As Mizuno writes a story about the perfect murder, he bases the victim's character on one of his acquaintances, but somehow this man's real name is included when the book is published. Terrified that an actual murder will take place—and that he will be the main suspect—Mizuno goes to great lengths to establish an alibi, venturing into the city's underworld. But he finds himself only more entangled as his paranoid fantasies, including a mysterious "Shadow Man" out to entrap him, intrude into real life. Best known as the author of the historical epic The Makioka Sisters, Junichiro Tanizaki (1886-1965) was also a fan of Western crime fiction, as this strikingly modern serialized tale from the 1920s attests.