Fūtarō Yamada (1922–2001)

---spoilers---

This story is set during the early Meiji period, after the end of the Boshin War (1969) but before the Satsuma Rebellion (1877). A time when the Japanese government was unsettled, and the direction of the country uncertain.

After the opening, it starts to read like a collection of short detective stories, starring the detectives Kawaji and Kazuki, as ostensibly friendly rivals. In a rather strange twist, each story ends with a séance and a reveal of the truth by the murder victim, although it is pretty obvious that Kazuki arranges this as a trick to give Esmeralda Sanson an important role in the eyes of the government. Anyway, these stories are of variable quality and not all of them of sparkling originality.

The intriguing bit comes at the end, in which Saigo Takamori makes a brief appearance, and the two detectives betray each other. Kawaji participates in a conspiracy against his friend, and Kazuki reveals that he engineered the crime spree that the so deftly solved -- out of a fanatical devotion to justice. The dramatic closing scenes are not entirely convincing.

Three stars for the detective element. But the historical context and the skilled writing make up for some of the deficiencies.… (meer)