The Detective Story of Clinical Criminologist Hideo Himura

*This article is about the novel series. For the drama of the same name, see Rinshō Hanzai Gakusha Himura Hideo no Suiri.*

***The Detective Story of Clinical Criminologist Hideo Himura*** (臨床犯罪学者 火村英生の推理, *Rinshō Hanzai Gakusha Himura Hideo no Suiri*, *lit.* "Clinical Criminologist Hideo Himura's Inference"), also conveniently known as the ***Himura Hideo series*** (「火村英生」シリーズ, *Himura Hideo shirīzu*) or the ***Writer Alice series*** (「作家アリス」シリーズ, *Sakka Arisu shirīzu*), is a series of Japanese detective mystery novels by Alice Arisugawa. Works containing a country name in the title, such as *The Russian Tea Mystery* and the like, are eponymously called the *Country Name* series (国名シリーズ, *Kokumei shirīzu*).

The main characters are the Sherlock-esque (detective) clinical criminologist Hideo Himura and the Watson-esque (writer) mystery author Alice Arisugawa. Regular investigative teams cooperate during crime incidents (almost always murder) from prefectural police headquarters in Osaka, Hyōgo, and Kyoto among others.

## Characters

### Main Characters

**Hideo Himura** (火村 (ひむら)  英生 (ひでお) , *Himura Hideo*)

Hideo Himura is an associate professor at the Department of Sociology at Eito University in Kyoto (assistant professor at the beginning of the series). He is somewhere between 32 to 34 years old, single, and plays the detective role in the series. He was born and raised in Sapporo City, Hokkaido, bereaved from his parents. He lives in an old-fashioned boarding house in Kita-shirakawa, Kyoto with his landlady Tokie Shinomiya (also known as "Grandma") and three pet cats. He is currently the only one renting in the boarding house.

He majored in sociology of criminal studies and, as part of his research, went to an actual murder scene as field work and resolved the case. He decided to become a criminologist because he had "wanted to kill a person". He once had a nightmare killing someone, revealing some glimpses of the dark past he possibly had, such as exhibiting behaviours akin to a murderer, or even trying to push away even his best friend Alice.

During his sophomore year in college, Himura read a manuscript (being) written by Alice during a lecture without his permission. Gradually, they became acquaintances and turned into best friends even after more than a dozen years. They consistently interact with each other to the point of visiting each other's house regardless of the case.

He has a Mercedes-Benz car on the verge of being scrapped, and he is a smoker, with a cigarette favourite brand of Camel. He is also a baritone that passes well, has a neat profile with a high nose, long legs, and an effeminate appearance. At work, Himura has apparent fans among students and women alike, though he himself is not interested in women.

Himura always dons his signature apparel ensemble of white jacket, dark shirt, slender tie, and black leather coat during the winter, and he wears black silk gloves at murder scenes. He has a habit of stirring his ragged hair with some young gray hair and tracing his lips with his index finger when thinking. Fluent in various languages, he speaks English, French, and German, and he claims that the latter two are most appropriate when asking for directions. Himura is also a thorough atheist.

Though infamous for having a rather bad attitude, he nevertheless has a good side especially towards his best friend Alice, with whom he has a casual relationship. There are also some instances when he displayed his gentle character, such as when he interacted affectionately with young boys and girls as well as when he usually buys (or returns) souvenirs for his boarding house landlady. However, he also has a polar opposite side, even to the point of making a *yakuza* opponent nervous.

**Alice Arisugawa** (有栖川 (ありすがわ)  有栖 (ありす) , *Arisugawa Arisu*)

Alice Arisugawa is Himura's best friend since their college days. His occupation is a writer, with an income within the average of a typical salaryman of the same age. Before becoming a full-time writer, he was a salesperson for a printing company. Assuming the role of Watson in this series, Alice is sometimes referred to as the "good and only person who can understand Himura". His age ranges from 32 to 34 years old, and he is single, standing at a height of 175 cm.

Born and raised in Osaka, he currently resides in a flat in Yūhigaoka, Tennōji-ku. His name is both a pseudonym and a real name given by his mother, and he is usually called "Alice" by Himura as a nickname, though this seems to be a contraction of his last name. He has a *ponkotsu* (or old) car that got for free from a senior writer. He is a rather ordinary young man with very common values, but he tends to talk passionately about mystery novels. He once gave a love letter to his classmate, a girl whom he had been infatuated with, but she had a suicide attempt on the night and is still in trauma.

