The Kindaichi Case Files Volume 8- No Noose is Good Noose by Yozaburo Kanari and Fumiya Sato

Hajime Kindaichi is a genius, but he has no interest in school. What really captures his interest is Crime. Specifically, catching killers. This probably comes from his Grandfather, the justly famous detective Kosuke Kindaichi.

Now, because of his dislike of School, Kindaichi is suffering low grades, so his mother enrolls him in a prep school so that he stands a chance of getting into a good college. But the Prep School he has been sent to has a bad reputation and is known among the Students as "Hanging High". Indeed, on his first day, Kindaichi and a friend from his other school find a girl who has attempted to commit suicide by hanging herself. Luckily, they find her and cut her down in time, but Kindaichi is more than a little troubled by this talk of hangings.

Miyuki is quickly accepted into the school, but Kindaichi's grades are less than wonderful, so the teacher sets him a problem, which he solves instantly. She agrees to let him into her class on one condition: to find the real culprit who stole school test papers and hung a chicken over them and cut its throat as well, splattering the papers with blood. Rumors have blamed her for the deed, but she thinks that Kindaichi could find the true culprit, based on how quickly he solved the thought problem she gave him. The person supposedly behind it calls him or herself the "Komori Uta of Death", and a paper with the Kanji for "Ko" was found in the room.

Kindaichi agrees to do so, and is accepted into the school. But his new class has the girl who attempted to commit suicide in it, and she comes across as fairly crazy anyhow. But there is also a group of bullies who try to keep the other kids in line with intimidation, fear and pain.

With each night, there comes a new death, and Yoko Asano, the teacher who asked Kindaichi to look into the case, is blamed for each one. And with every death, another character spelling "Komori Uta" is found written on a sheet of paper, inscribed in chicken blood. But is she really the culprit, or is someone else to blame? Add to that the School's history as a prison and a place where chemicals were tested on humans, and the list of possible suspects is high indeed. But can Kindaichi solve the case before the "Komori Uta of Death" is finished? Or will he, too, become one of the victims?

This was a splendid mystery, with a stunning twist ending. Once again, Red Herrings abound, and several mysteries of the past are thrown up in the reader's way to confuse things. But this time, things are kept secret from the readers that prevent them from understanding what Kindaichi is seeing. This preserves the mystery, but doesn't allow you to work it out for yourself.

The big shocker here is the twist ending where Kindaichi finally unmasks the killer. And once again, after the end, Kindaichi offers understanding to the killer despite what Western eyes sees as a very sticky interpersonal problem. It's impossible to discuss here without giving away the ending, but Western eyes might feel that the feelings displayed by the killer are more Squicky than endearing. I was of two minds about it myself, but the killer is portrayed sensitively enough that it's not immediately off-Putting.

I love this series more with every volume I re-read, and I still have a very high opinion of it. It's well done, keeps you on the edge of your seat, and provides a satisfying mystery with plenty of twists and turns. Highly recommended.