Actually, I mentioned this book earlier in 2016 on the Forum.
I've repeated the post in case you missed it:
"This ingenious crime novel by Soji Shimada was published back in 1981, and only translated into English in 2004.
The book became quite rare and expensive on the 2nd hand market.
Fortunately, it was reprinted in September 2015.
I finally finished my copy last week while taking a break downunder.
The opening lengthy chapter appears to be intentionally off-putting. And defies the usual convention of hooking the reader.
I actually thought - what is this ludicrous astrological crap?
Fortunately, I persevered and kept on reading.
The author provides several 'murder' diagrams and a family tree . The latter is very helpful as I had problems distinguishing female and male names. (My daughter who has studied Japanese and has visited the country says , in fact, that once you become familiar with Japanese you can easily differentiate between male and female names.)
Well, all those out there in Genii land, if you are interested in classic detective fiction and bizarre locked room mysteries and impossibilist crimes - then you will enjoy this book."
Here's also a useful link to Japanese crime fiction.
http://www.criminalelement.com/blogs/20 ... g-in-japan