Amid the rubble of post-war Tokyo, inside the grand Tsubaki house, a once-noble family is in mourning.
The old viscount Tsubaki, a brooding, troubled composer, has been found dead.
When the family gather for a divination to conjure the spirit of their departed patriarch, death visits the house once more, and the brilliant Kosuke Kindaichi is called in to investigate.
But before he can get to the truth Kindaichi must uncover the Tsubakis’ most disturbing secrets, while the gruesome murders continue…
The Devil's Flute Murders, Seishi Yokomizo
This was a happenstance discovery in the libraries audio listing, which I jumped at the chance of listening to. The narrator, Akira Matsumoto, has a very easy to listen to voice, and to hear the correct pronunciation of the Japanese words an absolute pleasure and an education.
Originally published in 1951, this story is set in post-war Tokyo, with the Tsubaki family in mourning for their patriarch, a brooding, troubled composer known as Viscount Tsubaki. As the family gather for a divination ceremony to conjure the spirit of the Viscount, another death befalls the household and the brilliant, and very eccentric Kosuke Kindaichi is called upon to investigate.
This is the eighth Kindachi story and the 5th in English translation order, the series relying on the observational and deductive reasoning of the detective who has a low key style, despite his various eccentricities.
This particular edition is part of the brilliant Pushkin Vertigo series, a list of books that I'm dedicated to getting hold of one by one although they keep pushing the list out longer and longer and I'm not getting any younger darn it all. https://pushkinpress.com/imprint/pushkin-vertigo/