David Peace

Chasing the Japanese Bluebeard

Year of the Dog, 1946. In a scorched-out shell of a city, Detective Minami of the Tokyo MPD is on the trail of a killer.

“No one is who they say they are,” Minami mutters, as he weaves his way through a shadowy underworld of geishas and lurid creatures puffing on Golden Bat cigarettes. Minami manages street-weary detectives amid gang wars, purges and a missing police file. He also juggles family and his sensuous mistress, Yuki—“the one splash of colour among the dust.” Operating at full throttle, Minami finds Calmotin pills and cheap bakudan sake to be important tools of the trade.

From the lone clue left in the pocket of a pinafore dress, Inspector Minami zeros in on a psychotic culprit. While violently graphic and at times disjointed, this read is gripping, and the finale explosive.