Description: Astrologer, fortuneteller, and self-styled detective Kiyoshi Mitarai must in one week solve a macabre murder mystery that has baffled Japan for 40 years. Who murdered the artist Umezawa, raped and killed his daughter, and then chopped up the bodies of six others to create Azoth, the supreme woman? With maps, charts, and other illustrations, this story of magic and illusion, pieced together like a great stage tragedy, challenges the reader to unravel the mystery before the final curtain.
Review Quotes: "I have long wanted to recommend this debut mystery novel by a prolific master... Whether you're attempting to solve the case yourself (I didn't) or just immersing yourself in a true distraction, this will carry you across the ocean, amiably fill a week's vacation or sweep you away for a few hours before bed"
--Sadie Stein, The New York Times
--Publishers Weekly "If you like your crime stories to be bloody and bizarre, then this one may be for you. The winner of several major awards... the solution is one of the most original that I've ever read."
--Daily Mail "The great Soji Shimada virtually invented the "logic problem" sub-genre.:
--Guardian Top 10 Locked Room Mysteries (No. 2) "Intricately constructed and entertainingly exotic."
--The Japan Times