The Devil’s Flute Murders by Seishi Yokomizo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Devil’s Flute Murders is another book in the Detective Kindaichi series by Seishi Yokomizo. This one is set in 1947 in the Tokyo area, though some of the action also takes place in Kobe. In post-war Tokyo, the former viscount Tsubaki has been found dead under somewhat mysterious circumstances. A divination is held by his family with the hope of clearing up some of the mystery, and Kosuke Kindaichi is invited to take part.

That’s about all I can say for fear of spoilers. It is a well-crafted mystery, something I’ve come to expect from this series. There are many clues to solve the mystery, but there are a lot of red herrings as well. I really enjoyed reading this book; it kept me guessing until the very end.

I recommend this book. And I’m looking forward to reading another mystery in the Kindaichi series.

The Little Sparrow Murders by Seishi Yokomizo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Little Sparrow Murders is another book in the Detective Kindaichi series by Seishi Yokomizo. This one is set in 1955 in the small village of Onikobe. Kindaichi is on vacation here along with his friend Inspector Isokawa. There was a murder in the village back in 1932 that Isokawa had worked on as a young detective, but the the main suspect in the case had never been found. Twenty-three years later, a new series of murders breaks out, with the bodies of the victims arranged to allude to verses of a children’s song.

That’s about all I can say for fear of spoilers. It is a well-crafted mystery and was a lot of fun to read. It can be a little hard to keep track of all of the characters, but thankfully there is a list of characters at the beginning of the book, along with a map of Onikibe. I did have some suspicions but I did not figure out the entire mystery, including the identity of the killer, until it was all revealed by Kindaichi.

I definitely recommend this book. I’m definitely looking forward to reading another mystery in the Kindaichi series.

1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric H. Cline
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a very interesting book on the collapse of the Late Bronze Age civilizations. Before reading this book, I really didn’t know much about this period of history, other than this is when the Bronze Age ended and the Iron Age began soon after. The author sets the scene for what civilization looked like in the 12th Century BC before the collaps, and then backs up a few hundred years and there are chapters devoted to the 15th, 14th and 13th centuries BC. Then we come to the main event in the 12th century BC.

It’s almost like a murder mystery when we get to the period 1200 to 1150 BC: we know what happens, but how and why does this civilization collapse? The various kingdoms in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East had well established trading and political connections, not unlike the world today. There are many possibilities and the author takes us through them: internal rebellions, climate change, drought, famine, earthquakes and invasions from outside, like the Sea Peoples. And the result seems to be that there was no one overriding cause, but rather a combination of causes which ended the Bronze Age civilization.

The title comes from an attempted invasion of Egypt by the mysterious “Sea Peoples” in 1177 BC. The Egyptians were victorious, but the struggle weakened Egypt enough that it began to decline.

It is a very interesting and well-written book and if you’re interested in this period of history, I highly recommend it.

The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land by Thomas Asbridge
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Crusades is a one volume history of the attempt by Western Christianity (or the “Latins”) to occupy the Holy Land, specifically Jerusalem, which had come under Muslim rule. There were a number of crusades, beginning with the First Crusade in the 1090s, which set up the four Crusader states, and eventually ending with the conquest of the last of the Crusader states at the siege of Acre in 1291.

It’s hard to say exactly how many crusades there were, but there are five with numbers plus several others. The crusading impulse began in western Europe, in particular France, in the late 11th century. Crusaders were promised redemption of their sins (indulgences) if they took the cross and traveled to the Holy Land to return it to Christian rule. So there were both spiritual and political aspects to the Crusades. As the crusades developed over time, the popes began to get more involved and this led to the kings of France and England and the German emperor also getting involved. On the Muslim side, there were sultanates in Mesopotamia and Egypt, but the Holy Land was kind of a border area. And there were also Eastern Christian states, including the Byzantine Empire, so the political environment was very complicated.

