This fifth installment in the Samurai Detective series sees Seikei return to his hometown of Osaka, and takes us, the reader, along for the ride to explore a new part of 1700s Japan.

The cultural backbone of this mystery is the art of ningyo joruri --a type of puppet show peculiar to Japan. In particular, we're introduced to the play 'The Five Men of Naniwa', written by Monzaemon Chikamatsu.

Unlike in the previous installments of the series, the stakes in A Samurai Never Fears Death felt much lower. We get to meet Seikei's siblings, and it was interesting to explore that part of his background, but it didn't feel like very much was done with it.

Our time was split mostly between the theater and his family's tea shop, leaving less time for development of either, though as in all the novels, the fleshing out of Osaka overall is vivid and distinct.

The mystery itself, in addition to having lower stakes, felt much more straightforward than in the previous stories, and in the end nothing of consequence really happens other than the criminal being brought to justice, though this is largely 'off-screen'.

Seikei, despite being confronted with his past, doesn't seem to develop at all as a character in this adventure, and all-in-all it feels like a filler episode rather than a continuation of the series more broadly.

Still, it was a quick, fun read, and I always enjoy returning to this world and I always walk away having learned some new tidbits about the Japan of Judge Ooka's day.