Points and Lines by Seicho Matsumoto • Hardcover First English Edition ☆ VG

Seicho Matsumoto • Points and Lines • Translated by Makiko Yamamoto and Paul C. Blum

Kodansha International, 1970; first edition thus. Hardcover. 159 pages. Bound in grey cloth with title stamped in gold to spine. Illustrated endpapera. Vignettes at chapter headings. VG. Crisp, clean, and tight. Bump to bottom rear board. Faint discoloration spots top rear board. Touch of sunning at bottom edge. Slightest bit spine cocked. Bright dust jacket,price-clipped, shows mild wear at extremities, laminate riff bottom back panel. Toning to verso. Original bookshop (or publisher's) foil price to front flap. No other form of markings.


"'Points and Lines is often referred as Seicho Matsumoto's masterpiece and a classic of Japanese crime fiction. It is indeed a masterfully plotted intrigue and it includes all the beloved themes and topics of the author, a sort of perfect compendium of Matsumoto's paradigms. However, the ingenious ploy alone would be just a clever divertissement, but "Points and lines" is also a great example of his insight into human psychology and ability in creating multidimensional characters, complex motives and mundane, yet profoundly humane and intuitive investigators. His crime fictions are, for their intricate psychological, almost of Hitchcockian nature, very cinematic. In fact, several have been turned into films..." (Asian Movie Pulse)