Even before I became an author, I was a fan of “A Taxonomy of Mystery Tricks.” I remember getting chills while reading it at the press club. —Yō Sano

Of course, it’s a bit spoilerific on tricks, but for someone who enjoys the puzzle-element of detectives, this is a must-read. —Ho-Ling Wong

In 1949, Japanese author Edogawa Rampo read John Dickson Carr’s “Locked Room Lecture,” and was inspired to create a comprehensive catalog of tricks from mystery fiction. To do so, he combined his existing collection of notes on British and American mystery novels with an ambitious short story reading project. He took notes on the contents of about a dozen Western short story collections, reread nearly every issue of the major Japanese mystery magazines, and supplemented his personal catalog with examples provided by enthusiasts from the Mystery Writer’s Club. In the end, he was able to divide the tricks from 821 different stories into over 100 different categories.

Rampo’s original intention was to write a complete book according to his taxonomical scheme, with detailed discussions on the history and development of each trick. However, he ultimately did not have the time or inclination to reread every book, and so ended up publishing only a minimal skeleton. Nevertheless, “A Taxonomy of Tricks” is a uniquely comprehensive look on mystery fiction as it existed in mid-20th century Japan, and a treasure trove of information on the tricks used in golden age mysteries.

Edogawa Rampo (1894-1965), born Tarō Hirai, is known as the “Father of Japanese Mystery.” His debut work, 1922’s “The Two-Sen Copper Coin, is generally considered the very first honkaku, or “orthodox,” mystery, and his other works include the first Japanese locked room, “Murder on D-Hill,” and the first inverted mystery, “The Psychological Test.” This led to him becoming perhaps the first full-time mystery author in Japan. Later on, he wrote many influential erotic and grotesque works, like The Black Lizard and “The Human Chair”, as well as popular books for children, as part of the Boy Detectives Club series. He also influenced the genre as a critic, and as founder of the Mystery Writer’s Club, which would later become Mystery Writers of Japan.