Books by Seicho Matsumoto
Tokyo Express: A Novel
An elegantly plotted detective mystery that unwinds one of the most astonishing literary puzzles ever written, from the master of mystery hailed as "Japan's Agatha Christie" (The Sunday Times)
"An irresistible Hitchcockian gem: a fiendishly plotted crime novel told in crisp, elegant prose." —Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train
In a rocky cove in the bay of Hakata, the bodies of a young and beautiful couple are discovered. Standing on the cold beach, the police see nothing to investigate: the flush of the couple's cheeks and the empty juice bottle speak clearly of cyanide, of a lovers' suicide. But in the eyes of two men, Torigai Justaro, a senior detective, and Kiichi Mihara, a young gun from Tokyo, something is not quite right. Together, they begin to pick at the knot of a unique and calculated crime.
Now widely available in English for the first time, Tokyo Express is celebrated around the world as Seicho Matsumoto's masterpiece.
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$18.00
Pro Bono
by Thomas Perry, Seicho Matsumoto
When Kiriko Yanagida first came to Otsuka's law offices, she had only a familial conviction of her brother's innocence despite his confessing to the murder. To the high-profile (and high priced) lawyer Otsuka, this small-town girl's belief was nothing more than naive hope, so he sent her away, advising her to find a local lawyer or something. Now, Kiriko plots to avenge her brother -- entirely pro bono.
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$27.95
Pro Bono
by Thomas Perry, Seicho Matsumoto
A tenacious attorney grapples with a dangerous group of thieves in this new thriller from the author of The Old Man.
Charles Warren, Los Angeles attorney, has dedicated his career to aiding people in financial straits. He is particularly skilled at the art of recovering assets that have been embezzled or hidden. In his newest case, helping a beautiful young widow find the money missing from her late husband’s investment accounts, Charlie recognizes a familiar scheme—one that echoes the con job that targeted his own widowed mother many years before, and that led him, as a teenager, to commit a crime of retribution that still weighs on his conscience. Charlie can’t get the present case out of his mind, but within hours of starting his investigation, he is followed, shot at, and has his briefcase stolen. It’s clear that someone doesn’t want him following the trail of the missing money but, as Charlie continues to pursue answers, he quickly becomes too entangled in the web of fraud, betrayal, and career criminals surrounding the theft to escape its deadly snare. A nail-biting tale of conspiracy and pursuit from Thomas Perry, “a dominating force in the world of contemporary suspense thrillers” (Publishers Weekly), Pro Bono will have readers looking over their shoulders as constantly as they keep turning pages.
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$16.95
Point Zero
"A master crime writer...Seichō Matsumoto's thrillers dissect Japanese society."--The New York Times. A beautifully written mystery novel that takes on the taboo of Japanese prostitution catering to GIs during the American post-war occupation. Tokyo 1958, Teiko marries Kenichi Uhara, ten years her senior, an advertising man recommended by an intermediary. After a four-day honeymoon, Kenichi vanishes. Teiko travels to the coastal and snow-bound city of Kanazawa, where Kenichi was last seen, to investigate his disappearance.
She discovers he had been a police officer in Tokyo after the war, keeping watch over pan pan girls, Japanese prostitutes catering to GIs. Some of these women have created a new life in Kanazawa and may have taken extreme measures to hide their past.
"Do you aspire to be a connoisseur of the best international crime fiction? If so, Seicho Matsumoto’s Point Zero should be on your bedside table. Become acquainted with a crime master." Financial Times
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Inspector Imanishi Investigates (Soho Crime)
In the wee hours of a 1960s Tokyo morning, a dead body is found under the rails of a train, and the victim's face is so badly damaged that police have a hard time figuring out the victim’s identity. Only two clues surface: an old man, overheard talking in a distinctive accent to a young man, and the word “kameda.” Inspector Imanishi leaves his beloved bonsai and his haiku and goes off to investigate—and runs up against a blank wall. Months pass in fruitless questioning, in following up leads, until the case is closed, unsolved.
But Imanishi is dissatisfied, and a series of coincidences lead him back to the case. Why did a young woman scatter pieces of white paper out of the window of a train? Why did a bar girl leave for home right after Imanishi spoke to her? Why did an actor, on the verge of telling Imanishi something important, drop dead of a heart attack? What can a group of nouveau young artists possibly have to do with the murder of a quiet and “saintly” provincial old ex-policemen? Inspector Imanishi investigates.
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Suspicion A Novel
A taut psychological thriller about the hidden demons that guide our convictions, our biases, and our deepest desires, available in English for the first time from “Japan’s Agatha Christie.” (The Sunday Times)
In the middle of the night, a car drives off a pier. An elderly man drowns, but his young wife lives. The wife’s name is Kumako Onizuka, and with a past stained by yakuza entanglements and criminal activity, she is accused of orchestrating the accident for a large insurance payout. Onizuka’s guilt seems obvious to local journalist Moichi Akitani, and while he enjoys newfound success after writing a series of articles about the crime, his portrayal of her as a devious femme fatale turns the community against her.
Onizuka’s lawyers are hounded by the press, yet all the reporters can glean is her unwavering declaration of innocence. This amuses Akitani, who continues to bask in his journalistic renown. But when a surprisingly scrupulous public defender takes on her case, Akitani begins to doubt himself, and he fears what might happen if Onizuka ever gets wind of the contempt he spread.
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$17.00
A Quiet Place - A Novel
An artfully twisty psychological mystery from Seichō Matsumoto, hailed as “Japan’s Agatha Christie” (The Sunday Times), exploring the corrosive power of jealousy, guilt, and doubt
While on an important business trip, Tsuneo Asai receives word that his wife, Eiko, has died suddenly of a heart attack. She had long suffered from heart problems, so the news is not entirely unexpected—though she was far too young for such an end. Shaken but restrained, Asai throws himself into his work as a government official, using routine and responsibility to keep grief at bay. Their marriage, after all, had never been especially passionate.
Yet something about the circumstances of Eiko’s death begins to trouble him. She collapsed while walking alone on a quiet residential street in Tokyo—a place where she seemed to have no reason to be. A visit to the small shop where she died raises further questions, especially when Asai notices a hotel perched at the top of the hill, unmistakably designed as a discreet rendezvous for lovers. He begins to wonder whether his gentle, haiku-loving wife may have been leading a secret life.
As Asai’s suspicions deepen, his mental state begins to unravel, and the boundaries of normalcy slip away. In the process, Matsumoto lays bare the fraught tensions between ambition, domestic life, and emotional repression in postwar Japan—crafting a haunting portrait of a man undone by what he cannot know.
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$18.00