The Labyrinth of the Scriptorium

The Labyrinth of the Scriptorium is a mystery thriller set in modern Europe while scanning back to the European medieval period. Logic upon logic is required of the reader’s reasoning skills in order to unravel the secrets locked within the novel’s multi-layered structure. The story follows the exploits of Professor Tomii who stumbles upon a mysterious painting by a deceased Japanese artist in Switzerland. The painting of the Siege of Montségur, a final battle fought in southern France in the 13th century by the Cathars, a medieval Christian sect, draws Professor Tomii deeper and deeper into the mysterious circumstances of the painting, the artist, and an unsolved murder that the artist witnessed. In the classic styles of Umberto Eco, Agatha Christie and Ellery Queen, author Hitoshi Goto weaves a substantial and complex tale that keeps the reader stumbling through mazes of rationales and counter-rationales. The mysteries in the Labyrinth of the Scriptorium are finally totally unlocked in Mr. Goto’s subsequent novel Gutenberg-Dämmerung (Twilight of Gutenberg). The Labyrinth of the Scriptorium was awarded the prestigious Ayukawa Tetsuya Award in 2002, Japan’s most renowned literary award for mystery novels.