Pathway to Japanese Literature

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Zenigata Heiji's Arrest RecordsAuthor: Nomura Kodō

Original Title	銭形平次捕物控
Author	野村胡堂
Genre	Historical Fiction
Author Type	Male Author
Summary	In the shadowy streets of Edo, Zenigata Heiji, a sharp-witted lawman, and his boisterous assistant Hachigorō stumble into a web of treachery after a grisly discovery. Omoya Hanbei, a moneylender with a hidden past as a disgraced samurai, is found crucified on a chinquapin tree, his throat slit and a chest of gold coins dangling from his neck. His enigmatic niece, Oei—a former performer with a haunting allure—claims innocence but harbors secrets of her own. As Heiji probes deeper, cryptic clues emerge: a dice-pip tattoo on the victim’s arm links him to the infamous Six Speckled Men, a vanished gang notorious for a daring highway heist years prior. But when a street urchin connected to the case is brutally silenced, the investigation spirals into darker territory. With suspects ranging from a shifty clerk to shadowy underworld figures, Heiji must untangle a knot of greed and betrayal before Edo’s spring nights drown in blood. The hunt for 12,000 stolen ryō in gold becomes a race against time—and a dance with killers who vanish like smoke.