Dust Speaks, Medusa’s Head, and Nagoya Sketches

A kidnapped child, a missing young detective, and a ransom scheme seem to leave the investigators without a lead. But a handful of dust may reveal what human witnesses cannot. In “Dust Speaks,” Tsukahara Toshio turns observation, science, and nerve into the tools of detection.

“Medusa’s Head” changes the atmosphere. Two carefree medical students meet a retired doctor whose account of a gravely ill woman draws Greek mythology into the examination room. What begins as an explanation of a strange warning becomes a disturbing encounter with beauty, bodily fear, and responsibility.

“Nagoya Sketches” takes the reader into the streets, cafés, temple grounds, and licensed quarter of a city caught between old habits and new amusements. Its humor is candid, barbed, and firmly rooted in its time.