The Amber Pipe and Other Stories

After the Great Kantō Earthquake, a neighborhood night watch discovers a fire—and three bodies. A young reporter seems to read the smallest clues with uncanny ease. But the investigation has not yet revealed the meaning of a scrap of paper or the fate of a stolen jewel.

In three stories by Kōga Saburō, apparent explanations give way to stranger possibilities. A magnificent pearl tower seems to have been exchanged for an imitation at an exhibition. A scientist abandons his profession to study spiders in a laboratory perched above the ground. Visitors, witnesses, and investigators must decide which appearances can be trusted.

This complete new English translation preserves the supplied stories, their letters and diary entries, and the original sequence of discoveries. Notes explain period details, inconsistent terminology, and conflicting accounts. The missing cipher diagram in The Amber Pipe is clearly identified at its original location, while its complete prose explanation remains present. These early Japanese mysteries combine ingenious puzzles with unease, irony, and the disturbing consequences of concealed intentions.