Book: 湖底の光芒 | L35?? (Amazon JP and bookwalker )
Is there an ebook available?: yes
Summary - Japanese
遠沢加須子は、夫の遺した中部光学というレンズ製造会社を諏訪で経営している。親会社の倒産で苦境にたった時、手をさしのべてきたのは、ハイランド光学の専務・弓島邦雄だった。親会社の横暴に泣く下請業者の悲哀、加須子にのびる欲望の影、そして奔放な義妹・多摩子の愛憎の果てに、悲劇がおとずれる…。ミステリーの醍醐味を凝縮した長編推理小説。
Summary - English
(Translation from ChatGPT, mildly tidied up)
In Suwa, Etsuzawa Kasuko oversees the operations of Chubu Optical, a lens manufacturing company inherited from her late husband. When the parent company’s bankruptcy puts her in a tough spot, Yumijima Kunio, the Managing Director of Highland Optical, extends support. The tragedy unfolds amidst the subcontractors’ lamentations over the parent company’s oppression, Kasuko’s growing desires, and the complex emotions of her uninhibited sister-in-law, Tamako. This is a detective novel that captures the true essence of mystery.
Content warnings if known
None I know of.
Why are you nominating this book: I like Matsumoto Seichou, and have read a fair number of his books. (As a result this isn’t one of the top three really famous books of his, but I didn’t want to nominate a book I wasn’t going to read with the club!) In the 1960s he was Japan’s best selling author, and won a pile of awards. He’s often credited with bringing a social realism focus to Japanese mystery stories in the post war period and taking it away from mere puzzle solving/alibi breaking/etc; the books of his I have liked best have depicted some aspect of Japanese society as well as being murder mysteries. This book seemed to do OK in Amazon reviews, so hopefully it’s a good one. At 478 pages this is long-ish but it is a single volume work. First published as a magazine serial in 1963 under the title 石路, first published as a novel in 1983. His contemporary fiction novels seem to wind up at about Natively level 35 or thereabouts.
