Akechi Kogoro, detective extraordinaire. In Japan, this is a name to fire the imaginations of readers young at heart. Cool and sophisticated, Akechi moves effortlessly through the world of Japan in the golden era between the wars, defeating masterminds and saving the day. He has been the hero of Japanese children for generations, and starred in a host of movies.

The stories in this volume predate all that; his secret origin, if you will Readers familiar with the exploits of the great detective Akechi Kogoro might have difficulty recognizing the impeccably dressed and universally respected man of action in the amateur detective, an eccentric twenty-something of little means with disheveled hair and a shabby kimono. The Akechi who appears here is a hobbyist in crime, his identity not yet fixed either in the eyes of the reading public or in the mind of his creator.