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Title: Too Reliant on Coincidence and Contrivance
Review: Originally published in 1961, this rather weak mystery shows its age poorly. The inspector of the title is interesting in how dated he now appears; consistently polite and apologetic in his work, and lord of the manor at home. He is embroiled in what seems like a fairly straightforward murder which turns out to be devilishly confusing--but, alas not that interesting for the reader. Matsumoto switches back and forth between the investigation and a group of young, new intellectuals who are darlings of Tokyo's media. Obviously the twain shall meet, but it's not very satisfying when they do. Matsumoto relies altogether too much on coincidences and unlikely convenient relationships to bring things to a solution. Not a book that will make me seek out others by the author.
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