Pathway to Japanese Literature
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Dancing Beauty StatueAuthor: Nomura Kodō
| Original Title | 踊る美人像 |
|---|---|
| Author | 野村 胡堂 |
| Genre | Detective & Mystery |
| Author Type | Male Author |
| Summary | In the shadowy corners of Tokyo’s glittering theater world, a star actress’s life unravels amid scandal and vengeance. When a cryptic letter lures two journalists to a secluded park bench, they witness a chilling confrontation: Yanagi Itoko, the city’s most dazzling actress, is blackmailed by her destitute ex-lover, stripped of jewels and dignity under threat of public humiliation. Rescued by the reporters, she returns to her opulent apartment—a den of jazz-fueled revelry—where she flaunts a haunting wooden statue, a masterpiece from her past. But by dawn, she lies dead in a locked room, shot by a pistol mysteriously fired from the statue’s hand. As suspects multiply—a jealous patron, a vengeful sculptor, a rival actress—the case spirals into an enigma: How could a killer vanish without a trace? Enter a cunning detective who stages a macabre reenactment, peeling back layers of deception to expose a plot as twisted as the performer’s own secrets. In a world where art mirrors obsession, the truth dances on a knife’s edge between genius and madness. |
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