A master crime writer . . . Seicho Matsumoto's thrillers dissect
Japanese society.--The New York Times Book Review
A stellar psychological thriller with a surprising and immensely
satisfying resolution that flows naturally from the book's complex
characterizations. Readers will agree that Matsumoto (1909-1992)
deserves his reputation as Japan's Georges Simenon.-Publishers Weekly
While on a business trip to Kobe, Tsuneo Asai receives the news that his
wife Eiko has died of a heart attack. Eiko had a heart condition so the
news of her death wasn't totally unexpected. But the circumstances of
her demise left Tsuneo, a softly-spoken government bureaucrat,
perplexed. How did it come about that his wife--who was shy and
withdrawn, and only left their house twice a week to go to haiku
meetings--ended up dead in a small shop in a shady Tokyo neighborhood?
When Tsuneo goes to apologize to the boutique owner for the trouble
caused by his wife's death he discovers the villa Tachibana near by, a
house known to be a meeting place for secret lovers. As he digs deeper
into his wife's recent past, he must eventually conclude that she led a
double life...
Seicho Matsumoto was Japan's most successful thriller writer. His
first detective novel, Points and Lines, sold over a million copies in
Japan. Vessel of Sand, published in English as Inspector Imanishi
Investigates in 1989, sold over four million copies and became a movie
box-office hit.
