Suspicion

A taut psychological novel about trial by public opinion and how we shape the truth -- now available in English for the first time

Is she a victim or a murderer?

Onizuka Kumako is a fierce woman: tall, beautiful, and not afraid to speak her mind. In Tokyo bars, she seduces customers and commits petty crime, using her connections to the local yakuza to get by. When she meets Shirakawa Fukutaro, a rich widower desperate for companionship and unaware of her shady past, the two hit it off and are soon married. But their newlywed bliss is suddenly cut short: one rainy July evening, their car veers off course, plunges into the harbour and Fukutaro is pulled beneath the waves.

Suspected of murder and labelled a femme fatale, Kumako is hounded by the press, but stays firm, repeatedly proclaiming her own innocence. As pressure from dogged journalists mounts, the tide of public opinion is rising against her. But when a scrupulous defence lawyer takes on her case, doubt begins to creep in . . .

In this intricate, psychological noir, masterfully translated into English for the first time, Seicho Matsumoto draws out the hidden demons that guide our convictions, our biases and our deepest desires.

Translated from Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood

Review

A master class in motive and character -- Alafair Burke

The Simenon of Japan... In this new translation of a taut 1982 novella, a former Tokyo hostess seduces a businessman. After their wedding they are involved in a car crash; he drowns, she survives. The question is whether the defence lawyer who takes her case is helping an innocent woman or falling into a moral quagmire ― Monocle

A master crime writer ― Financial Times

What starts as a familiar setup - the classic femme fatale and her wealthy, deceased husband - soon unfolds into a layered allegory about the many ways we pursue the truth. It brought to mind Billy Wilder’s Ace in the Hole in its sharp exploration of journalistic ethics and the murky line between uncovering the truth and shaping it. And all presented in prose that is both spare and stylish. By the end, we’re left with a lingering sense of unease, reminded of how easily we can be nudged towards one version of the truth or another -- Louise Hegarty

About the Author

Seicho Matsumoto (1909-1992) was one of the most acclaimed and best-selling writers in 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. He received the prestigious Akutagawa Literary Prize in 1950 and the Kikuchi Kan Prize in1970. His many novels include Tokyo Express and Inspector Imanishi Investigates.