It was in December, 2022 that I first came upon the work of Japanese mystery writer, Seishi Yokomizo. Although the late Yokomizo (he died in 1981) had written more that 75 mystery novels and was famous in his native Japan, at the time I first learned of him only four of his novels had been translated into English.
After reading the first one - The Honjin Murders I set out to read everything of his that I could get my hands on.
Thankfully, a fifth book was translated and released in 2023 - The Devils Flute Murders. This one is my favorite, so far. Like Yokomizo's first novel, The Devils Flute Murders is a "locked room mystery", although it goes much further than that. Of course, I never give spoilers.
The only negative I can give is the difficulty I have keeping all the Japanese names straight - but that's me, not Yokomizo.
I've learned that a sixth mystery novel by Yokomizo (The Little Sparrow Murders) has been translated into English and will be available sometime this year. At the rate that his work is being translated, it's unlikely that I'll live long enough to read his 77 novels featuring Kosuke Kindaichi.
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