The Tattoo Murder Case

By Akimitsu Takagi, Deborah Boehm (translator),

Book cover of The Tattoo Murder Case

Book description

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…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Tattoo Murder Case as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

First published in 1948, this was one of the first Japanese crime novels that I read. It is about a beautiful, tattooed woman who is brutally murdered and dismembered. However, the piece that contained her most exquisite tattoo has gone missing. It’s up to her hapless admirer and a brilliant amateur detective to discover why she was murdered and track down the killer.

Like The Silent Dead, I enjoyed this novel mostly for its plot, taking place just after World War II, offering interesting insights into the postwar Japanese mindset.

From Matthew's list on Japanese crime novel recommendations.

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