The Lapis Lazuli Castle Murders (2002, if that gloriously smooth CG cover art didn't give it away) is the second book by Takekuni Kitayama, published only four months after his debut, The Clock Castle Murders. If you've ever heard Kitayama's name before, there's a roughly 99.9 repeating percent chance it's from his more recent work on the Danganronpa series, either as one of the writers on the third game or, if you're a superfan, for his earlier work writing the game's prequel LNs, Danganronpa Kirigiri. Now, I'm not a Danganronpa superfan, I'm really not even a Danganronpa average fan, but here we are.
The Lapis Lazuli Castle Murders is set across three time periods: A Cathar castle in southern France during the Albigensian Crusade, on the battle line during the Battle of Verdun in World War I, and in a private library in northern Hokkaido in 1989. The connective tissue between these three incidents are as follows:
We chose this book as our next translation pretty much entirely on the strength of Snowy as a detective. Nana was especially excited to get to work on something with another non-binary person in it.
Enjoy.
Or read online below:
II. 1243, Lapis Lazuli Castle, France
III. 1916, The Trenches, The French-German Front
V. 1243, Lapis Lazuli Castle, France
VI. 1916, The Trenches, The French-German Front
1243, Lapis Lazuli Castle, France
1916, The Trenches, The French-German Front