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地獄くらやみ花もなき [Jigoku Kurayami Hana mo Naki] (Novel) #4
地獄くらやみ花もなき 肆 百鬼疾る夜行列車
〈地獄代行業〉の皓と助手・青児のもとへ、宿敵である荊から果たし状が届く。地獄の王座争いに終止符を打つため、２人は決闘の舞台となる寝台列車〈青い幻燈号〉へ。豪華な車内で待っていたのは、６人の乗客たち。発車後すぐに、ひとりが密室で姿を消し、ひとり、またひとりと殺されて――乗客にまぎれた処刑人は誰か？ 探偵役・皓vs.黒幕・荊、一夜限りの推理勝負が始まる！ 美少年探偵とペット扱い助手の事件簿、第４弾。
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 23, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 9, 2021
Premise: the 4th volume of the Hell is Dark and Flowerless takes us to a luxurious train trip through the snowy landscape in winter. The (literal) battle of wits to decide who will be the next Ruler of Hell will take place in this train trip full of sinners who deserve to go to Hell.
So far, the story's quality is still good. The murder mysteries can keep you guessing and the contest to keep more 'sinners' alive instead of throwing them to Hell is interesting. I even like the real killer's backstory of and reasoning and their relationship with a certain evil mastermind as well. I'm more than glad and will keep an eye on more books from this author.
From the Afterword at the back of the novel, it seems like the author originally decided to end the series with vol. 4 but I'm glad later the series does continue to vol. 5.
So far, the story's quality is still good. The murder mysteries can keep you guessing and the contest to keep more 'sinners' alive instead of throwing them to Hell is interesting. I even like the real killer's backstory of and reasoning and their relationship with a certain evil mastermind as well. I'm more than glad and will keep an eye on more books from this author.
From the Afterword at the back of the novel, it seems like the author originally decided to end the series with vol. 4 but I'm glad later the series does continue to vol. 5.
January 26, 2026
My reviews are my own. If you liked this book or not, I respect your opinion. This is merely my opinion, so let's keep it courteous. My review is honest and voluntary.
I loved the beginning of this story, the investigation and research into beings, but the last book started to get personal, and this one is full-on personal to the MC. As if the author forgot the original story plot and moved into a totally different storyline. The writing is great, but the story lost me. If the author doesn't return to the original storyline, I will be dropping the series. Don't get me wrong, it is not bad, it is just not what I loved from the original book.
On to my next adventure, Happy Readings!!!
I loved the beginning of this story, the investigation and research into beings, but the last book started to get personal, and this one is full-on personal to the MC. As if the author forgot the original story plot and moved into a totally different storyline. The writing is great, but the story lost me. If the author doesn't return to the original storyline, I will be dropping the series. Don't get me wrong, it is not bad, it is just not what I loved from the original book.
On to my next adventure, Happy Readings!!!
May 5, 2026
4.0 🌟 / 5.0 🌟
January 12, 2026
In this volume it is so very important to pay attention to some clues given very early on in the story, to figure out just what is going on here! If you clue in on these things (the only hint you get is the type of yokai they are dealing with but there are more) figuring out not necessarily the killer but that the game is 100% rigged (I mean it's Ibarra of course it is) will be important.
This is essentially one giant locked room mystery though. We have ten people I believe in total, seven who are sinners who escaped punishment for their crimes, locked on a train with no way to escape who must confess their crimes, be killed by the "Executioner", or depend on the Detective to determine who the killer is before arriving at their destination. Seiji is of course one of the sinners and he is also the first one to confess his crime. He already has once so he figures he doesn't have much to lose. That being said, I think this sets off the beginning of what we see as some really in depth character growth for Seiji. He just seems much more responsible in this volume than he has previous volumes, he's also taking the time to really think through the situation in this volume and thanks to that he makes some important discoveries himself regarding the mystery. Are they things Shiroshi either had already figured out on his own or would have? Most definitely. Does it matter? No, not really. This story more than anything has been about Seiji's growth; about him going from "I'll just run away from my problems" to him being able to see that while running in some cases is the right answer it isn't all of the time. This becomes a pretty important lesson by the end of the book.
I found each of the Sinners/Criminals interesting as well, some of these characters were just downright bad humans. I am not going to give away what their crimes were but Tosu for example was trapped in an impossible situation without adults to guide him. While what does is wrong, once the whole story is revealed there is no way I think he could be blamed entirely for his actions. Mao, too. Mao has this very black and white viewpoint of the world and while we do discover that she has a good reason for it because of this she is able to justify her actions consistently. That being said, I never felt any remorse for her the way that I did Tosu. I feel like she is so similar to Seiji in so many ways it's difficult to not see that she most definitely had a choice and she chose poorly. And yeah I think that is kind of on purpose.
