Chapter 1: Jack and the Beanstalk Murders
Chapter 2: Bluebeard's Secret Room
Chapter 3: The Magic Flute of Hamelin: The Kidnapping of the Children

About reviews, commentary and fairy tales

In the middle of the night, if you hear the distant sound of a flute
Make sure the children are at home safely.
Otherwise it will be your turn next!

File 01.
Jack and the Beanstalk
The story of Jack, a boy who was brought to trial for killing a giant.

File 02.
Bluebeard's Secret Room
Wife pleads for help after being threatened with death by her blue-bearded husband

File 03.
The Magic Flute of Hamelin: The Kidnapping of the Children
The revenge of the rat catcher who was kicked out after eliminating the rats in the village

Chan Ho-kei, the No. 1 mystery writer in the Chinese-speaking world
A masterpiece of fairy tale mystery, completed by returning to the origins of the world of the work.

“This work is like the starting point for me as a writer.

“Actually, at that time, I had no other intention than to write an interesting mystery novel, starting from curiosity.”
_From 'About Reviews, Commentary and Fairy Tales'

Chan Ho-kei, who introduced Chinese-language mystery to the world with the masterpiece social mystery novel "13.67," is publishing a new work, "The Magic Flute: A Fairy Tale Crime Mystery File."
Chan Ho-kei, who won the 2nd Shimada Soji Mystery Novel Award for “I Don’t Remember, Detective” and the Grand Prize at the Taipei International Book Fair for his masterpiece “13.67,” is recognized as the best mystery writer in the Chinese-speaking world. In this new work, he returns to his original intentions and reinterprets European fairy tales as mystery novels.
Having boldly tackled various genres such as police novels, full-fledged mystery, and horror, he left a postscript saying that although he thought it might seem strange for a Chinese writer to reinterpret European fairy tales and write a novel, the work was born from a challenging spirit of "Why not?" and that there was no reason why it couldn't be done.
"Jack and the Beanstalk Murder Case," which was entered into the finals of the Taiwan Mystery Writers Association Contest, is the first novel he seriously worked on, and he himself stated that it was the starting point of his world of works.
The following year, he won the grand prize in the contest for his sequel, "Bluebeard's Secret Room," a modern reinterpretation of the French fairy tale "Bluebeard."
Afterwards, the author spent a long time and effort to complete a collection of fairy tales in a serial format, writing the final work, "The Magic Flute of Hamelin and the Kidnapping of the Children," and completed it as a single volume.
Although it is a massive volume of 600 pages, it attempts to popularize the genre by bringing the story to life through detailed research, featuring vivid characters, and adding whimsical imagination to interesting events.
This new work proves his words from an interview held after the Taipei International Book Fair that he writes novels with "entertainment" as the most important factor. Readers will be able to enjoy a masterpiece of fairy tale mystery that has been completely transformed into a mystery novel with the fun of the genre.


With malicious crimes, meticulous logic, and detailed research
Three Strange Stories Reinterpreted

What sets 『The Magic Flute: A Crime Case Detective File in a Fairy Tale』 apart from other mystery works that reinterpret fairy tales in a modern way is that it reconstructs the story as a realistic crime case that is as close as possible to the original fantastic fairy tale.
In particular, the author himself revealed that a lot of effort was put into verifying the facts of this series, as thorough preliminary research was conducted.
When I wrote about "Jack and the Beanstalk" in my review, I said, "The problem was the everyday.
Originally, it was written that Mrs. Millitt serves tea to the protagonist, but since 'tea leaves' were not introduced to England until the late 16th century, the culture of drinking tea had to wait another 50 years,” he said, naturally incorporating into the work the important political, social, and economic changes that influenced 16th-century Europe.
Chan Ho-kei read "Jack and the Beanstalk" as a child and wondered what he could learn from the story of a boy who stole money and killed people, and wrote "Jack and the Beanstalk Murder Case" based on his own standards of good and evil.
In "Bluebeard's Secret Room," the wife, who feels threatened by her husband for listening to her husband (and not opening the basement door), would not have died, rebels against the implication felt from reading the original text and prepares her own counterattack, thus conveying a modern message.
While writing the final work, "The Magic Flute of Hamelin: The Kidnapping of the Children," I was inspired by the fact that the incident that served as the motif of the work was a real mystery, and I began to travel to Hamelin myself and conduct a realistic investigation, questioning whether the children could have been charmed by the sound of the flute and left the town.
Because it is a work that has put the most effort into historical research, it has succeeded in reconstructing “The Pied Piper” into an interesting story that is both realistic and interesting.

For justice, I will not hesitate to break the law
The Fairy Tale Mystery Case Files of Dr. Lyle Hoffman, Ph.D.

“It’s not unusual for a small, remote town to have a vicious judge.

Anyway, you're lucky to have met me."
_From "Jack and the Beanstalk"

Lyle Hoffman, a high-ranking British nobleman and law professor, travels to England, France, and Germany, the setting for Jack and the Beanstalk, Bluebeard, and The Pied Piper, with his ever-present assistant, Hans Christian Andersen.
He is an eccentric who gives up even a comfortable nest and a glamorous life in search of an interesting legend. When he finds an interesting subject that fits the legend, such as a 'man-eating giant', a 'witch living in the mountain', or a 'king of rats', he does not mind staying in a shabby inn to reveal its identity, and even if he receives a death threat, he achieves his goal with the help of his martial arts-skilled assistant Hans.
Although he has a brilliant mind, the wisdom to foresee several steps ahead, and the sociability to put people at ease, Mr. Hoffman's most attractive points are his generosity in making minor illegal acts laughable in the name of justice, and his cynical nature and sharp tongue when he meets evildoers.
In particular, the scene where he relentlessly drives out the villains feels so evil that it makes you look forward to another performance.
Another unique feature of the new work, 『The Magic Flute: Crime Case Detective Files in Fairy Tales』, is that all of the included stories, like the original fairy tales, end with good triumphing over evil.
Therefore, the themes of ‘social issues’ and ‘justice’ that the author has consistently addressed in his previous works are expressed more vividly and explicitly in this work, which is in the form of a fairy tale.
The author's statement that he wanted to create a mystery that even relatively young readers and beginners with little exposure to mystery novels can enjoy reading reveals his challenging will to present a popular work.