Seichō MatsumotoVolgorde van de boeken (chronologisch)
21 december 1909 – 4 augustus 1992
Seicho Matsumoto smeedde een nieuwe traditie in de Japanse misdaadliteratuur, waarbij hij afstapte van formuleachtige plots om elementen van menselijke psychologie en het dagelijks leven te verweven. Zijn verhalen weerspiegelen vaak bredere sociale contexten en het naoorlogse nihilisme, waardoor hij de reikwijdte van het genre uitbreidde en de sfeer ervan verdiepte. Hij introduceerde een nieuwe dimensie door corruptie aan het licht te brengen bij zowel ambtenaren als criminelen, en concentreerde zijn onderzoeken niet alleen op de misdaad zelf, maar ook op de maatschappij waarin deze plaatsvond.
A jewel by Seicho Matsumoto (1909-1992), the master of Japanese mystery
writing. A beautifully written crime novel set in a coastal city in Northern
Japan that takes on the taboo of Japanese prostitution during the American
occupation.
Why did Tsuneo's shy wife end up stone dead in a boutique in a louche Tokyo
neighborhood? He discovers she's been having an affair, and, in a moment of
panic, kills her lover. No apparent motive, no witnesses, a faltering
investigation. But the pressure builds and Tsuneo starts making mistakes.
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.
Sbírka detektivních povídek. Macumontovy detektivní příběhy vycházejí z každodenního života japonské společnosti. Promyšlené zločiny odpovídají japonské důkladnosti a mentalitě, a přece se vždy najde nějaký zdánlivě nedůležitý detail...
'An irresistible Hitchcockian gem: a fiendishly-plotted crime novel told in crisp, elegant prose' Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train 'Matsumoto was Japan's Agatha Christie' Laura Hackett, The Sunday Times 'It was a puzzle with no solution. But he did not lose heart.' 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.
Detektivní povídka japonského autora, v níž se rozvíjí příběh o záhadné vraždě muže a ženy, jejichž mrtvoly byly nalezeny na opuštěném mořském pobřeží v zálivu Kašii. Případ vyšetřuje místní policie z blízkého městečka Hakaty, která ze zjištěných okolností usoudí na sebevraždu milenců a celou záležitost jednoduše uzavře. S tímto rozhodnutím není však spokojen starý policejní veterán Džútaró Torigaj. Pátrá na vlastní pěst a vnese do teorie o sebevraždě milenců pochyby.