The Devil’s Flute Murders is set in 1947, as Japan continues its slow recovery from WWII. A young woman, Mineko, asks Kindaichi for help. Mineko’s father, Viscount Tsubaki, was found dead, apparently of suicide, but it seems that his ghost is haunting their family, especially her mother Akiko. It turns into a complex case with multiple murders, questions of ghostly visitation, a family history that must be explored, and many family members, friends, and servants living on the estate grounds.

It’s an atmospheric mystery, with the potential ghost, spooky music, even bad weather all playing into the feeling. The book is also full of period detail. Following the war, Japan is dealing with a lot, including planned blackouts, crowded trains with hard to obtain tickets, food shortages, and bombed and lost homes, some of which contribute to the plot.

I listened to the audio. The narrator did a good job with the pronunciations and accents, as far as I could tell, and with distinguishing the many characters.

Kindaichi is one of those detectives that notices things that others don’t, but always looks a bit disheveled, making him seem less competent than he is. I loved one specific clue that if he had noticed earlier probably would have solved the mystery in two chapters. The solution is a bit shocking and sad.

Overall, this a good, complicated mystery. There are not a lot of characters to actually like though, if that’s important to you. I didn’t really care about any of them, except maybe Mineko.