8 Mysteries to Unravel After Uketsu's STRANGE PICTURES

Welcome back to Scare Me! a weekly horror newsletter. Today, we’re talking about Strange Pictures and Strange Houses, a pair of locked room mysteries by an enigmatic author.

In March 2024, the London Book Fair was abuzz with literary deal-making. For those in the horror and crime spaces, one idiosyncratic mystery author stood out: Uketsu.

What do we know about Uketsu? Not much. His YouTube channel hosts just 50 videos but has attracted nearly 1.8M followers. He’s always clad in a white mask and black body stocking. His voice is digitally distorted. His name and identity are completely unknown.

Despite Uketsu’s anonymity, his wildly successful novels were ready for the world stage:

For me, the hype held up. Strange Pictures and Strange Houses are equal parts eerie and zany. Both novels simulate the experience of stumbling across something disquieting that you can’t help but unravel.

In Strange Pictures, a child’s drawing hints at a dark history that manifests in blog posts, sketches, and crudely drawn maps. Strange Houses is more akin to the journalistic investigation that drives Koji Suzuki’s Ring, as Uketsu (our first-person narrator) investigates an abnormal home his friends briefly considered buying.

I finished Strange Houses on the plane home from my most recent work trip, and I was delighted to find that it includes a brief translator’s note by Jim Rion.

“I first read Strange Houses in 2022, not long after finishing my translation of The Devil’s Flute Murders by Seishi Yokomizo,” Rion begins. “Anyone who has read both might well recognize certain connections between the two—both in atmosphere and distinct plot points—and I immediately sensed that this rapidly rising star, Uketsu, was worth watching.”

Although Uketsu’s novels have been discussed alongside other horror titles, Rion’s note confirmed something I suspected—that these stories were built on and are in conversation with a deeper tradition of both Western and Japanese locked room mysteries. Uketsu’s mysteries balance the subgenre’s unique blend of total rationality with absurdism.

Since Strange Buildings won’t be out until February, I’ve gathered a few recommendations to help tide us all over.

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Yukito Ayatsuji’s Bizarre House Mysteries

My journey into Japanese locked room mysteries began in 2021. That’s when I first encountered Yukito Ayatsuji’s Bizarre House series, starting with his 1987 debut, The Decagon House Murders. The gorgeous cover, designed by Jo Walker, drew me in immediately:

The Decagon House Murders is a high-wire walk of a novel. In it, a group of university students travel to a remote island for their mystery club’s annual retreat. But when one of their party is murdered, their lives depend on identifying which of their peers holds a violent grudge. Ayatsuji deftly navigates complicated locked room logic and a postmodern intertextual conversation with Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. It quickly became a bestseller, kicking off resurgence of interest in locked room mysteries within Japan.

I enjoyed The Decagon House Murders, but I loved Ayatsuji’s sequel, The Mill House Murders (1988). Detective Kiyoshi Shimada returns, this time joining a weekend retreat at the mountain estate of a deceased artist. The artist’s reclusive son opens the mansion to his father’s devotees once per year—but this year, the occasion is marred by a devastating art heist and a seemingly impossible murder.

This story is both gorier than Decagon and somehow cozier—figures disappear down long corridors, mysterious footsteps creak in empty rooms, sinister incinerators lurk in the basement, and threatening notes appear unexpectedly. It feels like it could be the setting of a Resident Evil game, puzzle rooms and all.

This is also a good place to admit that I’m pretty impatient with riddles, but still find these fun. I just picked up The Labyrinth House Murders and am looking forward to reading it as a reward for finishing House of Leaves.

Ayatsuji himself is a colorful figure: He’s a founding member of the Honkaku Mystery Writers Club of Japan, which is dedicated to the development of “orthodox” mysteries and announces annual awards for writers working within the tradition. Which brings me to…

Seishi Yokomizo’s Kosuke Kindaichi Series

Four decades before Ayatsuji arrived on the detective fiction scene, Seishi Yokomizo was writing novels that would become classics of the genre.

In 1946, he published The Honjin Murders and introduced readers to detective Kosuke Kindaichi. The socially awkward, scruffy sleuth went on to star in 76 subsequent novels, many of which were adapted for film and television.

Set in a wealthy family’s rural estate, The Honjin Murders takes place over several days during an ill-fated wedding. Yokomizo masterfully weaves a baffling and bloody crime story with reflections on Japan’s shifting class dynamics, traditional koto music, and lush natural beauty. Without spoiling anything, the solution for this one was wild. Absolutely unhinged, but a fun ride all the same.

