The Tattoo Murder Case by Akimitsu Takagi

When Akimitsu Takagi published his first novel, The Tattoo Murder Case, the practice of tattooing was illegal in Japan. Although a part of Japanese subculture, the art had been illegal since the Edo Period in the 1860s. Takagi was fascinated by the full body Japanese tattoo and as one would expect from the title, the people who create tattoos, as well as those who have them , play a central role in the mystery.

I don't have tattoos myself, and I'm not likely to ever get one. However, I found this novel surrounding the tattoo subculture in Japan one of the best mysteries I've read this year. The story deals with the deaths of three siblings - the children of a famous tattoo artist - who had received tattoos from their father, depicting an accursed legend from Japanese mythology.

I also learned from the novel that, although tattooing was illegal during the Edo period, tattooing foreigners was allowed. As a matter of fact, two famous cousins, the future Tzar Nicolas II of Russia and the future King George V of England both had dragons tattooed onto their forearms during their time stationed in Japan while in the Russian and British navies.

One of the main characters of the novel, Kenzo Matsushita is himself a big fan of mystery novels. It's mentioned in the book that Kenzo was reading The Three Coffins by John Dickson Carr. That book, also known as The Hollow Man in the U.K., is considered on of the greatest "locked room" mystery novels of all time. Akimitsu Takagi had four of his novels translated into English, and it was my original intention to read the four back to back. However, I've decided to read The Three Coffins before continuing on with Akimitsu Takagi's second novel, The Noh Mask Murder.