Tokyo Express

Tokyo Express is an irresistible Hitchcockian gem: a fiendishly-plotted crime novel told in crisp, elegant prose – Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train
Japan’s Agatha Christie. A gloriously complex case of a supposed double suicide that, at just 160 pages, you can whizz through in a day. – Laura Hackett * The Sunday Times *
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 *
A labyrinth of convincing alibis and false leads… Matsumoto’s classic status is richly deserved * Daily Mail *
Hitchcockian… Seicho Matsumoto has been described as Japan’s Agatha Christie for a reason. A murder-mystery whodunnit which carries the weight and power of high literature – Saskia Kemslet * Standard, Best Reads for Summer 2024 *
The appearance in English of Japanese crime classics such as Seicho Matsumoto’s Tokyo Express is long overdue * The Sunday Times, Best Crime Books of 2023 *
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 *
Seicho Matsumoto’s brief and perennially popular Tokyo Express is a masterpiece of concision and tight plotting… exceptionally well paced and palpably tense, both features admirably preserved by Jesse Kirkwood in this fresh translation – Bryan Karetnyk * TLS *
A masterpiece… stands out thanks to the elegant spareness of the prose but also because of the ingenuity of the tightly coiled plot… this novel floored me, and I expect it will floor other new readers, too * New York Times Book Review *
Wonderfully short… this excellent work begins with a lovers’ suicide on a Kyushu beach, but detective suspicions point to a crime linked to governmental scandal… a first-rate classic by a master of the Japanese detective novel. A very satisfying read – Jeremy Black * Critic *

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 in 1970. He died in 1992.

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