Tokyo Express, Seicho Matsumoto
Tokyo Express, Seicho Matsumoto
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Tokyo Express

Author: Seicho Matsumoto, Jesse Kirkwood

Narrator: Eleanor Matsuura

Unabridged: 5 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/14/2025

Synopsis

From “Japan's Agatha Christie” (The Sunday Times): A secluded bay. An apparent lovers’ suicide. And a pair of detectives with a nagging suspicion that the pieces don’t add up. Can you solve one of the most astonishing literary puzzles ever written?

“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 at Hakata Bay, 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, senior detective Torigai Jutaro 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 Seichō Matsumoto’s masterpiece.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Chiara on January 24, 2021

Bellissimo, l'ho divorato! Un giallo che mi ha tenuta incollata alle pagine in attesa della sua risoluzione e che mi ha portata in giro per il Giappone. È la mia prima lettura di Matsumoto Seichō e non vedo l'ora di leggere altri suoi romanzi. Se da questi sconti Adelphi vi è rimasto ancora qualcosin......more

Goodreads review by Iain on June 06, 2023

A clever plot and a tight, taut mystery, but lacking in much emotion or characters that one could empathise with because we never really get to know them. Like a Simenson Maigret, but with all the humanity stripped away. Also strangely switches halfway through to become a novella of letters with 2 d......more

Goodreads review by Lady Clementina on July 01, 2022

My thanks to Penguin Press UK and NetGalley for a review copy of this book. Tokyo Express is a Japanese mystery/detective novel by Seichō Matsumoto, first published in 1958 and in this version, translated by Jesse Kirkwood. Having only read two of Seishi Yokomizo’s Kindaichi mysteries so far, when th......more

Goodreads review by Ruben on October 03, 2022

"Looking back now, I see that, from start to finish, this case was only ever a matter of train and plane timetables. The answers all lay buried within them." 1950s Japan, a couple is found dead on a beach. It looks like double suicide. The man is a high official at Ministry X, embroiled in a corrupti......more

Goodreads review by Matteo on March 01, 2018

Videorecensione: [URL not allowed]......more

Quotes

“The debut novel of bestselling writer Seichō Matsumoto . . . first published in Japan in 1958 and never out of print, [is an] ingeniously plotted railway mystery.”—The Guardian

“[Tokyo Express] stands out thanks to the ‘elegant spareness of the prose,’ as Amor Towles writes in his introduction, 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


“The descriptions are elegant, the plotting even moreso, with complex characterizations that belie the slim size of the volume. If you read one reissue this year, pick up this one.”—CrimeReads

“A timetable mystery par excellence!”—Ed Park, author of Same Bed Different Dreams

“Tokyo Express by seasoned Japanese mystery writer Seichō Matsumoto is a brilliant reminder that mysteries and thrillers are not unique to the Western world . . . Japanese crime fiction fans will especially like [it]. Nonetheless, this book is perfect for all dedicated to crime investigations and the entire gamut of personnel found once a crime has been committed.”—Great Mysteries and Thrillers

“Matsumoto’s debut novel is credited with launching the mystery genre in Japan. The story is built on the meticulous examination of data; timelines and maps and train schedules figure prominently. Its underlying message about malignant corporate growth in the aftermath of World War II adds poignancy and raises the novel above the genre’s parameters. . . . A tidy vintage whodunit with a forensic flavor.”—Kirkus Reviews

“’Japan’s Agatha Christie’ gets an overdue wide launch . . . [Tokyo Express is] a work of art.”—Book Riot

“A tight and fun read that is really perfect if you’re traveling.”—Maris Kreizman, The Maris Review

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