The Kindaichi Case Files: The Puppet Theater

Three years after Kosuke Kindaichi’s death, his grandson Kindaichi was sorting through his belongings when he found a letter from thirty years earlier. In it, Yukiri Kiryu had asked Kosuke to investigate the truth behind a fire at the Gekkaku-za puppet theater on Ba Island in the Seto Inland Sea. The letter had never been sent. Yukiri had died in childbirth three days after writing it. On the back of the envelope, Kosuke had left a single line: This case was never solved. That same day, Inspector Kenmochi received a joint request from Ba Island’s three great families. Kindaichi, Miyuki, and Kenmochi set off for the island. The Gekkaku-za theater stood atop a hill, with puppet strings hanging everywhere. The gatekeeper, A’Liu, made a puppet by hand every year on the autumn equinox and placed it in the Buddhist shrine to commemorate Aotsuki, the puppeteer who died in the fire thirty years ago. On the first night of the autumn equinox performance, Hamamura family patriarch Sotaro never woke from his seat. A crude little puppet lay beside him, its eyes gouged out with nails. A typhoon cut the island off from the outside world. Kindaichi discovered that a puppet modeled on A’Liu’s style was left beside each victim. Subtle differences revealed who she was. This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.