織夢行雲

Deaths in the Mansion of Rain《雨夜莊謀殺案》  

First published in Taiwan by Wisdombooks 2006Synopsis

     Four locked-room murders and no answers!

The Mansion of Rain, built by the renowned car enterpriser, Bai Jing-Fu, is a huge building situated in the deep mountains in the southern part of Taiwan. One year ago, a slaughter occurred in this bleak architecture.

   The bodies of Bai Jing-Fu and his daughter and his wife were found in different places in the mansion, all three of them cruelly murdered. A young man was strongly accused of the big kill for he had a love affair with Bai Jing-Fu’s wife and the DNA test convicted him of indecent assault on Bai Jing-Fu’s daughter. The man finally committed suicide in the prison.

   One year after, Lin Ruo-Pin, a professor of philosophy and amateur detective who is interested in puzzles and has gained his reputation by solving numerous mysteries, was invited to the Mansion of Rain by Bai Jing-Fu’s brother, Bai Ren-Ze, who believes that his family were not killed by the accused young man, and that, the real killer is still at large. He requested Lin Ruo-Ping to reinvestigate the case.

   As soon as the detective arrived at the mansion, guests invited by Bai Ren-Ze’s daughter assembled there for winter vacation. An uneasy atmosphere spread over the mansion.

   At that night, a furious rainstorm came around, and, under the pouring rain and dazzling lightening, one of the guests was seen running into a room and locking himself in. When the door was forced open by others, what lay before them was a headless body. The crime was committed in the impossible situation that no one could have possibly got in or out of the sealed room.

   The second victim was found in another locked room, and this time, not only did the murderer break into the guarded room but he left no trace on the muddy ground. And the third…

   Mysterious murders beyond imagination befell one by one, each of them committed under wholly impossible circumstances. It is as if the Mansion of Rain had gained its own free will and the power to manipulate the destiny of puppets inside it. Until detective Lin Ruo-Ping can unravel the mechanism behind all this, he starts to doubt whether these murders were committed by human power…