"Akazukin, Tabi no Tochuu de Shitai to Deau" (Little Red Riding Hood encountered a corpse during her travels) by Aoyagi Aito. Four classic tales remixed with murder mysteries.
If you have always wondered why Cinderella's shoe only fits Cinderella and did not disappear with the rest of her outfit, this novel proposed one scenario where it all made sense. But more than that, it integrated that shoe as a critical clue in solving a murder case. This is the core of this novel, where a familiar feature of a well known tale becomes a key component of a murder mystery. First with Cinderella, then second chapter with Hansel and Gretel, third chapter with Sleeping Beauty, and final chapter with the Little Match Girl. Each brings a new perspective to classic tales, including how the earlier gifts bestowed to Sleeping Beauty might be quite practical, and how Hansel and Gretel might have quite a troubled family situation.
Little Red Riding Hood's own tale is included in the story, and actually is the one story that linked all the chapters together leading up to the final quest. The first three chapters were interesting and fun to read, but it was only when I got to the final chapter did I realize how all these early chapters fit into a master plan. It was a clever arrangement, and definitely made the story worth reading more than once.
There is a manga version of this book, which is reasonably faithful to the original but faster pacing in some aspects. And in late 2023, the first chapter got made into a live action movie. The movie diverged a bit in various plot details, but it's worth watching for the great costumes and all the comic moments with Barbara the witch. I would recommend watching the movie before reading the original novel.
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