Yokomizo’s books are written as stand alones, which is lucky for me, because the first I read was actually The Village of Eight Graves. This one has another stunning cover by Anna Morrison:

Raised by his mother in Kobe, Tatsuya grows up believing that he has no other family in the world. But everything changes when his boss hears a radio broadcast seeking someone with his name. Tatsuya answers the ad and is soon whisked away to the Village of Eight Graves, where he meets his wealthy estranged family for the first time.

A series of horrible poisonings coincide with Tatsuya’s arrival, casting suspicion on him and attracting hostility from the village residents. His search for the true killer leads him to secret passageways hidden in his family home, mysterious gravesites, and a labyrinthine cave system that just might conceal treasure beyond imagination. Suspenseful and surprisingly modern, it’s hard to believe that this book was published in 1950.

Podcast: Ghost Story (2023)

I was finishing up this draft when I remembered that I have a bonkers podcast rec that I’ve never been able to discuss with anyone! Ghost Story is a Wondery podcast that was released in 2023, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.

In it, journalist Tristan Redman sets out to investigate the inexplicable hauntings he experienced in his childhood home. In a bizarre coincidence, his wife’s family home was next door—and her great grandmother was murdered there. She died alone in a bathroom that was locked from the inside, from injuries that could not possibly be self-inflicted. Her killer was never found.

Oh yeah, and his in-laws? They’re the Dancys. As in, his brother-in-law is Hugh Dancy, who starred as Will Graham in NBC’s Hannibal.

Redman is relentless and probably ill-advised in his quest to dig up family skeletons for the world to see. Could the Dancys be hiding a dark secret? Or is Naomi Dancy’s murder simply a tragic mystery that will never be fully solved?

Ultimately, Redman’s dogged reporting threatens to unravel the Dancy family’s unity as some members become increasingly alarmed and offended by his determination to publish the story. The entire show has uniquely personal stakes that I found incredibly compelling.

A Few Favorite Mystery Movies

Finally, I feel compelled to offer two movie recommendations! Neither fit the locked room structure, but both are creepy, suspenseful, and beautifully crafted.

Nightwatch (1994) is a twisty, haunting Danish movie about a man named Martin who takes a job as the nightwatchman of a university morgue. A serial killer is stalking Copenhagen, and as Martin and his friends play pranks, make bets, and work low-paying jobs, the killer is drawing ever closer. Soon, bizarre events plague the morgue and cast suspicion on Martin himself, plunging him into a race to prove his innocence and reveal the true killer before it’s too late.

When I think about Nightwatch, my mind is full of fluorescent lights on white tile, young faces flushed with alcohol, pitch-dark shadows in long corridors, crashes of broken glass, surges of blood, running footsteps. It’s such a fun and thrilling movie, full of red herrings and false clues that lead up to a stunning solution.

Finally: Tesis (1996), director Alejandro Amenábar’s debut feature film. The film follows Angela, a university student who’s chosen to write her thesis about depictions of violence in media. As she searches for examples of violent video content, Angela connects with Chema, a Fox Mulder-type classmate with an extensive collection of hardcore pornography and snuff films. He’s got something really extreme, and Angela persuades him to let her watch it.

But that’s when Angela and Chema’s trouble really begins—because they recognize the snuff film’s victim as a fellow student who recently disappeared. As other people who view the tape begin to turn up dead, Angela and Chema form an unlikely friendship and uncover a hidden crime ring within their university. Things only become more complicated when the handsome, charming student they suspect begins seducing Angela’s sister…and turning up in her dreams.

Tesis is so good that it’s put me in a months-long slump I’m still struggling to get out of. Proceed with caution! But definitely proceed. It’s a fantastic movie.

Up Next: No Tricks, Just a Halloween Treat

I’ve been planning a little something for Halloween, and next week I’m finally going to share it! I hope I haven’t hyped it up too much—it’s the most fun way I could think to express my gratitude for this community of readers. 🎃

After that, we’ll finally return to interview land for a conversation with James Chambers, Brian Matthews, and Ben Rubin, all co-chairs on the StokerCon governing committee. The annual horror convention will celebrate its tenth anniversary this year, attracting fans, publishers, academics, filmmakers, and members of the Horror Writers Association from around the world.

We’ll learn more about how StokerCon inspires creativity, celebrates the genre, and reflects the horror community’s welcoming and inclusive culture.

Scare Me! is a free weekly horror newsletter published every Thursday morning. It’s written by Michelle Delgado, featuring original illustrations by Sam Pugh. You can find the archive of past issues here. If you were sent this by a friend, subscribe to receive more spooky interviews, essays—and maybe even a ghost story or two.