A QUIET PLACE

"A master crime writer . . . Seicho Matsumotos 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 books complex characterizations.Readers will agree that Matsumoto (1909–1992) deserves his reputation as Japans 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 wasnt 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 How did it come about that his wife—who was shy and withdrawn, and only left their house twice a week to go to haiku meetings—ended up dead in a small shop in a shady Tokyo neighborhood?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 wifes 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 wifes recent past, he must eventually conclude that she led a double life...

Seicho Matsumoto was Japans 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.