Suspicion
About this audiobook
Brought to you by Penguin.
A biting psychological thriller from the bestselling author of Tokyo Express, now available in English for the first time
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.
© Seicho Matsumoto 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025
Discover more
About the author
Seicho Matsumoto (1909-1992) was one of Japan's most acclaimed and popular writers. Self-educated, he published his first novel when he was forty years old and his books, including Tokyo Express, Inspector Imanishi Investigates and The Little Black Book, became huge bestsellers that were made into movies and TV series. He pioneered the social school of detective fiction, exploring human psychology and Japanese post-war malaise through twisting, dark mysteries. He received the prestigious Akutagawa Literary Prize in 1950 and there is now a prize in Japan in his honour.
Jesse Kirkwood (Translator)
Jesse Kirkwood was awarded the Harvill Secker Young Translators’ Prize in 2020 and has translated the bestselling Tokyo Express by Seicho Matsumoto, A Perfect Day to Be Alone by Nanae Aoyama, The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai, and Sympathy Tower Tokyo by Rie Qudan.