The mystery here is probably the least interesting of the series in terms of twists and turns, but this is only because Ibarra is involved and knowing that thing whole thing is most likely rigged from the beginning. There is just no way there isn't some supernatural element here, so it's just a little bit less complicated than others. Which is totally fine, I still thoroughly enjoyed the ride and there were still some surprises in store at the end.
Now, onto the fact that this is the last volume! I was so sad and then I read the afterward where Michio mentions that they have been asked to continue the series and so I became very happy, but I have to admit that I am a tad bit on the fence about the series continuing. On the one hand I would love to see more mysteries solved by Shiroshi and Seiji on the other this ended really well for me. I think it wraps up everything nicely and I can imagine where they go from here, the other problem is without this contest at play (I don't think it's much of a spoiler to point out that this duel was to determine the overall winner) I'm just not sure how it would work out. I suppose it could simply continue as a detective series dealing with supernatural entities but that's not really what it was to begin with so we'll see. Either way if we get more you can be assured I'll be reading them!
This has been such a fun little series to read, especially since so many of the Japanese detective novels that have inspired it in part have been translated as this series was coming out here in the states. I highly recommend this series if you love good old fashioned murder mysteries with a side of yokai!
This is essentially one giant locked room mystery though. We have ten people I believe in total, seven who are sinners who escaped punishment for their crimes, locked on a train with no way to escape who must confess their crimes, be killed by the "Executioner", or depend on the Detective to determine who the killer is before arriving at their destination. Seiji is of course one of the sinners and he is also the first one to confess his crime. He already has once so he figures he doesn't have much to lose. That being said, I think this sets off the beginning of what we see as some really in depth character growth for Seiji. He just seems much more responsible in this volume than he has previous volumes, he's also taking the time to really think through the situation in this volume and thanks to that he makes some important discoveries himself regarding the mystery. Are they things Shiroshi either had already figured out on his own or would have? Most definitely. Does it matter? No, not really. This story more than anything has been about Seiji's growth; about him going from "I'll just run away from my problems" to him being able to see that while running in some cases is the right answer it isn't all of the time. This becomes a pretty important lesson by the end of the book.
I found each of the Sinners/Criminals interesting as well, some of these characters were just downright bad humans. I am not going to give away what their crimes were but Tosu for example was trapped in an impossible situation without adults to guide him. While what does is wrong, once the whole story is revealed there is no way I think he could be blamed entirely for his actions. Mao, too. Mao has this very black and white viewpoint of the world and while we do discover that she has a good reason for it because of this she is able to justify her actions consistently. That being said, I never felt any remorse for her the way that I did Tosu. I feel like she is so similar to Seiji in so many ways it's difficult to not see that she most definitely had a choice and she chose poorly. And yeah I think that is kind of on purpose.
The mystery here is probably the least interesting of the series in terms of twists and turns, but this is only because Ibarra is involved and knowing that thing whole thing is most likely rigged from the beginning. There is just no way there isn't some supernatural element here, so it's just a little bit less complicated than others. Which is totally fine, I still thoroughly enjoyed the ride and there were still some surprises in store at the end.
Now, onto the fact that this is the last volume! I was so sad and then I read the afterward where Michio mentions that they have been asked to continue the series and so I became very happy, but I have to admit that I am a tad bit on the fence about the series continuing. On the one hand I would love to see more mysteries solved by Shiroshi and Seiji on the other this ended really well for me. I think it wraps up everything nicely and I can imagine where they go from here, the other problem is without this contest at play (I don't think it's much of a spoiler to point out that this duel was to determine the overall winner) I'm just not sure how it would work out. I suppose it could simply continue as a detective series dealing with supernatural entities but that's not really what it was to begin with so we'll see. Either way if we get more you can be assured I'll be reading them!
This has been such a fun little series to read, especially since so many of the Japanese detective novels that have inspired it in part have been translated as this series was coming out here in the states. I highly recommend this series if you love good old fashioned murder mysteries with a side of yokai!
February 16, 2026
I truly enjoyed this Murder on the Orient Express-style mystery train trip with Hell-bound sinners on board looking like youkai. It's always great reading how this series connects youkai with human sins. And especially this volume shows us that we can write a whodunit with supernatural elements without resorting to a magical way to solve the mystery.
December 9, 2021
I guess the author thought maybe this is the end of the series? I have the book 5 so I know it goes on but the book ends as if it is the end. It’s as good as the first three.
January 4, 2026
I had no clue this would be the last volume but it was a pretty satisfying ending and the mystery and detective vibes were awesome.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews