“… outstanding… one of the funniest and cleverest novels of its type to hit the English-language market in years.” Publishers Weekly The 8 Mansion, so called because its owner Kikuo Hachisuka, constructed it in the shape of a figure 8, is the scene of two gruesome crossbow murders. First Kikuo’s son, and then another resident who witnessed the first murder, are slaughtered in seemingly impossible circumstances. The crimes are investigated by Inspector Kyozo and his accident-prone assistant Kinoshita, but they are actually solved by his brother Shinji, who delivers a “quasi-locked-room lecture” reminiscent of John Dickson Carr’s Dr. Fell. Takemaru Akibe was, with Yukito Ayatsuji and Rintaro Norizuki, one of the founders of the shin honkaku movement. The 8 Mansion Murders, published in 1989 was the third in the series of path-breaking books which launched the renaissance of Golden Age style detective fiction in Japan. Locked Room International translates and publishes the works of international impossible crime authors past and present. For information about signed and lettered editions of all living authors please contact pugmire1@yahoo.com or go to www.mylri.com.

我孫子武丸（Abiko Takemaru），本名鈴木哲，1962年10月7日生於兵庫縣西宮市。與綾辻行人、法月綸太郎等人同屬京都大學推理小說研究會出身的推理名家。1989年以《8的殺人》出道，作品包括『速水三兄妹』系列、『人偶』系列等風格詼諧或從女性角度出發的輕鬆推理，另外也有《腐蝕之街》、《殺戮之病》等風格沈重、佈局意外之作。此外他也參與漫畫創作，著有《超能之手》、《半熟探偵團》、《迷彩都市》；並擔任電玩『恐怖驚魂夜』系列的監修或編劇，頗受好評。創作之餘，他也曾擔任日本推理電視節目的智庫。