Death In Dojo

Death in the Dojo Sue Leather

Summary
Kate Jensen is a reporter for the Daily Echo in London.
When the famous karate teacher Kawaguchi is
murdered in his own dojo, Kate is assigned to the case.This is not an easy task for Kate since Kawaguchi was
her own ‘sensei’ or teacher, back in the days when
she trained in karate. The following day Kawaguchi’s
number two at the dojo, Ito, is also foundmurdered.
Kate’s father, a retired journalist and keen boxer,
remembers that a girl called Kawaguchi was injured in
an incident known as the London Road murder thirty
years ago. The girl was beingdriven home by a school
caretaker called John Blakeston. They picked up a
hitchhiker who shot Blakeston and seriously injured
the girl. The girl was Kawaguchi’s daughter, Naoko.
She picked out a young mancalled Brendan Murphy
at an identity parade, and Murphy was hanged for the
murder of Blakeston in 1961. Kate’s father, and many
others, believed that Murphy was innocent.
After Kawaguchi’s funeral,Kate returns to her flat
and is attacked as she goes in. She calls her neighbour
for help but is not badly hurt. The next day she flies
to Tokyo to visit Naoko. Naoko tells Kate that John
Blakeston washer lover and that her father had tried
to stop her seeing him. She also admits that she might
have made a mistake in identifying Brendan Murphy
as the murderer.
Kate becomes convinced that there isa connection
between the London Road murder and the recent
murders of Kawaguchi and Ito. She learns from old
newspaper articles about the London Road murder
that a man called Peter Benson confessed tokilling
Blakeston. She manages to find his brother James,
who tells Kate that he believes his brother Peter, now
dead, was responsible.
The following morning a letter bomb and note from
someonesigning themselves ‘The Avenger’ is sent
to the Home Secretary. Kate visits Brendan’s brother
Paddy and learns that Brendan had a girlfriend called
Janey Lovat. Kate then discovers that a woman called...