Murder at the Black Cat Cafe - Paperback – by Seishi Yokomizo 
 
A classic Japanese mystery, from the author of The Honjin Murders
 
'The Japanese Agatha Christie' Sara Cox, Between the Covers
Tokyo, 1947.
 
The Pink Labyrinth is one of the bomb-scarred city's most shady neighbourhoods. There, in the dead of night, a patrolling policeman catches a young Buddhist monk digging in the back yard of The Black Cat Cafe, a notorious brothel. In the shallow grave at his feet lie the dead body of a woman, her face disfigured beyond recognition, and the corpse of a black cat.
 
Who is the murdered woman, and how was she connected to the infamous establishment? And where did the dead cat come from, given that the cafe's feline mascot seems to be alive and well? The brilliant sleuth Kosuke Kindaichi investigates, but as he draws closer to the truth, he finds himself in grave danger...
 
PRAISE FOR SEISHI YOKOMIZO
'The diabolically twisted plotting is top-notch' - New York Times
'Readers will delight in the blind turns, red herrings and dubious alibis... Ingenious and compelling' - Economist