Lakeside

Read Lakeside (湖邊凶殺案) of Keigo Higashino (東野圭吾) during the weekend.

Yes, that's the same author of the TV series Galileo (神探伽利略) and the movie Yōgisha X no Kenshin (容疑者Xの獻身) - both of which I did not have a chance to watch.

But, the Lakeside is good. It has the typical layout of "plot-within-a-plot", which - to my knowledge - was first used by Agatha Christie in Murder on the Links. The trick is no doubt the favorite of Higashino, and he plays it well this time. (I shall turn a blind eye to its so-called ambition in sociological meaning that so many book critics put forward. It is parsley on the dish - it looks good, gives a bit of flavour, but most of us would put it aside before swallowing the fish down our throat.)

One of the best plots built out of this framework was The Tragedy of W (W的悲劇) by Natsuki Shizuko (夏樹靜子), yet another Japanese novelist. Ironically, the Tragedy has a superb plot clumsily told, while Higashino has his story brilliantly presented - although I think he could have made the water a bit deeper.

(How about that teacher - making use of his students as a blind ?)