisters, 1964) and Shakespeare (Much Ado About Nothing, 1973) to screen, staged Cyril Hare's novel An English Murder as Purely English Murder (Чисто английское убийство, 1974). This novel, translated merely four years before, was extremely attractive by combining the extensive exoticism of faraway England (a family castle, lords, unique motive of crime) and a definite political sharpness (the victim's extremely right views), which allowed to produce and adaptation of the persecuted genre as a critique of the "bourgeois society." Peculiarly, due to the policy of state antisemitism prevalent in Soviet Union of the Stagnation, the adaptation excludes any hints as to what nationality does the sleuth protagonist Dr Bottwink belong to. Quite the opposite, Alexey Batalov, known for flawless portrayals of the intelligentsia in Chekhov's and Bulgakov's stories, appears on screen almost as the most English gentleman among the whole cast.

A. Batalov: the Soviet idea of the great detective

In order to increase the political appeal, the action was moved from the late 1940s to the early 1970s, and the characters were made to watch a performance of the popular James Last Orchestra on TV. The satirical line of the aristocratic minister, Sir Julius Warbeck's, socialist views, was also gone: he turned into a typical "bourgeois" politician. Furthermore, according to the general tendency of the Soviet cinema which considered the Baltic actors more "European-looking," some of the roles were automatically given to them (only the exceptional adaptation of Sherlock Holmes stories by Igor Maslennikov managed to break this tradition). Thus, Lady Camilla was portrayed not even by an actress, but a model from Estonia called Faime Jürno. Yet, the adaptation gained a well-deserved popularity due to the exact retention of a complex plot, the meticulousness of the costume-makers and designers, as well as the persuasive acting by the Russian part of the ensemble, especially Batalov and Ivan Pereverzev, who was a star even before Stalin's death and provided a rich portrayal of an unperturbed English butler. The very phrase, "Чисто английское убийство" (purely English murder) became an idiom, and even the Midsomer Murders series is in its Russian run renamed into "Чисто английское убийства" (Purely English Murders). 
 

The victim to be, the suspects, and the sleuth assembled

Samsonov's success could not be replicated by Death Under Sail (Смерть под парусом, 1976), made in Latvia by the exact same pattern as Purely English Murder and adapting an okay-but-nothing-exceptional novel by Charles Percy Snow. The transfer of the plot to the 1970s had completely destroyed the atmosphere of the book, originally set in the world of "bright young things" in the 1920s, and the weak acting of the main cast is completely overshadowed by the secondary characters, the housekeeper and the police sergeant, played by the great Latvian actress Elza Radziņa and Kaljo Kiisk, cinema director from Estonia, respectively. An important factor in the product's final is probably the miscast of an unknown Lithuanian, Antanas Barčas, as Mr Finbow, the sleuth.

The "pleasant people" discover the corpse of one of them

The first screen adaptation of Agatha Christie that survives is, unsurprisingly, a version of Peril at End House, her first book to appear in Russian. The surprising thing is that it was done in 1981 by Lithuanian TV and in Lithuanian. Still, the exact rendering of the plot allows to watch it and follow the events without knowing any Lithuanian word at all. There is an interesting attempt to recreate the suits, dresses, and hats from the 1930s here, but one would be hard pressed to find any additional upsides to this version, and not only due to the extremely low budget, but rather because of the cast, unremarkable even for Lithuania. Vidas Petkevičius as Poirot is especially strange and could claim a place among the least successful Poirots in all existing adaptations. He tries to express the eccentricity of the great detective by combing his hair up, rubbing hands, wearing Kaiser Wilhelm mustache, a plaid suit and a cap. The result barely resembles Poirot and rather reminds of the comic portrayal of Inspector Lestrade in the Soviet Sherlock Holmes adaptations.

