raknovel Chapter 165 The God of Deduction in a New Era!
Chapter 165 The God of Deduction in a New Era!
Chapter 165 The God of Deduction in a New Era!
Saturday, June 9, 1980.
The alarm clock rang in the early morning, starting a beautiful day.
Jiang Liumei opened her slightly sleepy, hazy eyes and sat up in bed.
Jiang Liumei casually turned off the alarm clock that was pointing to eight o'clock, stretched, and walked into the bathroom in the room.
The slightly hot water flowed over every inch of her skin, completely dispelling any lingering drowsiness Jiang Liumei had felt, replacing it with a joyful mood to welcome a wonderful holiday.
I took a shower and dried my hair.
Jiang Liumei tied her hair back and walked downstairs.
The yellow and white "Watson" seemed to have heard Jiang Liumei wake up downstairs long ago.
Like a well-behaved baby, it sat downstairs with its food bowl in its mouth, wagging its tail and looking at Jiang Liumei with expectant eyes.
Jiang Liumei saw "Watson" holding a rice bowl in his mouth, tilting his head and looking at her with a fawning expression.
I knew perfectly well that my dad, mom, and sister must have gone out.
Otherwise, given her younger sister Jiang Liumei's mischievous and naughty personality...
Watson would definitely become the target of his sister's bullying; it's impossible for him to be sitting here quietly, begging for food.
Jiang Liumei smiled and patted "Watson's" head, then led "Watson" into the kitchen to prepare breakfast for herself.
I took two slices of toast from the refrigerator and toasted them with butter until they were golden brown.
Whisk together milk and eggs to make perfect scrambled eggs, add shrimp and cheese, and sandwich with toast. Serve with a bottle of blueberry ramune soda and a handful of mixed nuts, and a simple breakfast is ready!
Jiang Liumei cut off the edges of the toast and fed it to "Watson". She also filled Watson's food bowl with dog food and water.
Once everything is ready.
Jiang Liumei settled onto the sofa with her plate, eating a scrambled egg and shrimp sandwich while reading the latest issue of the Mystery Daily: "The All-Round Mystery Master, the youngest million-copy bestselling author in Japanese mystery history, Maijo Kyosuke's debut novel, *The Tokyo Zodiac Murders*, has already surpassed 640,000 copies sold!"
"The latest work, 'Summer of the Ubume,' has already achieved total sales of 400,000 copies! And all of this was accomplished in just twenty-three days!"
"It's hard to believe that Mr. Maijo Kyosuke is only twenty-four years old this year, to have achieved such remarkable results."
"The first winner of the Edogawa Ranpo Prize, a scholar of classical Chinese studies, a titan of mystery fiction commentary, and the master Kazutaro Nakajima."
"Thirty days ago, the mystery commentary collection 'The Mystery Handbook' was published. Although its total sales did not match those of Mr. Maijo Kyosuke's 'The Tokyo Zodiac Murders' and 'The Summer of the Ubume,' it still reached an astonishing 200,000 copies!"
Jiro Akagawa, the "master of humorous mystery," has once again broken the record for the most books published by a single author in a single month. In just 31 days this January, he published seven novels and six short mystery stories, truly deserving his title as the fastest-growing mystery writer in history!
"Master of mystery commentary, Mr. Manji Gonda, was invited by Tokuma Shoten to contribute articles to their monthly magazine, *Problem Fiction*."
Philosophical mystery critic "Mr. Kiyoshi Kasai" sacrificed himself for love, single-handedly engaging in a fierce debate with a group of scholars! He dealt a heavy blow to all Japanese writers who smeared Kyosuke Maijo!
The "battle of critics sparked by philosophical mystery critic Kiyoshi Kasai" has entered a heated phase. Although the outcome was already predetermined, when this battle will end depends on when Mr. Kasai has had his fill of rants.
"The Third Statute of Limitations, a police mystery novel by Mr. Kyosuke Maijo, published in the fourth issue of the magazine *Top Hat*."
"Not only did it win the hearts of the people, but it also received commendation from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department!"
Mr. Hayate Mikami, Chief of the Life Safety Planning Division at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Headquarters, has publicly stated that he is a fan of the books by author Kyosuke Maijo.
"I really hope that Mr. Maijo Kyosuke can create more police mystery novels," a niche genre, bringing us more wonderful police mystery novels.
"The short story mystery magazine 'Fiction Mystery,' published by Takarajimasha, has announced today that it will cease publication due to a tenfold drop in sales and under immense pressure!"
