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. Praise for Inspector Imanishi Investigates

"A police procedural in the classic tradition of . . . P.D. James's Commander Dalgliesh."
—The New York Times 

"Patient, meticulous stories [that] offer an anatomy of a society as much as a picture of a crime."
—The Economist

"A master crime writer."
—Jan van de Wetering, author of Outsider in Amsterdam

"The most intricate web of detection . . . A tantalizing double unveiling act . . . Belongs on your shelf next to Christie and Simenon, P.D. James and Robert Van Gulik. A superb thriller."
—Los Angeles Times 

"An intriguing slice of the mores and habits of Japanese society . . . Seicho Matsumoto combines the prolific output of a Rex Stout with the literary qualities of Elmore Leonard."
—San Francisco Chronicle