“Yokomizo at his absolute best... From the ominous opening through the brilliant final reveal, [he] ably blends suspense and fair-play detection... A classic of the genre.”  —
Publishers Weekly
, starred review
An ingenious classic locked-room murder mystery about the feuding family of a composer that’s perfect for fans of Lucy Foley, Ruth Ware, and Anthony Horowitz
This standalone novel features the scruffy sleuth Kosuke Kindaichi—the most famous Japanese detective—created by one of Japan's greatest crime writers: Seishi Yokomizo, the “Japanese Agatha Christie”
Locked room mysteries are hot again, and this classic from the golden age of crime presents a mind-bending Japanese mystery from the great Seishi Yokomizo, whose fictional detective Kosuke Kindaichi is a pop culture phenomenon akin to Sherlock Holmes.
This time the beloved scruffy sleuth Kosuke Kindaichi investigates a series of gruesome murders within the feuding family of a brooding, troubled composer, whose most famous work chills the blood of all who hear it.
Readers will be totally engrossed by one of Yokomizo’s most clever guessing games, in which everyone has something to hide.
Seishi Yokomizo is perhaps the most popular and feted crime writer in his country’s history. His richly atmospheric classic mysteries are a treat for any fan of Golden Age whodunits, taking the reader all over post-war Japan, from remote mountain villages to pirate-plagued islands and the bustling streets of Tokyo. Yokomizo loved to craft ingenious puzzle plots, inspired by the greats of British and American crime, such as John Dickson Carr or Agatha Christie, while his detective, Kosuke Kindaichi, is everything a reader could want from a sleuth: brilliant, eccentric, charming, and unassuming enough to be fatally underestimated by many a murderer. . .