"A guardian top ten 'impossible murder' novel"--Cover

"First published in Japanese as Senseijutsu Satsujinjiken in 1981 by Kodansha Ltd."--Title page verso.

"First published in English in 2004 by IBC Publishing"--Title page verso.

Cover; Title Page; CONTENTS; DRAMATIS PERSONAE; FOREWORD; PROLOGUE: Azoth; ACT ONE: The Unsolved Mystery, Forty Years On; SCENE 1: Footprints in the Snow; SCENE 2: The Twelfth Painting; SCENE 3: A Vase and a Mirror; SCENE 4: Poisoned Fruit Juice; SCENE 5: Latitude and Longitude; ENTR'ACTE: A Police Confession; ACT TWO: More Speculation; SCENE 1: A Little Magic; SCENE 2: A Rude Visit; ENTR'ACTE: Bacteria in the Bullet Train; ACT THREE: In Pursuit of Azoth; SCENE 1: Moves on the Chessboard; SCENE 2: A Profanity; SCENE 3: Crossing the Moon; SCENE 4: The Riverbank; SCENE 5: The Doll-maker; SCENE 6: The Mannequin; SCENE 7: The Philosopher's Walk; ENTR'ACTE: Message from the Author; ACT FOUR: The Storm; SCENE 1: The Teahouse; SCENE 2: The Roll of the Dice; ENTR'ACTE: Another Message from the Author; ACT 5: Magic in the Mists of Time; SCENE 1: The Invisible Killer; SCENE 2: The Vanishing Point; SCENE 3: The Basic Structure; SCENE 4: A Knock on the Door; EPILOGUE: The Voice of Azoth.

Astrologer, fortuneteller, and self-styled detective Kiyoshi Mitarai must in one week solve a macabre murder mystery that has baffled Japan for 40 years. Who murdered the artist Umezawa, raped and killed his daughter, and then chopped up the bodies of six others to create Azoth, the supreme woman? With maps, charts, and other illustrations, this story of magic and illusion, pieced together like a great stage tragedy, challenges the reader to unravel the mystery before the final curtain.