Pro Bono

(Paperback)

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Description

When Kiriko Yanagida first came to Ginzo Otsuka's law offices, she was convinced of her brother's innocence despite his confessing to a murder. Otsuka sent her away. Young news reporter Tetsuro Abe gets wind of this story and is keen to help Kiriko, but she refuses to talk to him. Then, when Kiriko's brother dies, lawyer Otsuka's guilty conscience is stoked and he decides to research the case. These three individuals are about to become inextricably connected to a murder trial against Masao Yanagida - a man who is already dead.

Reviews

"A master crime writer...Seicho Matsumoto's thrillers teach Japanese strategy!"--The New York Times Book Review

"Seicho Matsumoto combines the prolific output of a Rex Stout with the literary qualities of Elmore Leonard."--San Francisco Chronicle

Author Bio

Seicho Matsumoto (1909 - 1992) Native of Fukuoka Prefecture and prolific writer of socially oriented detective and mystery fiction, Matsumoto debuted as a writer after reaching the age of forty with the historically based Saigo Takamori Chits, 1950 and The Legend of the Kokura Diary, 1952. He then went on to establish his unique style of detective fiction with the works The Walls Have Eyes, 1957 and Points and Lines, 1958. Matsumoto made a name for himself as the writer of suspense novels that were accesible to all kinds of readership, but it was his historical novel The Ogura Diary Chronicles that earned him The 28th Akutagawa Prize, the Japanese equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize. The popular Japanese TV show "Black Leather Notebook" was based on his novel of the same name, and several of his detective fiction works have been published in the US (SoHo Crime and Kodansha International). The Matsumoto Seicho Memorial Museum in Kitakyushu City has commemorated the life and work of Seicho Matsumoto since 1998.