Death in the Dojo Level 5 Audio Cassettes

by Sue Leather, Philip Prowse

Award-winning original fiction for learners of English. At seven levels, from Starter to Advanced, this impressive selection of carefully graded readers offers exciting reading for every student's capabilities. Reporter Kate Jensen investigates the death of a karate master in a 'dojo', a karate training room in London. Another death quickly follows and Kate finds herself drawn into the mystery. The trail takes her to Japan, back to London, and back in time to a crime committed over thirty years earlier. 2 Audio Cassettes with complete text recordings from the book.

Audio Cassette

First published June 13, 1999

About the author

Sue Leather has been in the ELT field for thirty years. Originally from the north west of England, between 1985 and 2000, she worked as a teacher, teacher trainer and educational manager in Spain, UK and the Netherlands. She has an MA in Education from the Institute of Education, University of London. She has written a number of articles for ELT journals and magazines, and is a frequent presenter at international conferences. In 2000, she set up her own consultancy group, Sue Leather Associates, and works on educational projects all over the world. Her main interests within ELT are materials development, teacher training and trainer training.

Sue has been writing original learner fiction since 1990, and has written some thirty readers . Her Dead Cold , published by Cambridge University Press, won the Extensive Reading Foundation award in 2005. Sue is currently Co-Series Editor for Page Turners, a series of original fiction for National Geographic/Cengage Learning. She now lives on the beautiful west coast of Canada, where she gains inspiration for her work.

Reviews

[Ivana - Diary of Difference · Rating 5 out of 5]

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I remember reading The Death in the Dojo a few years ago. I still remember the story and the feelings it brought me. This is a story about a mystery, about karate and the love between a daughter and her dad. I need to just say that this book has and always will have a special place in my heart. 

I have been in a dojo since I remember myself. And the sensei is no one else, but my dad. From the very first kata and my first wins and losses, till the days when I started becoming a national champion and travelling across countries, my dad was always the person beside me. The one to guide me and show me the right way. The one to pick me when I fall, and the one who believed in me, when everyone else didn’t.

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“I went over to the Asano dojo for the last half hour of training and saw a good fight among six black belts. I stood and watched the white gi’s moving quickly round the wooden floor, black belts flying. There was something beautiful about this, more like a dance rather than a fight. It made me feel sad, not to be there doing it. "

Even though this book is not the best mystery you will ever read, I doubt that was its real purpose.

I believe that the purpose of this book was to show us a glimpse of what karate really means, to show us the honour, the respect, the persistence we all share in unison. 

“It was true that the great masters seemed to have an unusual sense of peace around them.”

Death in the Dojo starts off when Kate, a journalist, is tasked to investigate the recent murder of the famous karateka Kawaguchi. It is a complete mystery how he would be killed with just one punch called gyaku zuki and die. The mystery is not behind whether it’s possible for him to die from one punch, but the mystery is why he allowed for this to happen. As a master, he is very well able to defend himself against just one punch. 

On this note, I have to mention that in the book, the punch is spelled as “yaku-zuki”, which is incorrect.   

When this mystery is connected to another mystery that happened many years ago, Kate is determined to find the full truth once and for all. 

Even though it is quite a short book, it contains a lot of information and a couple of unexpected plot twists. It captures perfectly the cultural differences between England and Japan, which is shown through the love and relationships between daughters and their dads.

“It was my Dad who taught me how to fight. He never treated me any differently than my brother. He showed me how to fight with my fists up when I was five and to get up quickly if I fell down. I was never allowed to give up. … It was a lesson that would be useful to me many times over the years. Whenever something bad happens in my life and I feel like giving up, I hear dad’s voice in my ears, telling me to get up off the floor.”

I truly loved this book. It will always stay in my heart. I will keep coming to it when I miss my karate days. I recommend it if you like mysteries and martial arts. Also if you are a fan of the Japanese culture. The ending wasn't the best mystery ending ever, as the story went sort of unfinished, and we didn't truly solve one of the mysteries, but it was still a lovely read for me.

This blog post is dedicated to my amazing and one and only dad! I love you! 

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[Anh Dang · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like detective novels, so I chose this book “Death in Dojo”. It begins with the investigation of the reporter; her name is Kate Jensen, about the death of a Karate master in a Dojo, at a karate training room. While Kate tries to find out the evidences about the death in the Karate room, quickly another death is happened to Ito. Therefore, Kate thought that there isn’t normal on the students in Dojo.
From that, Kate began to investigate master’s son and daughter. The evidences lead Kate to Japan. In Japan, she discovered the truth about incidence of thirty years ago from master’s daughter. Brendan Murphy who was hanged for the killing suffered a crime wrongly. The details in the novel present excitingly for readers. Eventually, Kate also investigated the person who is murder. That is Murphy’s daughter; it is because she knew her father is innocent, and she wants to revenge for father’s death.
The novel wants to teach readers that people should not have wrong thinking and actions because they would damage whole the life. I really recommend about this book.

[Gabriel Ruiz · Rating 2 out of 5]

4,5/10
I never thought a book I read to have a better grade in English would make me question if daddy issues were a good excuse to murder people

[kiara ✪ · Rating 1 out of 5]

mataba gente x no tener papá viste

[Yuki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is connected to the martial arts of Japan, as you know by the photo of the cover of it. I had joy reading it while feeling the culture of my country, Japan. This story was deep, thoughtful, and complex, but they were impressed me. Sometimes I thought about the feelings of the criminal, and sometimes I did about the life. I had read other two books by this author, so I felt resemblance and familiarity in the sentence style.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesante historia sobre padres e hijas, una policía que no hace su trabajo, una periodista comprometida por saber la verdad, no importa cuánto tiempo haya pasado. Detalle, lo leí en inglés (sorry!)

[Antonio Estrada · Rating 4 out of 5]

is a little bit predictable, however, is enjoyable if you are learning English.

[Silvestre · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entertaining book with a story that intertwines with a story from the past and a mystery that is maintained until the end.

[⋆˚ 𝜗𝜚˚⋆ ana ⋆˚ 𝜗𝜚˚⋆ · Rating 1 out of 5]

this book triggers me

[Adriënne · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Savaira Drau · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a great experience after reading this story and it is so amazing.The only thing I felt worse about the story because it is really hard for me to pronounce the name properly.The story was really good because even when the story starts i was really looking forward to know who killed the the the guy who is really good at karate because the guy give only a single hit and the man is the best karate ever and he killed him.

[selena · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read it for my english class and it's very interesting, the way in which Jensen tries to solve the case and all the things that come to light are very entertaining. You're expecting for what will happen next and want to go till the end to know everything.

[Salma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would've given that book 4 or 4.5 stars however, the ending didn't make any sense and ruined the whole story m!

[Rosea Bellator · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comecei a ler apenas para testar meu inglês ... e acabou que gostei do livro! Simples, mas interessante. Me fez pensar melhor sobre o karate.

[Fernanda]

I love it