Published: 5 October 2022
ISBN: 9780241439074
Imprint: Penguin Classics
Format: Trade Paperback
Pages: 160
RRP: $32.99

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Tokyo Express

Seicho Matsumoto

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An unputdownable detective novel from Seicho Matsumoto, Japan's master of mystery

In a rocky cove in the bay of Hakata, the bodies of a young and beautiful couple are discovered. Stood in the coast's wind and cold, the police see nothing to investigate: the flush of the couple's cheeks speaks clearly of cyanide, of a lovers' suicide. But in the eyes of two men, Torigai Jutaro, 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 - and as one of the most fiendish puzzles ever written.

Published: 5 October 2022
ISBN: 9780241439074
Imprint: Penguin Classics
Format: Trade Paperback
Pages: 160
RRP: $32.99

Categories:

Share…

About the author

Seicho Matsumoto

Seicho Matsumoto was born in 1909 in Fukuoka, Japan. Self-educated, Matsumoto published his first book when he was forty years old and he quickly established himself as a master of crime fiction. His exploration of human psychology and Japanese post-war malaise, coupled with the creation of twisting, dark mysteries, made him one of the most acclaimed and best-selling writers in Japan. He received the prestigious Akutagawa Literary Prize in 1950 and the Kikuchi Kan Prize in1970. He died in 1992.

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Praise for Tokyo Express

The Simenon of Japan. . . a legendary writer
Le Monde

The greatest Japanese writer of detective stories of the past century. . . Matsumoto infused the genre with social conscience. Highly recommended
La Repubblica

Matsumoto is a necessity, reading him is like having a bowl of rice you never get tired of
Masato Ara

Tense, enigmatic, thrillingly weird - a glorious find
Kevin Barry, author of Night Boat to Tangier

A fiendishly complex case. A deep understanding of human nature drives this intricately plotted masterpiece of Japanese crime writing. A timely and welcome opportunity for a new generation to discover Seicho Matsumoto
Brian McGilloway, author of The Empty Room

An absolute corker of a read -- so brilliantly shrouded in mystery that it was impossible to put it down
Lisa Hall, author of Between You and Me

This classic of postwar Japanese crime fiction was banned in its day for its 'decadent western ideas'. Now, the fascinatingly detailed investigations of Inspector Torigai echo those of Simenon's Maigret in a pared-down narrative shot through with political critique.
Financial Times, Summer Reads 2022

The debut novel of bestselling writer Seicho Matsumoto, first published in Japan in 1958 and never out of print, is an ingeniously plotted railway mystery
Guardian