The Tattoo Murder is a novel of a very specific period that kickstarted my fascination with Japanese crime literature. As it was the only title missing from my collection of Pushkin Vertigo’s translated Japanese titles, I recently decided to buy and revisit it after eight-odd years. Takagi’s interest in an unfamiliar Tokyo provides fuel for the seedy atmosphere that he sustains for a majority of the novel, and his gaze (which he shares with the readers)