Poirot explains to Miss Buckley she is in peril

Since the 1980s, the trends in adapting the foreign detective novels finally fixed on Agatha Christie. The person who contributed the most to such a shift was Vadim Derbenyov, a specialist in putting Western life to Soviet screen, who brought a Soviet Miss Marple to the viewers in The Blackbird Mystery (Тайна Чёрных дроздов, 1983) based on A Pocket Full of Rye. This was not only the first publicly available screen version of Christie in the Soviet Union, but the first among all the projects discussed here to be filmed for cinemas. Despite containing all the typical features of the Soviet adaptations, such as moving the action to modern days and a heavy involvement of the Baltic cast, Derbenyov put an immense effort to depict the English peculiarities, successfully procured elegant costumes and right-hand driving cars, ordered a song in English to the famous rock musician Andrey Makarevich and even got hold of the footage of real London and incorporated those into the film done mostly in Tallinn. Ita Ever from Estonia tried to portray Miss Marple as unassuming as she could and perhaps somewhat overplayed. Still, now, after the appearance of the two English versions, with Joan Hickson and Julia McKenzie, this decent adaptation turned into a mere artifact of its age. 

Miss Marple meets a suspect

The attempt of the same Derbenyov to stage another Peril at End House (Загадка Эндхауза, 1989) was much less successful. The director managed to watch the first season of Agatha Christie's Poirot before filming and tried to force the great Soviet actor Anatoly Ravikovich to imitate Suchet on screen. Quite obviously, Ravikovich rebelled and tried to find a solution of his own, making Poirot into a tragic image of a man with deep emotional trials over the murder and the identity of the victim. The interesting finding of Ravikovich is, however, the only upside of the story as it was supported neither by the uninspired acting of the remaining cast nor the portrayal of Hastings, completely failed by the TV host Dmitry Krylov, to say nothing of the cheap production values of the Perestroika and the quality of the physical film itself that turns the whole piece into a dark spot.

Ravikovich, not Suchet's double

Derbenyov's efforts, both of them, are especially jarring when compared to the effort of the big Soviet director Stanislav Govorukhin and his And Then There Were None (Десять негритят, 1987). Despite an obvious thrillerization, this became an unquestionably best Soviet version of Christie and is yet to be surpassed by any other adaptation of this novel, worldwide. In an attempt to depict the atmosphere of the 1930s and rejecting the Baltic cast, Govorukhin took Lumet's and Guillermin's strategy and invited an ensemble cast of almost all the greatest stars of Soviet cinema, for many of which this film became the best role in their careers.

The charges are being declared

The Soviet attempts to adapt Christie were concluded by our previous acquaintance Samson Samsonov, who, before the very breakup of the Soviet Union, released The Mousetrap (Мышеловка, 1990). This was an homage to Samsonov's friend, director and actor Vladimir Basov, who prepared the screenplay but died before the filming. Basov also produced two screen versions of J.B. Priestley's plays (Priestley was extremely popular in Soviet cinema, getting at least six adaptations), but, despite the obvious detective leanings in Priestley's works, Basov's adaptations are explicitly satiric "comedies of manners." The Mousetrap's screenplay was originally done in the similar vein. Samsonov, however, re-imagined the story into something similar to his own Purely English Murder, once again building a persuasive set of a snowbound mansion and depicting an imaginary England, where the hats and costumes of the 1950s can live together with the modern pop on the radio. Yet the age was now completely different, and what could succeed in the 1970s was in 1990 completely unnoticed, the film was even criticized for the insert of an unnecessary shower scene. Still, though secondary compared to Purely English Murder, The Mousetrap has a winning feature: it is shorter and easier to watch, and the absence of acting highlights is compensated by the effort of the ensemble, quite succeeding in bringing Christie's characters to life exactly as they were written, adding nothing extraneous. Thus, this undeservedly forgotten film drastically surpasses many of the entries previously discussed. Furthermore, as in England the adaptation of the stage play is banned as long as it remains on stage, the Soviet Mousetrap is, and perhaps will for a long time remain, the screen rendition of the story.

The murderer is among them

The final thing to be mentioned here is that the post-Soviet Russian attempts to adapt Christie are limited to the conceptual and extremely original, though with some drawbacks, Poirot's Misfortune (Неудача Пуаро), based on The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.