Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Ten Sides to Every Story

The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji

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A group of university students who are also fans of mystery novels travels to a desert island where a horrific act of violence recently took place. The students, who all refer to each other by nicknames derived from Golden Age mystery novelists, take a macabre interest in the crime and in the unusual house where they are staying. Designed by a mad architect who perished in the violence, the Decagon House is ten-sided, with ten of everything inside, from rooms to coffee cups. In a […]

And then there were…

The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji

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I’m not really into classic detective fiction. While I definitely enjoy a mystery and a puzzle (ooh, and a murder!) in whatever I read, I’ve not once had the urge to pick up a Sherlock Holmes novel, and only vaguely know about Agatha Christie’s famous stories. In fact, while The Decagon House Murders is loosely based on Christie’s And Then There Were None, I only knew about the latter’s infamously racist original title, nothing about the story itself. Decagon is, as I learned, a prime example […]

Not a Great Homage to And Then There Were None

The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji

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Have to say that in the end I was disappointed. You tell me that this book is a homage to “And Then There Were None” and it ends up just being kind of a mess with an ending that was nothing like that book. It didn’t help that Ayatsuji had some of the book following two other characters so you don’t stay on the island with the characters who are being picked off one by one. I do like that we were given a glossary […]



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