Detective Conan 30

Gosho Aoyama – Viz – 2009 – 64+ volumes
Detective Conan=Case Closed, I just like the way Detective Conan sounds a little better

Since Aoyama seems to be fond of volume number achievements, I was secretly hoping that Jimmy would make an appearance here.  He does, sort of, but only for a couple panels as part of a strange daymare Rachael experiences.  Aoyama celebrated the 30-volume landmark with a special story featuring a variety of detectives that were homages to other detectives.  I believe one of them was a character from his Kaito Kid series (which I only guessed because it was a Kaito Kid story), and Aoyama points out in the back that Harufumi Mogi was a tribute to Humphrey Bogart.  Mogi acted the part (I was fond of the line “’cause your life didn’t amount to a hill of beans”), but it was also a pun name since Mogi=Bogey.  I’m sad I didn’t pick up on any of the others.  I really like the pun names, but I’ve never figured any of them out myself.

Better than the tribute characters was the fact that the story is an adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel “And Then There Were None.”  Both feature a group of strangers called to a mansion by a mysterious person, both have house staff hired through indirect means (Christie uses letters, Aoyama uses a computer), both have the group realize the common link when all the people assemble and talk, both feature a dinner where a recording explains the intent, both feature a… rhyme, of sorts, that sets up the plot, both feature the individuals dropping one by one through different means of murder (and they both use the same situation exactly for the first victim), both feature the same red herring, and the ending to And Then There Were None is even used, to great effect.  The Detective Conan version continues on past the novel’s ending.  It has a much different plot, and it lays an extra thread or two along the way to be picked up later.

I enjoyed this mystery immensely since And Then There Were None is still one of my favorite books, but I’m sure it’s not quite as exciting if you’re not waiting for the inevitable outcome.  It’s still good even without that connection though, especially when Detective Moore’s role is revealed at the end.  I got a huge kick out of that.  Also, part of the plot involved characters in the past smoking weed and getting dangerously hopped up on PCP or acid or something.  I was pretty amused by that considering this is a Shounen Sunday comic.

Later, there’s a strangely violent mini-mystery starring George that was good because George was genuinely threatened.  The ending made me smile.  The children aren’t my favorite part, but they still have their good points every now and again.

There’s a train murder involving a handcuffed suspect under police custody at the beginning of the book.  I liked this one too.  There weren’t very many options for committing the murder, so there was a very specific way it had to happen with only a couple people that could have pulled it off.  It was a spot-who’s-lying kind of puzzle, except as usual we don’t really get all the important facts to figure it out ourselves until Conan explains it.  I like it anyway.  Admittedly, this case was pretty close to the bus one we had a couple volumes back.

There’s most of another case involving pottery, a clear suspect, motive, and method of killing.  It’s an issue of evidence, and it’ll probably be finished off in one chapter next volume.

In short, this was the “And Then There Were None” volume and was worth reading even if there was absolutely no plot development.  Again.