A bestselling and internationally-acclaimed masterpiece of the locked-room mystery genreJapan, 1936. An old eccentric artist living with seven women has been found dead- in a room locked from the inside. His diaries reveal alchemy, astrology and a complicated plan to kill all seven women. Shortly afterwards, the plan is carried out: the women are found dismembered and buried across rural Japan. By 1979, these Tokyo Zodiac Murders have been obsessing a nation for decades, but not one of them has been solved. A mystery-obsessed illustrator and a talented astrologer set off around the country - and you follow, carrying the enigma of the Zodiac murderer through madness, missed leads and magic tricks. You have all the clues, but can you solve the mystery before they do? Born in 1948 in Hiroshima prefecture, Soji Shimada has been dubbed the 'God of Mystery' by international audiences. A novelist, essayist and short-story writer, he made his literary debut in 1981 with The Tokyo Zodiac Murders, which was shortlisted for the Edogawa Rampo Prize. Blending classical detective fiction with grisly violence and elements of the occult, he has gone on to publish several highly acclaimed series of mystery fiction, including the casebooks of Kiyoshi Mitarai and Takeshi Yoshiki. In 2009 Shimada received the prestigious Japan Mystery Literature Award in recognition of his life's work.

Soji Shimada is an author, designer, musician, and astrology writer. He has written over a 100 crime novels since his 1981 debut with The Tokyo Zodiac Murders. As a pioneer of the Shinhonhaku 'logic mystery' genre he is known in the Japan as the 'God of Mystery'.
Translated from the Japanese by Ross and Shika MacKenzie.
From the Trade Paperback edition.