INSPECTOR IMANISHI INVESTIGATES <i> by Seicho Matsumoto translated by Beth Carey (St. Martin’s Press: $18.95; 314 pp.) </i>

“Because of Carey’s labors, the reader who has no Japanese can now sample the handiwork of the grand old man of Japanese crime fiction. He has woven the most intricate web of detection, and he (bless him) never leaves a false clue.”