“…a surrealist painting come to life…”

Green eyes glowing in the dark, half-man, half-beast, the human leopard stalks the jungle city. His bloodlust is insatiable, his cruelty immeasurable. No one is safe, not even the wife of Japan’s most famous sleuth.

First published in 1934 (Japanese title 人間豹, Ningen-Hyō) this is the eighth full-length novel to feature the private detective Akechi Kogoro.

Born as Hirai Tarō, Edogawa Ranpo (1894-1965) was an influential author and critic known for his tales of the mysterious and macabre. His pseudonym is a rendering of ‘Edgar Allen Poe’ using Japanese characters. Ranpo often dealt with themes of sexual perversion and the grotesque, as well as writing more conventional detective stories.

Alexis J Brown is a translator living in London.