The Master Key

Starred review from January 15, 2018
Originally published in 1962, Togawa’s first novel is an outstanding puzzle mystery. In a prologue, set in 1951 Tokyo, an unidentified man, dressed as a woman, tries to cross a busy street against the light and is fatally struck by a van. A nameless woman living in the K Apartments for Ladies waits alone for seven years for the dead man’s return—and is still waiting. Flash back to three days before the accident. The man carries a traveling bag containing a child’s corpse to the woman’s apartment. Hours later they bury the body in the building’s basement, an act witnessed—unbeknownst to them—by a third person. Most of the action takes place seven years after these events, when the tenants of the building, mainly women leading secluded and lonely lives, are scheduled to be moved and their numerous secrets are threatened to be revealed. The gradual, logical, but still surprising unfolding of the Russian nesting doll of a plot is a delight.

Starred review from March 15, 2018

Welcome to Tokyo's K Apartments for Ladies, a building filled with stories, mystery, and secrets. This threaded and complicated novel brings to life some of the most suspect residents, whose lives have become entangled over the years. There are tales of a stolen violin, a missing child, mysterious lovers, a strange religious cult, and one master key to open every room in the apartment house. Togawa's woven account is fascinating and complex as the master key moves among the hands of victims, assailants, dark shadows, and desperate characters. And just when you think you have a suspect in mind, a new door opens. Then it is decided that the building will be moved a few feet for the construction of a highway and all its secrets unravel. VERDICT Originally published in 1962, this debut novel, which won Japan's Edogawa Rampo Prize, is a brilliant, suspenseful, and classic mystery that will leave readers wondering who really lives next door.--Ron Samul, New London, CT

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