In the immediate aftermath on an earthquake in the Kobe area, a prominent German businessman is found dead in a disused warehouse and the obvious explanation is death by natural causes as there are no signs of foul play. But the body just happens to have been discovered by Superintendent Tetsuo Otani, who notices that the German’s faithful dog – still guarding the corpse – has been cared for after its master’s death. Before Otani and his team of detectives can start to discover ‘who done it’ they have to work out how it was done. Could death have been caused by a rare judo hold called the hadaka-jime (the ‘naked strangle’)? If so, who was proficient enough in the martial arts to use the hold – and why?