To anyone who is interested in tattoos or in postwar Japan this book is a must. Having a traditional Japanese tattoo myself I was most impressed with the treatment of the art in relation to the trials of living with the artwork,and those who seek to posses it. The way the story does not rely on the tattoos to be the entire focus of the book is refreshing. The moral and ethical questions raised by the pursuit of these tattoos is hardly touched on,but this is a murder mystery not a book about ethics. As far as the mystery goes it is very well thought out and intelligent. You get to know the characters without too much guesswork and they do not have as rough a diologue as you would first assume.(this is in reference to the strict translation that is offered)

Akimitsu Takagi's The Tattoo Murder Case is a crime novel that fits comfortably into its genre. The nourish elements are all presenting the narrative. The troubled detective is following the trail of a crime that has inherent mystery surrounding both its perpetrator and its victim. But the novel is more enthralling than just these basic details. The detective, Kenzo, is locked in the culturally ruined Japan of post World War Two. The after effects of the Atomic Bomb are scattered throughout the narrative. This leaves a dark residual cast over all of the characters. The sense of a seedy underworld is revealed to reader as the narrative carries on. Another aspect that is uncovered is the sense that Kenzo is trapped in a necrophiliac relationship with the dead tattooed woman who has been stripped of her prized full body designs. This post-mortem aura surrounds all of the characters and draws parallels to the 'dead' world in which they live. A strong commentary is made on the after effects of world war. Altogether it is a fantastically well crafted novel that will draw readers into an unfamiliar cultural moment and a mystery with uncertain outcome.

Takagi's masterpiece combines the virtues of a mystery story that is in the same league as Conan Doyle's very best stories, with an intricate description and analysis of the effects of the second world war on Japanese society. The choice of the tattoo as leitmotiv was really a stroke of brilliance. On the one hand it plays a central part in the solving of the murder plot. Moreover, the taboo status that has surrounded the tattoo due to Western influences on the land of the rising sun, gives the (sexual) fascination of its admirers a metaphorical depth. As such, I disagree with a previous reviewer who saw Kenzo's ongoing fascination with Kinue as a manifestation of necrophilia. I feel it represents an expression of nostalgia to the pre-western "good old days".

In closing, the translator deserves some kudos for the excellent translation. The subtly inserted short explanations provide the novice with direct understanding with many concepts and the atmosphere of the original text has been carefully preserved.

Lately I have been reading the works of Japanese authors such as Mishima and Abe, and after reading the wonderful mystery-novel by Miyuki Miyabe ("All she was worth"), I bought "Honeymoon to Nowhere." I can't say that I didn't like this book, although, as a mystery it is rather disappointing. The first half is certainly entertaining -- the author manages to create an atmosphere of possibilities, and, well, suggestive of mysteries. But the second half seems rather artificial and the mystery unwinds in a very unsurprising sort of a way. In fact, the mystery is solved in a very crude and abrupt manner that leaves the reader very unsatisfied. Another disappointment is that none of the characters are well drawn. Read the Miyabe book instead.

I enjoyed the cultural differences that made the mystery story more faceted, made more so by the Australian translation. I read it in one evening. I was caught up by the charactization of Etsuko and the problem of her and her parents choice of a husband for her. Then her husband's secrets. Then his disappearance and the process of the crime being solved the the prosecutor. The pacing of the ending was too quick - a bit out of sync with the rest of the book. But otherwise an enjoyable read. Upon finishing it, I immediately ordered the other two books by the author.

After devouring Takagi's Tattoo Murder Mystery earlier this year I couldn't wait to start this book. While it may not be as good as Takagi's masterful debut, I did enjoy the Honeymoon enough to give it a full endorsement.

In a terse, focused and concentrated fashion Takagi serves the reader with another example of a crime novel that combines a flawless historical and cultural context with an imaginative and dialectic approach to crime solving.

While providing an excellent crime story, this book gives another fine example of the importance of social hierarchy in Japanese society and of it's coping with errors of the past.

Currently there will only one more of Takagi's many books available in translation, but I do hope that SOHO will issue some more in the near future.

I greatly enjoyed reading Takagi's classic "Tattoo Murder Case" and the engaging ""Honeymoon to Nowhere" and was looking forward to this writer's final mystery in the Soho line up. Yet, in despite of the same strong writing and atmosphere, the plot of the Informer disappointed me greatly.

Based on a true story, this novel reads like a recast Faust in the environment of 1960s Japanese business that involves stock market fraud and industrial spying. I really like Takagi's style that other reviewers have described as old-fashioned and overly formal. The characters may be rather one-dimensional, but the writer succeeds well in generating an atmosphere of mystery and in evoking the terror of this books main character. Yet, maybe due to my familiarity with Goethe's Faust or due to years of occupational exposure to intrigue in American Biotech industry, the plot was frightfully transparent to me. In despite of the author's talent, his attempts to keep the "informer" out of the spotlight were not spent on me. Actually, I cannot remember a mystery where the identity of the crook was inevitable just 20 pages into the book.

Thus, I again enjoyed Takagi's writing, but think that his choice to recast a real live situation into a novel resulted in a rather tepid mystery.

Almost 40 years old, this novel has no scenes of violence or sex--or humor! The language and style are very formal, and the characters, virtually all male, are generic, not individualized--not surprising in a culture in which "The nail that sticks up gets hammered down." Nearly all the characteristics one associates with the best modern mystery thrillers are absent here, yet Takagi's novel is fascinating and its plot intriguing, both for the inherent complexities and for the light shed on Japanese business and culture in 1965.

When Shigeo Segawa, a failed stocktrader, is offered a job at an outrageous salary, he finds himself working, not surprisingly, as an industrial spy, ferreting secrets from Shichiyo Chemical, a company in which a college friend is a high official. Segawa shows no qualms of conscience, despite the fact that Eiko, the love of his life, is now married to the friend. Manipulating the women in his life, all of whom are regarded throughout the novel as brainless ornaments or conveniences, he also fails, eventually, at his spy tasks, becoming the prime suspect when his friend turns up murdered. When two more deaths further implicate Segawa, Takagi shows his enormous skill at creating red herrings, using the intricacies of corporate Japan and the traditional restraint of police and prosecutors to keep the reader occupied and diverted.

Differences in legal procedures are stunning here. The police abandon the crime scene because "people were showing up to pay respects [to the widow]...and the atmosphere was no longer suitable." Police and prosecutors make appointments to speak to clients' lawyers and wait patiently till they can be seen. The police give details of confessions to people they are interviewing and seem to share information with whoever wants it. Industrial espionage by itself is not a crime. Careful readers may figure out early who is responsible for the murders, but this novel provides unusual glimpses of Japanese culture, enough to keep a curious reader fascinated and involved till the end.

I really enjoyed this book until the last few pages or so. It reads kind of like Harushi (The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle) Murakami throughout most of it - very interesting examination of Japanese society, believable characters with real, every day kinds of issues and problems, etc. But the end had one major disappointment, that being that the reader is left wondering what in the world becomes of one of the key characters in the book. It doesn't really impact the "mystery" aspect of the story, it's just that it left me with a lack of a sense of closure about this one central character. Other than that, I thought it was a great read.