You have to appreciate the timeframe. Edogawa Ranpo was the pioneer of Japanese crime fiction. He began in the 1920s but was heavily influenced by European crime fiction he probably read in his youth - Sherlock Holmes, not to put too fine a point on it. So what we have here, in 1934, is a detective with abilities way beyond the normal versus a super villain in the mould of Moriarty. It is nevertheless written and set in the Gangster era, with hoods and molls. The Black Lizard is therefore a femme fatale with a penchant for diamonds and a frankly startling amount of nudity, both male and female.
When she's not presiding over the Tokyo underworld as the Black Lizard, our anti-heroine goes by the name of Madame Midorikawa, glamorous femme fatale. Her enemy, our hero, is the famous detective Akechi Kogoro. Caught in a tug of war between them is the demure Sanae, daughter of the super-rich Osaka diamond merchant Iwase Shobei. The Black Lizard wants his prize possession, the Star of Egypt, for her collection, or she will kidnap Sanae. The Black Lizard has told him so, therefore Iwase has hired Akechi and his team.
There is a lot of disguise and improbable cunning devices (and a really surprising amount of nudity). The action rattles along at a furious pace and is settled with a final, brilliantly executed twist. It truly is a classic of its kind - and all done in a little more than a 150 pages. I enjoyed it hugely.
[PS: Edogawa Ranpo is a pseudonym. The author's real name was Taro Hirai and he lived from 1894 to 1965. His choice of pen-name is as cunning as one of his plots. Try saying it out loud.]
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