The year is 1663, and Marco da Cola, the son of a Venetian merchant, travels to England to help his father with his business problems, where he makes friends, meets a fiery woman and encounters a mysterious murder...

Thus begins "The Case of the Pointing Sign."

Although the first part touches on the cultural gap between England and Venice and occasionally criticizes England, it is basically a depiction of the events that the good-natured Cora encounters in a foreign country from his perspective. You will be excited by his modern medical knowledge, such as "Oh no, what if I did that without that...!", and you will be interested in the lifestyles and customs of people at that time, and you will enjoy just this one chapter. Even while wondering, "Is this really the end?"

This book gets interesting after the first part ends and the second part begins. In the second part, the reader hears a character from the first part tell the narrator of the first part, Cora, who at first glance seems to be a good guy with no hidden agenda, that there was actually something he hadn't told her, and that there was another story that was unfolding without Cora's knowledge and was not included in the first part. The narrator of the second part also reads Cora's notes from the first part and shows some doubts about the contents of the notes. Yes, the element of an "unreliable narrator" that mystery fans love is inserted here. In the third part, a new narrator looks back on the series of events he experienced after reading the first and second parts, and the reader witnesses how the characters that were built up after reading the first and second parts are transformed by being seen in a new light by the new narrator. Furthermore, in the fourth part, the narrator of the third part is of course exposed to the eyes and evaluation of others.

I think one of the interesting parts of "The Case of the Pointing Sign" is this structure. The first part, which introduces the main characters surrounding the story and describes the outcome of the central incident, is, so to speak, the "problem section." Although it is a "problem section," this "problem section" is also a "solution section." Because the story is resolved for the time being. But then, it cannot be said that the second and third parts are the "true solution section." Actually, it is the "true solution section" for each narrator, but what they write as the "true solution section" is actually just one layer of many layers, and because they can only see things from their own perspective, they are unaware that there is actually a layer outside that they do not see. To meet the person who knows everything, the reader must wait for the "true solution section," the fourth part, which was written after reading parts one to three.

Due to this narrative structure, after reading the second part, you will inevitably want to read on to find out what "unrevealed things" will be revealed in the third part. Of course, there is no way you won't want to read the fourth part, where all the mysteries are revealed. And this fourth part is just so interesting. Not only does it give a neat and tidy conclusion to the three stories that have been told so far, but it also takes its hat off to the carefulness with which it hides a surprising truth in the last few pages, as if to put the finishing touches on it. This is a book that I hope will be read as a classic for a long time to come.

 

 

 

I grew up in Tohoku and moved to Osaka. I've lived there for quite a long time, but I can't speak the Kansai dialect. I've loved foreign literature since I was a child. I'm best at Japanese, English, Spanish, and French, in that order, but I'm not good at speaking any of them. Besides books, I also love movies, and I've made original covers for UMEDA TSUTAYA BOOKS for movie originals, and held a panel exhibition for "Parasite" and sold Korean literature. I would love to collaborate with any other movies I find interesting in the future. "The Three Braids," "Central Station," "Summer Outside," "Bel Canto," "Hidden Scream"...I've written reviews for many wonderful books so far. I'm going to continue to boldly ask, "Can I write reviews?" What I'm interested in now is the reprinting of out-of-print books. There are so many books I want to see resurrected, such as "Leaving Las Vegas" and "To the Friend Who Didn't Save My Life." I also love mysteries.

 

For more information on concierges, please see: UMEDA TSUTAYA BOOKS 's Concierges