Currently reading
Excellent :)
Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination is a collection of assorted short stories, ranging from straight-up crime stories to detective tales and even some oddities that aspire toward the man who inspired his pen name.
The stories were varying levels of engaging, and none ever bored me or prompted me to skim or skip. I don't quite feel up to taking them one by one in this review since a few of them are deceptively simple. But I'll flag a few of my favorites.
The Psychological Test gives us a young man with a criminal bent who thinks he knows how to outsmart the police if he commits a crime. But he finds out that all his prep can't make up for a lack of one basic thing. I loved the way his smug self-confidence slowly eroded as he began to realize he might have been outmaneuvered despite all his preparation.
The Cliff sets up a story of manipulation and betrayal. But by the end, the question becomes who was the betrayer and who was betrayed. It was fascinating for the way it set up expectations and then twisted... and twisted... and TWISTED until things were pointed in the complete opposite direction.
Other favorites: The Hell of Mirrors and Two Crippled Men, but as I said, I liked them all and I think I'll be returning to this book regularly.
2