A native of Fukuoka Prefecture and a 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 accessible 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).
