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.

"Intricate, fantastic and utterly absorbing. More please . . . Calculated to outdo John Dickson Carr in both ghoulishness and ingenuity" - Kirkus Reviews

"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

"Like voyeurs, we follow Takagi down the charred streets of bombed-out Tokyo to scenes of fastidiously executed decadence" - The New York Times

"The extensive and nuanced portrayal of Japanese subcultures makes The Tattoo Murder an absorbing and satisfying read" - Business Post

"This lurid mystery provides a fascinating portrait of wartorn Tokyo" - The Times Crime Club, Pick of the Week

"Agatha Christie was the queen of the locked room mystery - but now we have the opportunity to enjoy The Tattoo Murder... Originally published in 1948, Takagi's mystery transcends time... As the evenings draw in, this mystery will keep the cold at bay. 9/10." - Independent

"Has all the hallmarks of a Japanese noir, with its devious locked-door scenario, the shadowy presence of illegal tattooists, their obsessive clients and a creepily intense professor, who's hoping to add another skin to his collection... A tale that fizzes with intrigue and ingenuity" - Daily Mail

"An ingenious whodunnit" - Daily Mail

"An engaging journey into a Tokyo ravaged by war and its criminal underworld... Crackles with the energy that made Takagi one of Japan's most popular crime authors" - Financial Times