Dwarf

«In September 1920, I had the opportunity to meet a man named Kogoro Akechi. While spending time chatting in the café “House of the White Plum” in the middle of D. Street, we noticed something strange happening in the bookstore... across the street, and soon became the first to discover the lifeless body of the owner. Could it be that my new acquaintance is the murderer?..»

«Murder on D. Street» — the first story featuring Kogoro Akechi, one of the most recognized detectives in Japanese literature. The collection also includes the stories «The Ghost», «The Black Hand Gang», «Psychological Test», and «Walks in the Attic», arranged in chronological order of the cases described in them.

One spring evening, Monzo Kobayashi was strolling through Asakusa Park when he witnessed a bizarre sight: a dwarf resembling a ten-year-old child with the head of an adult man, from whose coat suddenly fell a pale human hand wrapped in a piece of cloth. The next day, the young man learns about the disappearance of Mitiko Yamano, the daughter of a local entrepreneur, and soon a severed girl's hand is discovered in a department store...

«Dwarf» — a continuation of Kogoro Akechi's adventures upon his return from Shanghai.