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The Tattoo Murder

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The Tattoo Murder

By: Akimitsu Takagi, Deborah Boehm
Narrated by: Akira Matsumoto
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About this listen

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?

©1951, 1998 The Heirs of Akimitsu Takagi, Deborah Boehm (P)2023 Bolinda Publishing Crime Fiction Fiction International Mystery & Crime Mystery Suspense Tattoo Thriller & Suspense World Literature

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Critic reviews

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

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

"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)
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Great story with several twisting story arcs just like the snake tattoo which is one of the trio. However, the story is overly long with some narrative which adds little, to that end I would say it could be an hour shorter at least.

Twists and turns in Japanese mystery of its time

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Clever tale, brilliantly and engagingly told. Very well narrated, except for a few very strange pronunciations of fairly straight-forward words. It seems to have become the norm with audible to have incorrect pronunciations allowed to stay in the final recording. No one seems to edit the production, which I find odd. But overall a brilliant experience- clever story with realistic characters…

Great story

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Really entertaining and enlightening insight into 1950’s Japan and a celebration of Japanese Tattoo culture in an honest and refreshing way. Highly recommended

Excellent locked room Mystery!

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