"Last year (1979), he won the 32nd Japan Mystery Writers Association Award for 'The Visitor' and the 81st Naoki Prize for 'Unconventional Mystery Writer' for 'Napoleon's Madness'." - Takashi Atoda!
"His latest work, 'Dream Judgment,' has been published for twenty days. It's just a pity that it was preceded by 'Mystery Handbook' by Kazutaro Nakajima and followed by 'Summer of the Ubume' by Kyosuke Maijo."
"Although the book 'Dream Judgment' has sold over 100,000 copies, it has not yet reached the groundbreaking success of 'Napoleon's Madness' last year."
Jiang Liu Meili read eight headlines that dominated the front page and was surprised to find that five of them were closely related to Maishiro Kyosuke!
This powerful exposure and immense popularity made Jiang Liumei's lips curl into a smile, her heart filled with excitement!
After all, Maishiro Kyosuke was his partner, friend, and there was even a hint of ambiguity between them.
Seeing that Maishiro Kyosuke has gained so much attention and finally made a name for himself, Jiang Liu Meili is truly happy for Maishiro Kyosuke!
He stuffed the remaining small piece of the scrambled egg and shrimp sandwich into his mouth.
Jiang Liumei brushed the toast crumbs off her hands.
I picked up the monthly magazine published by Bungei Shunju, "Monthly Shunju BEST10".
Jiang Liu Meili actually dislikes Bungei Shunju Publishing Co., Ltd. because in the field of mystery novels, Bungei Shunju Publishing Co., Ltd. has conflicts with her former employer, Hayakawa Shobo, and her current employer, Kodansha.
In the world of manga, Bungei Shunju is also a major competitor to its mother company, Futabasha.
Therefore, Jiang Liumeili dislikes the Bungei Shunju Publishing House, both from a personal emotional perspective and from her personal standpoint.
They are also quite averse to buying Bungei Shunju magazines and books.
However, Bungei Shunju is, after all, the leading publishing house in Japan. Whether in terms of company size or influence, it is the top of the Japanese publishing industry!
This excellence is reflected in their strong statistical survey capabilities.
The thin magazine "Monthly Bunshun BTST10" that Jiang Liumei is holding in her hand right now, with only forty pages, is the "treasure of the company" of Bungei Shunju Publishing House!
Don't be fooled by the fact that this "Monthly Bunshun BEST10" only has forty pages; it has maintained an incredibly high circulation of 600,000 copies per month since 1970!
But none of that is the most important thing. The most important thing is that Monthly Bunshun BEST10 is not a mystery novel magazine, and it does not publish any type of mystery novel. It is actually a monthly mystery bestseller list.
The sales charts are divided into two categories: one is the overseas version, which is the sales chart of mystery works from all over the world, excluding Japan.
The other type is the domestic mystery novel sales chart, which is a mystery novel sales chart limited to Japan.
In short, this 40-page "Monthly Bunshun BEST10" only has two pages of sales rankings.
If you include both sides, you can get it done with just one sheet of paper. The remaining nineteen sheets of paper are all from GG who charged exorbitant prices!
Yet this list, which seems like a "fraud," costs a whopping two thousand yen per issue!
It's worth noting that the magazine "Top Hat" founded by Jiang Liumei is almost five times thicker than this "Monthly Bunshun BEST10"!
It only costs 500 yen!
Despite her dislike for it, Jiang Liumei, as an editor-in-chief in the industry, absolutely cannot miss the bestseller list of mystery novels, "Monthly Bunshun BEST10".
Looking at the sales charts of Monthly Bunshun BEST 10 is practically a "must-do" for every publisher, president, department head, editor-in-chief, and editor!
Without looking at the authoritative and unbiased sales ranking of "Monthly Bunshun BEST10", one cannot know the recent trends in the industry!
To put it more bluntly, Monthly Bunshun BEST10 is not aimed at the general public, but at industry professionals!
This is a trendsetter for mystery novels. If a novel can be included in the BSTE10 list, its exposure and sales will experience a qualitative leap!
Even industry insiders agree that the influence of the Monthly Bunshun BEST10 list is no less than that of the Mystery Writers of Japan Award or the Edogawa Ranpo Award!
If one can make it onto the Monthly Bunshun BEST 10 list, it is certainly an honor worth being proud of.
Jiang Liumei took a deep breath and opened the "Monthly Bunshun BEST10" magazine.
Among a massive amount of GG (Golden Gossip), I found the first of two actual images from "Monthly Bunshun BEST10".
