Masako Togawa - The Lady Killer

It was at the end of October that Ichiro Honda was finally released from prison. He gazed appreciatively at the autumn tints and breathed deeply of the chill wind that blew against the gray stones of the court building that he had put behind him.

MASAKO TOGAWA (1931–2016) was one of Japan’s foremost writers of crime fiction. Born in Tokyo, she worked as a cabaret performer before beginning to write crime fiction backstage, during her breaks. Her debut thriller The Master Key (also available from Pushkin Vertigo) won Japan’s prestigious Edgowa Rampo Prize, and Togawa went on to become a hugely successful author, while continuing to lead a colourful parallel life as a singer, actress, feminist, nightclub owner and gay icon.

Whose dark or troubled mind will you step into next? Detective or assassin, victim or accomplice? How can you tell reality from delusion when you’re spinning in the whirl of a thriller, or trapped in the grip of an unsolvable mystery? When you can’t trust your senses, or anyone you meet; that’s when you know you’re in the hands of the undisputed masters of crime fiction.

Writers of the greatest thrillers and mysteries on earth, who inspired those that followed. Their books are found on shelves all across their home countries – from Asia to Europe, and everywhere in between. Timeless tales that have been devoured, adored and handed down through the decades. Iconic books that have inspired films, and demand to be read and read again. And now we’ve introduced Pushkin Vertigo Originals – the greatest contemporary crime writing from across the globe, by some of today’s best authors.

So step inside a dizzying world of criminal masterminds with Pushkin Vertigo. The only trouble you might have is leaving them behind.

Jonathan Ames

You Were Never Really Here

Augusto De Angelis

The Murdered Banker

The Mystery of the Three Orchids

The Hotel of the Three Roses

María Angélica Bosco

Death Going Down

Piero Chiara

The Disappearance of Signora Giulia

Frédéric Dard

Bird in a Cage

The Wicked Go to Hell

Crush

The Executioner Weeps

The King of Fools

The Gravediggers’ Bread

Friedrich Dürrenmatt

The Pledge

The Execution of Justice

Suspicion

The Judge and His Hangman

Martin Holmén

Clinch

Down for the Count

Alexander Lernet-Holenia

I Was Jack Mortimer

Boileau-Narcejac

Vertigo

She Who Was No More

Leo Perutz

Master of the Day of Judgment

Little Apple

St Peter’s Snow

Soji Shimada

The Tokyo Zodiac Murders

Murder in the Crooked Mansion

Masako Togawa

The Master Key

The Lady Killer

Emma Viskic

Resurrection Bay

Seishi Yokomizo

The Inugami Clan

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Original text © 1963 by Masako Togawa

Translated by Simon Grove

Every effort has been made to contact the owner of the rights to this translation. Please contact Pushkin Press if you are the copyright holder.

The Lady Killer was first published in Japanese by Kodansha in 1963

First English translation published by Dodd, Mead & Company, 1986

First published by Pushkin Press in 2018

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eISBN 13: 978 1 78227 410 0

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