A Cruel Death

A body discovered in a Tsukiji river bears so many wounds that even the circumstances of death seem impossible to reconstruct. With the victim unidentified and no obvious clues, two detectives approach the case from very different directions.

Tanimada trusts experience and informants. Ōtomo trusts science and logic—and hopes to become the Lecoq of the East. A few hairs become the center of their rival investigations, while pride and competing hypotheses threaten to outrun the evidence.

First published in September 1889, A Cruel Death includes a contemporary preface presenting it as a pioneer of Japanese detective fiction. This complete English translation retains the story’s historical setting and provides notes on names, measures, forensic arguments, and treaty-era assumptions. The rivalry offers a lively portrait of detection at the beginning of modern Japanese crime writing. AI-assisted translation.