Alice often accompanies Himura in the field as an assistant, writing about such genuine incidents indirectly in his novel stories. Whenever others come up with possibilities in crime scenes such as sophisticated tricks and complicated perpetrators, they are often rejected by Himura; however, in the process of denying Alice's out-of-the-box reasoning, certain truths behind the case are uncovered by process of elimination, with Himura claiming several times that Alice is useful as an assistant.

As Himura's best friend, Alice often witnesses the former's remark regarding his desire to kill people, as well as when the latter jerks from his nightmares. He vaguely thought that if he can, he would like to help him with this side of Himura, despite having — but also because Alice has — no idea of Himura's past.

### Osaka Prefectural Police

**Inspector Funabiki** (船曳 (ふなびき)  警部, *Funabiki Keibu*)
Recognised with his bald head, drum belly, and suspenders (though he calls them trousers), Inspector Funabiki is secretly called "Umibōzu" by his subordinates. He is one of the police personnel who relies on Himura's keen brain and reasoning skills, whom he usually consults during cases. Fubaniki is also friendly to Himura and Alice even at murder scenes, but he also shows a glimpse of his seriousness as a detective when confronting suspects and criminals.

**Assistant Inspector Sameyama** (鮫山 (さめやま)  警部補, *Sameyama Keibuho*)

With a scholarly appearance wearing silver-rimmed glasses, Assistant Inspector Sameyama is three years older than Alice and single. As part of the chief of staff, he is skilled in the investigation section. He has always been polite, especially with Himura, described by Alice as "treating him like a butler". Morishita, a junior of Sameyama, is conspicuously close with him as an education clerk. He is apparently not good during the hot weather.

**Keiichi Morishita** (森下 (もりした)  恵一 (けいいち) , *Morishita Keiichi*)
A young detective in his twenties, Keiichi Morishita was transferred from Abeno Police Station to the Osaka Prefectural Police. He is often criticised as "looking like a nuisance rather than a detective" because he always wears luxury Armani suits. He is a serious and justice-minded young man who is delighted to be a detective, but he is often reprimanded by Sameyama for his words and behaviour.

In "Red Hat", which is included in *The Persian Cat Mystery*, Morishita plays a leading role in place of Alice and Himura. This is due to two reasons: "Red Hat" was originally intended to be published in the Osaka Prefectural Police's internal magazine *Naniwa*, and the author had long wanted to spot Morishita.

**Chino** (茅野 (ちの) , *Chino*)
The opposite of Morishita, Chino is a strong detective from Funabiki's team. He has been described to have come from Akira Kurosawa's *Stray Dog*, as he usually uses a fan as he walks.

**Machiko Takayanagi** (高柳 (たかやなぎ)  真知子 (まちこ) , *Takayanagi Machiko*)
Like Morishita, Machiko Takayanagi is a female detective assigned to the Osaka Prefectural Police from Abeno Police Station. A 31-year-old sergeant, her criminal career and age is above Morishita. Her nickname is Komachi. She seems to be quite an alcohol drinker, and she is fond of watching recorded TV and rental DVDs, especially when she is tired from work and when she comes home.

### Hyōgo Prefectural Police

**Inspector Kabata** (樺田 (かばた)  警部, *Kabata Keibu*)
Inspector Kabata looks like a sharp detective, with a sharpened cheek, sharp nose, sharp eyes, and thin eyebrows. He is 180 cm tall and has a strong, beautiful voice. He is not involved in Nogami's bittnerness with Himura's reasoning; rather, he seems to be interested and sometimes amused with the latter. He finds it favourable for Himura to get involved in investigations and sometimes requests for his cooperation.

**Police Chief Nogami** (野上 (のがみ)  巡査部長, *Nogami Junsa-buchō*)
The detective known for beating up, Police Chief Nogami has an old face that does not seem to be in his forties. He looks more like an unfrightened middle-aged detective in a criminal drama. He shows his bitterness that Himura, a civilian, often comes to crime scenes, with whom he does not hide his attitude. However, when he made a blunder in the past, he attempted to submit his resignation, suggesting that he has a strong personality. He also has a particular side when it comes to coffee.

