The Ink Master Murder

Zippy Cosmo moves his wife and family from Baltimore to the Eastern Shore to escape the city's inhumanity and growing civil rights violence. The small provincial town they settle in is sleepy and remote; it seems ideal to raise their five children. But, a tattoo artist rents the old post office building and "tattoos the wrong farmer's daughter" according to the local intel. The search for his killer and how it impacts this family's lives is what makes THE INK MASTER MURDER, a mystery by Gene Lovell, a fascinating read. Can you dig it?

Zippy Cosmo moves his wife and family from Baltimore to the Eastern Shore to escape the citys inhumanity and growing civil rights violence. The small provincial town they settle in is sleepy and remote; it seems ideal to raise their five children. But, a tattoo artist rents the old post office building and tattoos the wrong farmers daughter according to the local intel. The search for his killer and how it impacts this familys lives is what makes THE INK MASTER MURDER, a mystery by Gene Lovell, a fascinating read. Can you dig it?

One of Japan’s most popular mystery writers delivers “scenes of fastidiously executed decadence” in a “tale of sexual obsession” (The New York Times Book Review). Kinue Nomura survived World War II only to be murdered in Tokyo, her severed limbs discovered in a room locked from the inside. Gone is the part of her that bore one of the most beautiful full-body tattoos ever rendered. Kenzo Matsushita, a young doctor who was first to discover the crime scene, feels compelled to assist his detective brother, who is in charge of the case. But Kenzo has a secret: he was Kinue’s lover, and soon his involvement in the investigation becomes as twisted and complex as the writhing snakes that once adorned Kinue’s torso. The Tattoo Murder Case was originally published in 1948; this is the first English translation. “Clever, kinky, highly entertaining.” —The Washington Post Book World “A delightful, different book, not only because of its unusual setting and premise, but because Takagi is a powerful plotter and constructor of fascinating, complex characters.” —The A.V. Club “Has all the mind-boggling braininess and dazzling artifice of mystery’s Golden Age, spiced with voyeuristic close-ups of a dying art in which postwar Japan remains supreme: full-body tattoos . . . Intricate, fantastic, and utterly absorbing. More, please.” —Kirkus Reviews

Kinue Nomura survived World War II only to be murdered in Tokyo, her severed limbs discovered in a room locked from the inside. Gone is the part of her that bore one of the most beautiful full-body tattoos ever rendered. Kenzo Matsushita, a young doctor who was first to discover the crime scene, feels compelled to assist his detective brother, who is in charge of the case. But Kenzo has a secret: he was Kinue’s lover, and soon his involvement in the investigation becomes as twisted and complex as the writhing snakes that once adorned Kinue’s torso. The Tattoo Murder Case was originally published in 1948; this is the first English translation.