The Tattoo Murder

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.

Etsuko has fallen in love with the shy young university lecturer who clumsily courts her. But her family objects to his past: his father was a war criminal; his deceased younger brother, a murderer. When Etsuko lies to force the marriage through, she thinks their troubles are over, but on their wedding night, the groom leaves in response to an urgent phone call. In the morning, he is still missing.

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

“Lap swimming, the work of Edgar Allan Poe, and a simmering romance are amateur sleuth Mary Beth Goldberg’s unlikely but invaluable tools as she confronts her latest mystery. Her native ingenuity figures in as well, and when author Audrey Lavin throws in a few slices of pizza and a handful of eccentric college students, these all add up to become the ingredients for irresistible storytelling!” ─Akiko Busch, Nine Ways to Cross a River, The Incidental Steward, her essays about land use and stewardship, will be published by Yale University Press in 2013.

An ingenious classic Japanese murder mystery, set in post-war Tokyo and steeped in the illicit subculture of Yakuza tattoos 'Like voyeurs, we follow Takagi down the charred streets of bombed-out Tokyo to scenes of fastidiously executed decadence' New York Times Can you solve the mystery of the tattoo murder? Tokyo, 1947. At the first post-war meeting of the Edo Tattoo Society, Kinue Nomura reveals her full-body snake tattoo to rapturous applause. Days later she is gone. A dismembered corpse is discovered in the locked bathroom of her home, but her much-coveted body art is nowhere to be found. Kinue's horrified lover joins forces with the boy detective Kyosuke Kamizu to try to get to the bottom of the macabre crime, but similar deaths soon follow. Is someone being driven to murder by their lust for tattooed skin, and can they be stopped? Set in a seedy Tokyo of bomb sites, dive bars and Yakuza gangs, The Tattoo Murder is one of Japan's most ingenious and legendary whodunits.

The charm of Victoria Square may prove to be only skin deep when murder follows the arrival of a tattoo parlor in town in this latest installment of the New York Times bestselling series. A tattoo parlor on Victoria Square? Some of the merchants get hot under the collar at the proposal, but could they be driven to kill to stop it? That's what the sheriff's office and Katie Bonner want to know when the building's owner is electrocuted with his own saw. Meanwhile, tensions rise when a hot chef takes over the square's tea shop. Will Katie have three men vying for her affections, or will her rival take the tea cake?

Truth can be stranger than fiction. In a Coogee aquarium in 1935 a shark coughed up a man's tattooed arm. The authors of Shark Arm have unravelled an extraordinary tale of high-class smuggling around Sydney Harbour and police collusion that has eluded many investigations into this famous cold case. Shortlisted for the 2020 Ned Kelly Awards 'The biggest tabloid shark story in the history of the world.' - Peter FitzSimons 'A truly gripping whodunnit which throws fresh light on one of Australia's most extraordinary murders.' - Kate McClymont It all started with a ruthless murder. An ex-boxer and petty police informer was efficiently disposed of, sending a ghastly warning to others. That would have been the end of it, had not a shark, in a million-to-one chance, vomited up the victim's arm in an aquarium and shone an unwelcome light into some very dark places. With so much at stake, the guilty closed ranks and gradually, with intimidation, money, and the murder of a mate who they feared would betray them, they re-imposed their control and the light was turned off again. The memory of those events, and the terrible fear they inspired, kept those who knew the truth silent unto the grave. Others have written about the Shark Arm murder but Phillip Roope and Kevin Meagher, having digested the entire cold-case police file, reveal a very different story: an extraordinary tale of high-class smuggling, a frantic cover-up and the truth behind one of the most infamous cases in Australia. Except there were actually two gruesome murders ...