**Endō** (遠藤 (えんどう) , *Endō*)
Endō is known for his gentle father-like appearance.

### Kyoto Prefectural Police

**Inspector Yanai** (柳井 (やない)  警部, *Yanai Keibu*)
Inspector Yanai is a petite detective, with a height difference of as much as one head from Himura. His appearance is often described as "a bad-looking Fukusuke face". He also has a daughter.

### Publishing

**Mitsuo Katagiri** (片桐 (かたぎり)  光雄 (みつお) , *Katagiri Mitsuo*)
Mitsuo Katagiri is Alice's editor who belongs to the editorial department of Hakuyūsha. He is 33 years old and lives in Kichijōji He is well-acquainted with Alice, and, on business trips, he stays at the other's house. He is trying to get Himura to write interesting criminal material, but he has yet to succeed. He was a member of the flamenco guitar department during his college days (his stage name at the time was Paco Katagiri), and he still plays the guitar well.

**Sayoko Asai** (朝井 (あさい)  小夜子 (さよこ) , *Asai Sayoko*)
Sayoko Asai is a detective novelist and Alice's senior writer. She is 36 years old and single. A native woman who lives in Uzumasa, Kyoto, she has a brother-like relationship with Alice. After they are introduced to Himura, the three of them sometimes go drinking.

### Miscellaneous

**Saori Mano** (真野 (まの)  早織 (さおり) , *Mano Saori*)
Saori Mano is an English teacher at a girls' school and Alice's flat neighbour. She is 28 years old and single. A neat and beautiful woman with black, shoulder-length hair, she owns a canary that does not sing, which she sometimes leaves with Alice when she goes away on a trip.

**Tokie Shinomiya** (篠宮 (しのみや)  時絵 (ときえ) , *Shinomiya Tokie*)
Tokie Shinomiya is Himura's landlady. Succeeding her husband, she manages the boarding house alone. She is also fondly called "Grandma" by Himura and Alice.

**Jōichirō Inaba** (因幡 (いなば)  丈一郎 (じょういちろう) , *Inaba Jōichirō*)
A reporter from Toho Shimbun Department of Social Affairs, Jōichirō Inaba sniffs out that Himura and Alice are cooperating with the police and rarely tries to contact them for information that is not publicised.

**George Wolff** (ジョージ・ウルフ, *Jōji Urufu*)
Three years older than Himura, George Wolff is a colleague of Himura and lecturer in English at Eito University. He calls Himura by the nickname "Him", but Himura himself states that Him (coincidentally a homonym for hymn) is not suitable for an atheist like himself.

**Himura's Pet Cats**

* **Uritarō** (瓜太郎 (うりたろう) , *Uritarō*): A male cat kept in the boarding house where Himura lives, Uritarō was picked up by Tokie when he was a kitten. He is called "Uri-chan" by Tokie and "Uri" by Himura.
* **Kojirō** (小次郎 (こじろう) , *Kojirō*): Kojirō is Uritarō's brother, picked up by Himura on a rainy day. His head, back, and tail are black, and he is white from the chin to the tummy. Tokie calls him "Ko-chan", and Himura calls him "Kojirō".
* **Momo** (桃 (もも) , *Momo*, *lit.* "peach"): A strong and active female cat, Momo was picked up by Himura on a rainy March 3rd, and she was named by Tokie.

## Related Media

* *Rinshō Hanzai Gakusha Himura Hideo no Suiri*
* *Rinshō Hanzai Gakusha Himura Hideo no Suiri: Another Story*
* *Rinshō Hanzai Gakusha Himura Hideo no Suiri 2019*

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 作家アリスシリーズ — Wikipedia (Japanese)
2. ↑ *The English Garden Mystery*, Kodansha Bunko, 15 June 15 2000, p. 300
3. ↑ *The Persian Cat Mystery*, Kodansha Bunko, 15 June 2002, p. 307
4. ↑ *The Princess Sinks the Ship*, Kobunsha, 25 July 2008
5. ↑ *Linden House Murder*, Bungeishunjū, 25 August 2013, p. 87
6. ↑ "Rune Guidance, *The Russian Tea Mystery*, Kodansha Bunko, 15 July 1997, p.159
7. ↑ "Cats, Rain, and Assistant Professors", *The Persian Cat Mystery*, Kodansha Bunko, 15 June 2002, p. 297