The Master Key (Togawa novel)


The Master Key is a 1962 novel by the Japanese novelist Masako Togawa which received the Edogawa Rampo Prize upon publication. The English translation by Simon Grove was first published by Dodd, Mead & Co in 1985.
It is a mystery story set in the 1950's postwar Ikebukuro, Japan with the setting of K Apartment for Ladies, reserved only for women. Many of the aging residents have their own secrets bound to the master key, which opens all of the 150 rooms in the K Apartment. All the secrets start to unravel when the building is slated for construction work to be moved four meters with the residents inside.

Characters

Major Characters:Katsuko Tojo/Haru Santo - older receptionist with a limp/white haired mysterious resident.Kaneko Tamura - younger receptionist.Chikako Ueda - previous school teacher who waits for her dead husband.Toyoto Munekata - professor guarding her dead husband's manuscripts.Noriko Ishiyama - eccentric woman known to other residents as Ms. Bladderwrack who forages for fishbones at night.Suwa Yatabe - violinist who previously stole a Guarnerius violin from her teacher.Yoneko Kimura - retired school teacher who writes letters to her previous students.
Minor Characters:Yasuyo Aoki - mysterious guest of Chikako Ueda.Keiko Kawauchi - divorced from Major Kraft after disappearance of their son.Major D. Kraft - U.S. Army major who returned to the U.S. after divorce from Keiko Kawauchi.George Kraft - son of Major Kraft, reported kidnapped and missing.Priest - leader of the Three Spirit Faith cult, performs seemingly miraculous revelations.Thumbelina the Vestal - small statured woman who is the medium of the séance.

Translation