Gosho Aoyama: Case Closed 2 & 3

The first book was cool, but Aoyama's really starting to hit his stride in these books as the plots become more concentrated and the blend of genres sometimes leans more toward mystery than comedy.

Having previously been transformed into a first-grader, our hero Jimmy Kudo/Conan Edogawa is now faced with an almost Chandleresque tangle involving a billion-yen heist and a seemingly unrelated missing person, a haunted house mystery and a classic plot combo – a locked room murder on a liner ship!

This time out Conan's got some more cool gadgets to help him out (including electroschockin' sneakers and super-elasto-braces!) and in one case he goes adventuring with his new friends from grade school, but it's his deductive powers which really get the workout this time. I also like the fact that the people around him are starting to get suspicious now rather than five volumes down the line, and the fact that the case-by-case structure works rather well with the soap-operatic aspects of the manga and the continuing storyline of Conan wanting to be Jimmy again.

Aoyama's art is as cool and funny as ever, and the plots are light and fun but still satisfying mini-mysteries way above and beyond anything you'll find on Murder She Wrote... basically, I can't wait for the next book!