The Crime Dedicated to Hideo Himura

***The Crime Dedicated to Hideo Himura*** (火村英生に捧げる犯罪, *Himura Hideo ni Sasageru Hanzai*) is a collection of Japanese short stories by Alice Arisugawa in his Himura Hideo series.

## Plot Overviews

"**The Long Shadow**" (長い影, *Nagai Kage*)

     (First published on *Ōru Yomimono*, November 2004 issue)

A body, believed to be dead, was found in an abandoned factory. The victim appears to have had his neck tied with a string from the doorknob, his hands and feet tied, and his mouth covered with tape. There are three witnesses: a husband who lives near the factory who saw a figure leave the factory after 11 p.m. and left quickly; his wife who looked out of the window and saw a long shadow extended on the street for one or two seconds; and a man in the neighborhood on his way home who says he did not see a shadow pass by.

Why did the culprit who had killed the victim around 10 o'clock stay at the scene of the crime until after 11 o'clock? The police, who had been monitoring the victim's past, notice the victim's name surface as a suspect 16 years ago when a statute of limitations was filed. However, the man who seems to be the companion of the victim had an alibi at the time of this crime.

"**The Parrot**" (鸚鵡返 (おうむがえ) し, *Ōmugaeshi*)

     (First published on mobile site, "Yukito Ayatsuji × Alice Arisugawa J-Mystery Club", October 2004)

There was a murder case that seemed to be a grudge. There was a witness at the scene, who repeatedly spoke of the criminal's name — a parrot. "*Hanninha, Takaura*". When the investigation started, it is found that there was a person named Takaura, who had a criminal motive and no alibi. During the investigation, another suspect was named. Both the criminal and alibi are at the same level as Takaura and have no decisive factor. Which one took on the victim?

"**Or the Shifū-sō Murder Case**" (あるいは四風荘殺人事件, *Aruiwa Shifū-sō Satsujin Jiken*)

     (First published on *Ōru Yomimono*, November 2005 issue)

After the death of Jūchin Satonaka, a scholar known for writing bone-based reasoning novels against the background of social issues, his daughter sends Alice a request. Alice and his editor Katagiri, who saw the request to be out of their control, visit Himura's lab and give an overview of the incident. It was a mystery of two murders that occurred on Christmas at a wealthy house called "Shifū-sō", with three separate houses of the main house surrounding all sides of a circular garden.

"**The Story of Killing and Goodwill**" (殺意と善意の顛末, *Satsui to Zen'i no Tenmatsu*)

     (First published on mobile site, "Yukito Ayatsuji × Alice Arisugawa J-Mystery Club", February 2003)

A man who moved from Room 203 to Room 901 in the same apartment building has been murdered. He had been invited to Room 203, but the fingerprints of the culprit, who had never been to Room 901, were found in Room 901. He claims that he should never have fingerprints in Room 901 because he had worn gloves. He tells Himura that it was out of good intentions for the victim.

"**The False Pair**" (偽りのペア, *Itsuwari no Pea*)

     (First published on mobile site, "Yukito Ayatsuji × Alice Arisugawa J-Mystery Club", December 2002)

A female college student in Kyoto was stabbed to death by a man waiting in an apartment. The victim was trying to part from the man whom she had met and started dating while traveling. In the victim's room, there was a photograph of her and a man in matching T-shirts on the southern island. The culprit had disposed of what he knew about this, so, when the police searched for the man using the photograph as a clue, they could not find him at all. Looking for the man from a different angle with Himura's advice, he is easily found, leading to his arrest from evidence and eyewitness testimony.

"**The Crime Dedicated to Hideo Himura**" (火村英生に捧げる犯罪, *Himura Hideo ni Sasageru Hanzai*)

     (First published on *Ōru Yomimono*, February 2008 issue)

At Alice's house, a human agent calls out his plagiarism and asks him to come to Tokyo to talk, but Alice refuses because the allegations were unfounded. Meanwhile, a letter challenging Associate Professor Himura, who is unable to move as an exam supervisor at the university, reaches the Osaka Prefectural Police. The letter states a warning as if it would harm a child, and he is asked to be careful, but he does not understand the purpose of the challenge. Furthermore, he has no freedom at work in the university in the first place. At that time, the body of a beheaded woman was found in Kyoto, and police launch an investigation. In addition, an incident occurs in which desks were taken out of the classroom and arranged in the form of a "5" in the schoolyard of an elementary school in Osaka. The second and third letters, a challenge letter to Himura that arrived at the Osaka Prefectural Police, and a phone call to Alice that was unrecognizable — what exactly is the crime dedicated to the challenged Himura? Alice tells Himura of an unpleasant phone call, and after a while, Alice is told to visit the headquarters of the investigation into the case in Kyoto on Himura's behalf.

"**A Murderous Room**" (殺風景な部屋, *Sappūkeina Heya*)

     (First published on mobile site, "Yukito Ayatsuji × Alice Arisugawa J-Mystery Club", November 2004–January 2005)

A man's body is found stabbed in an empty basement surrounded by untapped concrete. He tried to call for help before he died, held his cell phone in his hand, and laid a weapon in his chest on his back. The victim seemed to have been making money from a petition, and there are four suspects. When the train stopped due to heavy rain and the stranded Himura was told via telephone of the situation at the scene and the culprit's profile, the culprit is found. Why did Himura not see the scene and find out who was responsible for the body found in the empty basement?

"**Thunderstorm in the Garden**" (雷雨の庭で, *Raiu no Niwa de*)

     (First published on *Ōru Yomimono*, July 2008 issue)

A second-generation manager of a taxi company in Kobe is found dead at the feet of an angel statue in his garden by his wife, who had returned home in the morning. He was killed immediately by a bang on the head, but no weapon has been found. There was a thunderous heavy rain last night, so all the footprints in the garden were erased. The victim also wore rain feathers and found gloves in his pocket, but his wife had no idea that he would work outdoors.

The victim was often in trouble with his neighbor. Since his wife's infidelity was discovered, the act of a one-sided paranoid raising a complaint on the neighbor's house is extremely inconvenient. The neighbor is a popular broadcast writer who had partnered with a woman in Tokyo. On the evening of the incident, he had a meeting with his partner using a personal computer while looking at each other's faces. After the assistant came back, there were testimonies that the three of them had been meeting, but had no suspicious behavior.

## Trivia

* Amounting to eight short stories, this collection has the most number in the Himura Hideo series.

## References

1. ↑ 作家アリスシリーズ — Wikipedia (Japanese)
2. ↑ 有栖川有栖「火村英生（作家アリス）シリーズ」『火村英生に捧げる犯罪』あらすじとほんのりネタバレ感想 — I Want to Solve All Mysteries (Japanese)