The Tokyo Zodiac Murders

'The solution is one of the most original that I've ever read' Anthony Horowitz

'This book is an unmissable triumph' Tom Mead, Publishers Weekly

'It's a budding Sherlock's dream' Crime Scene

______A BESTSELLING AND INTERNATIONALLY-ACCLAIMED MASTERPIECE

An eccentric artist is found brutally murdered in a room locked from the inside. His diaries reveal dabblings in alchemy and astrology, and a macabre plan to kill and dismember seven women in an occult ritual. Then, shortly after his death, the artist's bloody project is carried out, as if from beyond the grave...

Decades later, astrologer and amateur detective Kiyoshi Mitarai sets out to solve these notorious crimes. His investigation leads him across the country towards a dark, shocking truth. But can you unravel the mystery of the Tokyo Zodiac Murders before he does?



Born in 1948 in Hiroshima prefecture, Soji Shimada has been dubbed the 'God of Mystery' by international audiences. A novelist, essayist and short-story writer, he made his literary debut in 1981 with The Tokyo Zodiac Murders, which was shortlisted for the Edogawa Rampo Prize. Blending classical detective fiction with grisly violence and elements of the occult, he has gone on to publish several highly acclaimed series of mystery fiction, including the casebooks of Kiyoshi Mitarai and Takeshi Yoshiki. He is the author of 100+ works in total.In 2009 Shimada received the prestigious Japan Mystery Literature Award in recognition of his life's work.