It’s a very interesting and very complex story and the author does a great job of untangling the complexities. Having some knowledge of the Crusades from a medieval European history course, I really appreciated learning about the Muslim side of the struggle. There are many remarkable people that we meet along the way: Saladin, Richard the Lionheart, Friedrich Barbarossa, Saladin, Baybars, Pope Innocent III and Louis IX to name just a few.

I highly recommend this book. It’s very well written and footnoted. And the final section on the legacy of the Crusades is definitely worth reading several times.

Breaking the Chain: The Guard Dog Story by Patrick McDonnell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’ve been a reader of the Mutts comic by Patrick McDonnell for many years, and one of the most interesting characters is Guard Dog, at least in my opinion. We don’t know too much about Guard Dog except that his owners always chain him outside. He has a human friend, a little girl named Doozy, who visits him from time to time, but we never meet his owners.

I don’t want to say much more for fear of spoilers, but you should be able to guess what happens by the title: “Breaking the Chain.”

Incredible Victory: The Battle of Midway by Walter Lord
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Incredible Victory is the story of the Battle of Midway in June 1942. The author does an amazing job of telling the story of the battle using both American and Japanese sources. The narrative unfolds literally minute by minute, so it is a compelling read to say the least.

Briefly, the Japanese planned the operation involving Midway (and the Aleutian islands) in order to bring the American fleet to battle and destroy the remaining US aircraft carriers. The Americans had broken the Japanese code and so knew what the Japanese objectives were, and were able to deploy the three active carriers to counter the Japanese fleet. I won’t go into the details, other than the US fleet was victorious.

One of the big takeaways, for me at least, is how much chance figured into the American victory. If the weather had been slightly different, if the Japanese search plane had been launched on time, if Admiral Nagumo had not hesitated after the first strike on the Midway ground installations – the results of the battle could have been quite different.

I read this book many years ago – it was the first book I read about the Battle of Midway. It was originally published in the 1960s, but the text had held up pretty well. I highly recommend this book.

The Few: The American “Knights of the Air” Who Risked Everything to Fight in the Battle of Britain by Alex Kershaw
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Few is the story of the American pilots who joined the Royal Air Force in time to take part in the Battle of Britain in 1940. It’s an interesting and compelling story about young men who wanted to fly and also wanted to fight on behalf of freedom at a time when the United States was still neutral. To join the RAF as American citizens, they all risked their citizenship and possible prosecution for violating the Neutrality Act. But they persevered and took part in the battle that saved the United Kingdom from invasion.

The book uses letters, interviews and many secondary sources to tell the story. We learn about the American pilots of course, but also about their British comrades. And we also learn about the opposing pilots in the German Luftwaffe. It is a well rounded book, but of course the main focus is on the Americans.

It’s an easy read; Mr Kershaw has crafted a compelling narrative, which at times can seem a bit like a “boys own adventure” story. There are a few errors in the text (mostly dates) that should have been caught in the editing process, but it’s well worth reading.

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Dead Wake is the story of the last voyage of the Lusitania in May 1915. It is a story that in some aspects is well known, at least for those who know something about the First World War, but there is a lot more to the story. The author has crafted a compelling narrative about the Lusitania and U-20 and their meeting off of Kinsale Head.

The book is about more than the passenger liner and the submarine that attacked it: we also learn about the impact of the war on society, especially in the United States, which was still neutral. President Wilson figures prominently in the narrative, as does Winston Churchill. And we learn about the passengers and crew of the Lusitania ,and the officers and men of U-20. And we also learn about the Royal Navy’s intelligence operation “Room 40” which was able to decrypt German signals, and tracked U-20 on its way to meet the Lusitania.

It is a very well-written book and it is difficult to put down once you’ve started. I knew a bit about the Lusitania before I read this book, but there were still many things that surprised me. One of the biggest surprises to me was how quickly the Lusitania sank after the torpedo struck it: less than 20 minutes.