A young artist visits a detective to help him discern whether he has committed a crime or if it's all a product of his delusional mind; a casual conversation between an office worker and a detective leads the former down an unexpected path; a robbery in a student residence reveals how appearances can be deceiving; a writer helps his friend solve a supposed crime, which has entirely unforeseen consequences.
In these four tales of crime and mystery, Tanizaki employs his subtle prose and aesthetic sensibility to create an atmosphere of tension, intrigue, ambiguity, and even eroticism. Guiding the reader through dark, sometimes suffocating, places where they witness how secrets and passions can lead to the destruction of the protagonists, Tanizaki reminds us that, beyond solving a crime, the true enigma lies in the hidden motivations and desires that drive his characters to confron...read more
