Dear Diary

Murder In The Crooked House by Soji Shimada

The Crooked House or the Ice Floe Mansion is a peculiar looking structure with a tower that looks like the Leaning Tower of Pisa with surfaces made of glass and an interior that resembles a maze in some ways. The lord of the manor, Kozaburo Hamamoto, was nearly seventy years old when he invited a group of guests to spend Christmas at his extraordinary home.

From the very first night, some of the guests experienced strange and frightening incidents. Others seemed doubtful about what they had witnessed, brushing the stories aside as imagination or misunderstanding. But while everyone was distracted by the growing tension and confusion, murder struck.

A murder inside a locked room is always an appealing premise for a mystery novel. When the second murder happened, once again inside a locked room, the police officers at the local precinct had no choice but to accept help from a fortune teller, Kiyoshi Mitarai.

He is also known as an eccentric detective and is accompanied by his friend, Kazumi Ishioka. I had almost forgotten just how quirky Kiyoshi is. He drives everyone in the household crazy with his behaviour, yet somehow continues to be several steps ahead of everyone else. Of course, he claims to know who the culprit is almost immediately which I was unwilling to believe. Hehe.😅

At that point, the mystery became even more intriguing. While reading this novel, I came across footage of legal expert discussing crime of passion. Some are born nasty, while others simply spend their lives waiting for the right opportunity to kill.

What fascinated me most about this story was the motive behind everything. I would never have imagined that someone could design and build an entire house with the sole purpose of killing one specific person. The sheer obsession behind such an idea is disturbing, yet strangely compelling from a fictional standpoint.

First published in 1982 in Japan. The unusual setting alone makes it enjoyable to read though.

Style

Saya ni bukanlah hamba fesyen atau begitu follow rapat tentang fesyen. Tapi perubahan fesyen sentiasa kita nampak depan mata. Nak tak nak, dalam hati mesti terdetik, emm...cantik jugak style ni.

Ini adalah antara style yang saya suka.

Fizikal atau Ebooks?

Walaupun jarang saya share pasal kindle tapi penggunaan kindle saya amat memberangsangkan. Hari-hari saya guna walaupun baca sekadar 1 muka. Di samping jangka hayat bateri yang panjang, saya boleh cari makna yang saya tak faham. Di samping boleh highlight perkara penting dalam pembacaan saya. Kindle ni memang my savior!

Ini simpanan Netgalley. Bahan bacaan percuma yang amat saya hargai. Dan takkan habis baca 😂. Masalah kalau jadi hoarders. Semua ni saya dah get through dan simpan hanya genre kegemaran saja - thriller/kontemporari. Walaupun akaun saya tak berapa cantik tapi tangan masih gatal nak download.😂

Edelweiss pun ada. Dalam 30 buah buku je. Netgalley lebih convenient bagi saya.

Tapi satu je saya masih dikategorikan sebagai seorang pembaca yang baca santai. Saya baca apa yang saya suka dan tanpa terikat dengan mana-mana pihak. Kalau sesiapa nak ajak berkolaborasi ok je dengan syarat-syarat biasa saya.

Racun

Ramai betul yang racun saya beli kobo 😂. Terima kasih sebab bersusah payah ya 😂. Tapi itulah saya sedang dalam proses tak ambil pot. Memang tempting. Irresistible what so ever tapi saya masih setia dengan kindle paperwhite yang dah berusia 4 tahun ni. Ada 1000+ ebooks dalam ni. Rasa sayang tu macam kalau terhantuk sikit memang saya menyumpah apakan lagi kalau terjatuh. 😂.

Saya sedang dalam usaha menghabiskan tbr. Sama ada fizikal dan ebooks. Walaupun pembacaan saya macam siput tapi saya percaya yang ia akan berkurang. Sudah terjual lebih 100 buku preloved di carousell. Ada 200+ lebih lagi yang dalam listing. Rak buku nampak macam penuh lagi tapi ada sikit space. Sanggup saya hiatus dari buat book review distributors yang paling saya sayang semata-mata nak kurangkan buku-buku saya. Mana tahu lagi dua tahun semua terjualkan? 😂

Untuk sahabat, buatlah pilihan bijak. Tak kisah kobo, kindle dan fizikal semuanya baik demi memajukan lagi ekonomi industri perbukuan kita.

PBAKL 2026

Semalam saya pegi PBAKL. Wow! Ramai giler manusia. Memang tak dinafikan budaya membaca masyarakat kita dah bertambah. Itu suatu petunjuk yang positif. Tapi yang sedih saya tak beli apa pun. Hihi😂.

Saja nak memeriahkan suasana. Itu pun dah happy sangat dapat jejakkan kaki ke sana.