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(*)(島田荘司, trans. by Ross and Shika Mackenzie) (★)(Titulo original : 占星術殺人事件 [Senseijutsu Satsujinjiken] 1.On a snowy night in 1936, an artist is battered to death behind the locked door of his Tokyo studio. The police find a bizarre testament describing his plan to create Azoth --the ideal woman-- from various body parts of his young female relatives. Shortly after, his eldest daughter is raped and murdered. And then his other daughters and nieces all suddenly disappear. Gradually their dismembered bodies are found, all buried according to the astrological details expounded by the artist. The mysterious genocide grips the nation, baffling authorities and would-be amateur detectives alike, but it remains unsolved for more than 40 years. Then one day in 1979, a document is brought to Kiyoshi Mitarai --astrologer, fortune-teller and self-styled detective. With his own version of Dr. Watson in tow --the illustrator and detective story aficionado Kazumi Ishioka-- he sets out on the trail of the invisible perpetrator of the Tokyo Zodiac Murders and the creator of Azoth. This gripping tale of magic and illusion by one of Japan´s master mystery storytellers is pieced together like a great stage tragedy. The author sets the reader the challenge of unraveling the mystery before the final curtain. ◆Soji Shimada has worked as a designer, musician and an astrology writer for a major newspaper. The Tokyo Zodiac Murders, nominated for the Edogawa Rampo Award, was his first mystery novel and is still one of the best selling mystery novels in Japan. Other works include the Detective Mitarai and the Detective Yoshiki series, more than one hundred other mystery novels, and several essays. A television drama has been based on his work. As well as being a gifted writer, Shimada is also an active campaigner for the removal of the death penalty in Japan.) |
BASE de DATOS, Biblioteca del Centro Cultural de la Embajada de Japon
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