Death Note: Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases

Death Note: Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases (DEATH NOTE アナザーノート ロサンゼルスBB連続殺人事件) is a novel written by Nisio Isin. Parts of the novel are written with the character Mello as the in-universe author.

The novel is a prequel to the Death Note manga series. It details the story of L's first encounter with Naomi Misora during the Los Angeles BB Serial Murder Cases mentioned in volume two of the manga.

Synopsis
Official description of the novel from the English edition by Viz Media: There's a Serial Killer Loose in Los Angeles and the local authorities need help fast. For some reason the killer has been leaving a string of maddeningly arcane clues at each crime scene. Each of these clues, it seems, is an indecipherable roadmap to the next murder.

Onto the scene comes L, the mysterious super-sleuth. Despite his peculiar working habits--he's never shown his face in public, for example--he's the most decorated detective in the world and has never tackled a cased he hasn't been able to crack.

But this time he needs help.

Enlisting the services of an FBI agent named Naomi Misora, L starts snooping around the City of Angels. It soon becomes apparent that the killing spree is a psychotic riddle designed specifically to engage L in a battle of wits. Stuck in the middle between killer and investigator, it's up to Misora to navigate both the dead bodies and the egos to solve the Los Angeles BB Murder Cases.

Plot
The story is about the killer Beyond Birthday loose in Los Angeles and super-sleuth L trying to solve the case. Along with Naomi, an FBI agent, he helps the LAPD solve this grisly series of murders.

The novel is narrated by Mello with the expectation that it will be read by Near and Kira. He starts out by trying to write about the case like he is writing a true crime report: very straightforward and speculative. A short time through, his tone changes to that of a novelist as he writes down what the characters were thinking or feeling. Only occasionally does he catch himself and revert to the other style. Mello even interrupts the story at various points whenever he has input. Through him, insight is given into Watari's orphanage, Wammy's House, and how the whole system of raising geniuses such as L, Mello, and Near was put to work. Besides Naomi's character, the novel focuses on how L works, and was written primarily to point out to Near Mello's superior knowledge of L, and to Kira, his inferiority to L.

Reception
A.E. Sparrow of IGN reviewed the novel and gave it a 9.5 out of 10. Sparrow said that the author understood what "made these characters click so well" and "captures everything that made the manga the compelling read that it is." Sparrow said that fans of Death Note who read Another Note will "find a welcome home" in Nisio Isin's work that "adds a few more fun layers" to the Death Note franchise.

Trivia

 * Viz released the novel in English on February 19, 2008; however, many retailers began selling the book as early as February 7, 2008.
 * Nisio has mentioned that he originally planned the novel's subtitle to be Mad About L.
 * While never actually appearing in this book, L mentions that he has a conman and thief watching a building Naomi and Rue Ryuzaki visit. This is presumably Aiber and Wedy, though their names are never actually stated and the conman and thief never appear in the book, or are at least verified to appear.
 * In 2010 a petition was made to get Madhouse (the makers of the Death Note anime) to make an anime film based on the novel.
 * Viz's release of the novel erroneously mentions that a third world war occurs. This is not present in the Japanese release.