Top 10 best-selling overseas mystery novels:
1. Agatha Christie's "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" (Hachette Publishing), 174,000 copies sold this month.
2. Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None (HarperCollins), 156,000 copies sold this month.
3. Raymond Chandler's "The Long Goodbye" (Wolfenstein), 143,000 copies sold this month.
4. Agatha Christie's "The Curtain" (Random House), 123,000 copies sold this month.
5. Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express (Random House), 107,000 copies sold this month.
6. Ellery Queen's "The Tragedy of X" (Macmillan), 98,000 copies sold this month.
7. Dixon Carr's "The Judas Window" (Macmillan), 97,000 copies sold this month.
8. Dashiel Hammett's Bloody Harvest (Wolfenstein), 93,000 copies sold this month.
9. Lawrence Block's "Walking Through the Shadow of Death" (Wolverhampton), 90,000 copies sold this month.
10. Arthur Conan Doyle's "A Study in Scarlet" (Wolverhampton), 89,000 copies sold this month.
After reading the list of the top 10 best-selling overseas mystery novels compiled by Monthly Bunshun, Jiang Liumei couldn't help but sigh.
Because the overseas mystery novel charts offer almost no surprises, ever since the passing of the "three great masters of classic mystery fiction."
Western mystery fiction, or rather global mystery fiction, has become sluggish. The lists are filled with the same few people: Agatha Christie, the "Queen of Mystery," Dixon Carr, the "King of Locked Room Mysteries," and Eller Riquin, the "King of Logic."
Lawrence Block, who occasionally appears on the list, is already a 62-year-old author.
Therefore, the "Monthly Bunshun BEST10" list, the top 10 best-selling overseas mystery novels, is less a sales ranking and more a guide to reading mystery novels from Europe and America.
If you want to understand Western mystery fiction, then you absolutely can't go wrong by following these examples!
Thinking of all this, Jiang Liumei continued to flip through "Monthly Bunshun BEST10" to find the remaining local list.
As the domestic sales chart of Monthly Bunshun BEST10 came into view, Jiang Liumei's eyes were drawn to it.
Jiang Liumei was so excited she almost cried out!
Because the top two spots on the list were occupied by names that were most familiar to him!
1. Kyosuke Maijo's "The Tokyo Zodiac Murders" (Kodansha), sold 640,000 copies last month.
2. Kyosuke Maijo's "Summer of the Ubume" (Kodansha), sold 400,000 copies last month.
3. Jiro Akagawa's "The Three-Colored Cat Detective Case 1" (Kobunsha), sold 350,000 copies last month.
4. Nishimura Hisayuki's "Kimi, Cross the River of Wrath" (Takarajimasha), sold 320,000 copies last month.
5. Seicho Matsumoto's "The Sand Vessel" (Shinchosha), sold 300,000 copies last month.
6. Tsumabu Awasaka's "Out of Control Toys" (Kobunsha), sold 250,000 copies last month.
7. Makoto Tendo's "The Great Kidnapping" (Kobunsha), sold 243,000 copies last month.
8. Seiichi Morimura's "The Blind Spot in the High-Rise" (Bungei Shunju), with a sales volume of 235,000 copies last month.
9. Kazutaro Nakajima's "Mystery Handbook" (Bungei Shunju), sold 207,000 copies last month.
10. Takao Tsuchiya's "Heaven Is Too Far Away" (Kodansha), sold 203,000 copies last month.
Although Jiang Liumei knew very well that Maishiro Kyosuke could achieve a million sales in just 23 days with only two books, "The Astrological Murder Magic" and "Summer of the Ubume".
It was inevitable that it would make it onto the local sales chart of Monthly Bunshun BEST 10.
But when she saw that both first and second place were Maijo Kyosuke, Eri covered her mouth in a daze!
A versatile mystery writer? A mystery genius? The youngest million-copy mystery author in history? The future of classic mystery fiction?
If these adjectives were applied to other people, Jiang Liumei would definitely think it was false advertising.
But when these adjectives were applied to Maijo Kyosuke, they did not arouse any suspicion from Eri Ryumi!
On the contrary, Jiang Liumei felt that these titles were not worthy of being given to Maishiro Kyosuke!
Because if Jiang Liu Meili were to give Mai Shiro Jingjie a title, it would definitely be "The Myth of the Founding of a School of Mystery".
I
"The father of the new orthodox school of mystery!"
"The God of Deduction who ends the old era and ushers in a new one!"