History Recap / TheKindaichiCaseFilesTarotMountainHutMurderCase

Just as Kindaichi is preparing to visit a mountain hut that is owned by Reika's father after receiving a letter of invitation, Miyuki finds the letter and insists on tagging along as well, and so they head over to the Takamaki Ski Resort in the Aomori prefecture, where the mountain hut in question is located, unaware that a mystery murder case is about to unfold -- one that will force Reika to confront her own past.

* SharedUnusualTrait: Reika and the culprit both have strong aversion to wearing something around their necks, which Kindaichi reveals during SummationGathering. This is what clues Kindaichi in as to the culprit and Reika being LongLostRelative to one another.

* TraumaButton: Reika doesn't like stuffs around her neck, clearly seen when she freaks out right after Kindaichi gives her his scarf around her neck. It's because she saw how her real father was killed by strangulation. This also applies to her brother.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: After the truth about the culprit and the kidnapping incident that took place 15 years ago, Reika does NOT embrace the culprit with open arms despite being his sister. Instead, she storms out, feeling both still angry at having lost the one person that was the only family member she knew for much of her life and confused as to whom she could trust, especially now that she's forced to confront the fact that her "father" turns out to have been the kidnapper who murdered her biological father.

* DidIJustSayItOutLoud: As Kindaichi keeps breaking apart the culprit's tactics on building the alibi, the culprit resorts to insisting that Kindaichi was the actual killer, but Reika, having unwavering faith in Kindaichi's innocence, screams at the culprit for Mr. Hayami's death, causing the culprit, in a moment of desperation to calm her down, to let slip about having murdered Mr. Hayami, realizing too late that the room full of guests had just witnessed his confession, even without him making a full statement of it.

* IDidntMeanToKillHim: When a reporter who knows of the DarkSecret about Reika's father tries to {{Blackmail}} him for money, he pushes the wrong button during the process by suggesting that he can reduce the price if he gets to have his way with Reika. Reika's father strikes him in anger with the intention of making him back down, but the force of the blow ends up killing him instead.

* JumpScare: Reika gets spooked from the sound of someone knocking on the bathroom window glass as she's bathing, prompting her to dash out of the bathroom and run into Kindaichi's arms with only a ModestyTowel over her body. It turns out to be a skier who got lost in the mountain for four hours before managing to find the ski resort, which the caretaker states is lucky for said skier, as the harsh weather conditions in the local area have already claimed many skiers' lives.

* JumpScare: Reika gets spooked from the sound of someone knocking on the bathroom window glass as she's bathing, prompting her to dash out of the bathroom and run into Kindaichi's arms with only a ModestTowel over her body. It turns out to be a skier who got lost in the mountain for four hours before managing to find the ski resort, which the caretaker states is lucky for said skier, as the harsh weather conditions in the local area have already claimed many skiers' lives.

** [[Recap/TheKindaichiCaseFilesOperaHouseMurderCase the Opera House murder case]] gets brought up when [[ContrivedCoincidence the physician Kindaichi met during said murder case turns out to be among the visitors gathering in this case arc as well]].

* ContrivedCoincidence: The physician Kindaichi met in [[Recap/TheKindaichiCaseFilesOperaHouseMurderCase the Opera House murder case]] appears as a visitor in this case as well, much to the surprise of both Kindaichi and Miyuki.

* OutOfCharacterMoment: Miyuki discovers a letter Reika sent to Kindaichi at the start of the case arc. In an attempt to explain, Kindaichi goes full MotorMouth-mode, which only serves to make Miyuki more suspicious, if anything, and she promptly decides to tag along as well.

* ContrivedCoincidence: The physician Kindaichi met during the Opera House Murder Case Arc appears as a visitor in this case as well, much to the surprise of both Kindaichi and Miyuki.

* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: As Kindaichi reveals during TheSummation, Reika's father, under the culprit's instruction, spikes nearly everyone's coffee with sleeping pill to allow the culprit unlimited access to move about within the cabin -- the key term is "nearly everyone", however, as Miyuki's drink is left untouched so that she'd be the witness for the culprit's alibi.

"Tarot Mountain Hut Murder Case" is the eleventh case arc in the File Series of ''Manga/TheKindaichiCaseFiles''.

* DirtyOldMan: PlayedForDrama. Reika's record production supervisor turns out to be one, as he's a man in his 50's who wants covets Reika -- during the murder case, he actually wants her to have sex with him as condition for (possibly) forgiving the loan he gave to her. As Reika privately confides with Kindaichi after said supervisor's murder, he had made advances to her many times, though nothing ever happened.