The Kindaichi Case Files Volume 9- The Headless Samurai by Yozaburo Kanari and Fumiya Sato

Kindaichi has worked with the police before, but usually only in an official or semi-official capacity. Now, he's asked by Detective Kenmochi for help in an unofficial way. An old girlfriend of Kenmochi's has married into a wealthy family. She's the second wife, and her husband has just died. But her husband's children don't want her in the house, and her own son, adopted by her husband, are going to be thrown out of his house by the children after the will is read and one of the children of his first wife confirmed as heir.

And she's right to be worried, for it isn't long before Shino Tatsumi's son, Seimaru, comes to blows with the son of his adoptive father, Ryunosuke. And Shino recieves a visitor, a friend of Shino's husband, come to stay with them during the festival of the Severed Heads. But soon the visitor is murdered, his head chopped off, and suspicion falls on Seimaru, because he went out in the morning, and has not returned.

But when Kindaichi and Miyuki go in search of him, Miyuki is attacked and captured by the supposed author of the murders, who goes by the name of "The Headless Samurai". Kindaichi follows the Samurai, who wears a full suit of armor with a face mask, but is knocked out and winds up imprisoned with Miyuki in a small cave under the temple. There, they are threatened by the Samurai, who shows them the head of Seimaru to show them he is serious about killing them. But when he leaves, Kindaichi is able to escape and bring Miyuki back to the Tatsumi residence.

Now that Seimaru is dead, Ryunosuke is gloating, because he will be able to throw out his adoptive mother. Seimaru had been the one who was going to inherit, and he would have thrown out Ryunosuke, Moegi and Hayate, the original sons and daughters of the Tatsumi family. But when a servant, Sarukia Senda attempts to kill Shino and is blown apart by the gun, Ryunosuke is certain that he knows whom the killer was all along- Senda! He banishes Kenmochi, Kindaichi and Miyuki from the house.

But is the killer really dead, or has another trick been perpetrated? It's up to Kindaichi to unmask the real killer and unravel the crime before it's too late!

Another excellent "Locked room" murder mystery and another thorny problem to unravel in the real solution. The trick being that there isn't just one murderer, but two that must be unmasked. Once again, Kindaichi proves his intelligence and ability to unravel clues. Plus, his ability to pick up on and notice very subtle clues that often lead to him having the correct solution to the murder mystery.

This time, the action moves to a very old-fashioned, and very old house from Japan's feudal period. Here we learn about the History of the Headless Samurai, and that the Shino family are direct descendants of the Samurai who murdered their leader to settle down in the village. The setup is long, and even if it does turn out to be just another red herring, it sets up a wonderfully spooky tone for the story presented here.

Another great case in this wonderful series, and very welcome to read, This book almost reads like a real murder mystery case, and while an actual book would be quite a bit longer, the spooky setting and excellent writing set the story up amazingly well. I highly recommend this book.