title: The Tattoo Murder Case
author:  Akimitsu Takagi 
description: If you read mysteries for insights into other cultures and different periods, this excellent translation of the first novel by Akimitsu Takagi, who became one of Japan's leading crime writers, is an eye-opener. In 1947 Toyko, the limbs of a murdered woman are discovered in a locked bathroom. Her torso--covered with intricately beautiful tattoos by her late father, a highly controversial artist--is missing. A doctor finds the body, and his detective brother is put in charge of the case. They bumble around until the doctor's friend, jokingly called "Boy Genius," leads them to the murderer. Fans of golden-age mysteries by <a href="/exec/obidos/Author=Van%20Dine%2c%20S.%20S./${0}">S. S. Van Dine</a> and <a href="/exec/obidos/Author=Carr%2c%20John%20Dickson/${0}">John Dickson Carr</a> should enjoy this unusual combination of ingredients.
zlib_text: ALSO BY THE AUTHOR
  
   _The Informer_
  
   _The Tattoo Murder Case_
  
  _Honeymoon to Nowhere_ was first published in English
  
  translation in Australia by the Anthos Publishing Company.
  
  Originally published in Japanese as _Zero No Mitsugetsu_
  
  Copyright © Akimitsu Takagi 1965
  
  All rights reserved.
  
  Published in the United States by
  
  Soho Press, Inc.
  
  853 Broadway
  
  New York, NY 10003
  
  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
  
  Takagi, Akimitsu, 1920–1995
  
  [Zero no mitsugetsu. English]
  
  Honeymoon to nowhere / [Akimitsu Takagi: translated
  
  by Sadako Mizuguchi.
  
  ISBN 978-1-56947-154-8
  
  eISBN 978-1-61695-026-2
  
  I. Mizuguchi, Sadako. II. Title.
  
  PL882.A4Z2513 1985
  
  895.6’35—dc21 98-31948
  
  Printed in the United States of America
  
  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
  
  Honeymoon to Nowhere
  
  1
  
  ETSUKO OGATA WAS sweeping up dead leaves in the garden. She moved
  mechanically, biting her lip, her back toward the clear blue sky, her eyes on
  the black soil.
  
  The sound of the piano next door pervaded the Sunday morning 