"First published in Japanese as Kikanakatta Basho by Kadokawa Corporation, Tokyo, 1975" -- Title page verso.

"Bitter Lemon Press crime paperback original" -- Page 4 of cover.

While on a business trip to Kobe, Tsuneo Asai receives the news that his wife Eiko has died of a heart attack. Eiko had a heart condition, so the news of her death wasn't totally unexpected. But the circumstances of her demise leave Tsuneo perplexed. How did it come about that his wife, who was shy and withdrawn, and only left their house twice a week to go to haiku meetings, ended up dead in a small shop in a quiet residential Tokyo neighborhood? When Tsuneo goes to apologize to the boutique owner for the trouble caused by his wife's death, he discovers the Hotel Tachibana nearby, a shady establishment known as a rendezvous for secret lovers. As he digs deeper into his wife's recent past, he must eventually conclude that she led a double life.

Translated from the Japanese.