Case Closed Volume 41 cover image is courtesy of barnesandnoble.com.

Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”

After two nefarious men in black administer to him a mysterious substance, ace high school detective, Jimmy Kudo, physically transforms him into a first grader.  While searching for a cure, Jimmy adopts the identity of elementary school student, Conan Edogawa.  Acting alone and sometimes with his friends, the Junior Detective League (JDL), Jimmy/Conan continues to solve criminal cases and mysteries.

As Case Closed, Vol. 41 opens, Jimmy’s mother, Vivian Kudo, and Rachel Moore’s mother, Eva Kaden (the sort of ex-Mrs. Richard Moore), join the children to solve a locked-room murder.  Then, the JDL’s chance to see a sneak preview of a highly anticipated upcoming film turns into a murder mystery.  Next, JDL member, Anita Haley (who, like Jimmy, is stuck in an elementary school body) is sick, and a trip to a mall doctor turns into another murder case.

THE LOWDOWN:  The 41st volume of Case Closed (known as Detective Conan in Japan) emphasizes the locked-room murder.  This is a murder committed in a room where there is no obvious entrance or exit.  It was fun to try to solve the cases presented in this book.  As much as I as usually enjoy the Case Closed manga, this is the recent volume I’ve enjoyed reading the most.  It’s one of those “good reads” people always talk about.  I genuinely enjoy reading Case Closed, and I always imagine that I’ve been dropped into this comfy world and that I have joined the JDL on a case.  I can’t ask this excellent comic book to do more.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  Readers who want the mystery story in comic book form will want Case Closed.

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