In a police procedural by Japan\'s foremost master of mystery, Inspector Imanishi Eitaro, a typically Japanese detective fond of gardening and haiku, must follow a killer\'s trail across the social strata of Japan.
Why did a young woman scatter pieces of white paper out of the window of a train? Why did a bar girl leave for home right after Imanishi spoke to her? Why did an actor, on the verge of telling Imanishi something important, drop dead of a heart attack? What can a group of nouveau young artists possibly have to do with the murder of a quiet and saintly provincial old ex-policemen? Inspector Imanishi investigates..
But Imanishi is dissatisfied, and a series of coincidences lead him back to the case.
Months pass in fruitless questioning, in following up leads, until the case is closed, unsolved.
Inspector Imanishi leaves his beloved bonsai and his haiku and goes off to investigate--and runs up against a blank wall.
Only two clues surface: an old man, overheard talking in a distinctive accent to a young man, and the word kameda.
In the wee hours of a 1960s Tokyo morning, a dead body is found under the rails of a train, and the victim\'s face is so badly damaged that police have a hard time figuring out the victim\'s identity.
In a police procedural by Japan\'s foremost master of mystery, Inspector Imanishi Eitaro, a typically Japanese detective fond of gardening and haiku, must follow a killer\'s trail across the social strata of Japan
