Kindle
$7.99
Available instantly
Audible Logo Audiobook
$0.00
with membership trial
Hardcover
from $18.95
Paperback
from $12.50
Kindle Price: $7.99

Save $2.00 (20%)

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Audiobook Price: $17.46

Save: $9.97 (57%)

Read with our free app
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

Buy for others

Give as a gift or purchase for a team or group.
Learn more

Buying and sending eBooks to others

  1. Select quantity
  2. Buy and send eBooks
  3. Recipients can read on any device

These ebooks can only be redeemed by recipients in the US. Redemption links and eBooks cannot be resold.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs

Follow the author

John P. Marquand
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Think Fast, Mr. Moto (The Mr. Moto Novels) Kindle Edition

by John P. Marquand (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 41 ratings
See all formats and editions
From Shanghai to Honolulu to Manchuria, the 3rd chapter in the adventures of Imperial Japan’s top secret agent is an international thrill ride

Wilson Hitchings is ready to assume his rightful place at Hitchings Brothers, one of the oldest mercantile banks in China. His first task takes him to Hawaii, where he must persuade his cousin Eva to close Hitchings Plantation, a gambling establishment started by her father, the black sheep of the family. The senior members of the bank believe that the casino is tarnishing the venerable Hitchings name. Little do they know how right they are.
 
Unbeknownst to Eva, her father’s establishment has become a key strand in a web of political and financial intrigue stretching all the way to the Far East. When Wilson uncovers the plot and realizes just how much danger he and Eva are in, he has no choice but to trust Mr. Moto, a Japanese spymaster who claims to be in Honolulu on a similar mission. But with a remorseless killer and a cast of shady international characters tracking their every move, this unlikely trio might be facing odds far too long to beat.
 
First serialized in the Saturday Evening Post, John P. Marquand’s popular and acclaimed Mr. Moto Novels were the inspiration for 8 films starring Peter Lorre.
 
Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Book 3 of 6
    The Mr. Moto Novels
  2. Print length
    208 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publisher
    Open Road Media Mystery & Thriller
  6. Publication date
    August 18, 2015
  7. File size
    3478 KB
  8. Page Flip
    Enabled
  9. Word Wise
    Enabled
  10. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  11. See all details
Next page
Add a debit or credit card to save time when you check out
Convenient and secure with 2 clicks. Add your card
Next 4 for you in this series See full series
Total Price: $31.96
By clicking on the above button, you agree to Amazon's Kindle Store Terms of Use
More like Think Fast, Mr. Moto (The Mr. Moto Novels)
Page 1 of 1Start overPage 1 of 1
Previous page
  7. The Mr. Moto Novels    6 book series
Next page
Loading...

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John P. Marquand (1893–1960) was a Pulitzer Prize–winning author, proclaimed “the most successful novelist in the United States” by Life magazine in 1944. A descendant of governors of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, shipping magnates Daniel Marquand and Samuel Curzon, and famed nineteenth-century writer Margaret Fuller, Marquand always had one foot inside the blue-blooded New England establishment, the focus of his social satire. But he grew up on the outside, sent to live with maiden aunts in Newburyport, Massachusetts, the setting of many of his novels, after his father lost the once-considerable family fortune in the crash of 1907. From this dual perspective, Marquand crafted stories and novels that were applauded for their keen observation of cultural detail and social mores.

By the 1930s, Marquand was a regular contributor to the Saturday Evening Post, where he debuted the character of Mr. Moto, a Japanese secret agent. No Hero, the first in a series of bestselling spy novels featuring Mr. Moto, was published in 1935. Three years later, Marquand won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Late George Apley, a subtle lampoon of Boston’s upper classes. The novels that followed, including H.M. Pulham, Esquire (1941), So Little Time (1943), B.F.’s Daughter (1946), Point of No Return (1949), Melvin Goodwin, USA (1952), Sincerely, Willis Wayde (1955), and Women and Thomas Harrow (1959), cemented his reputation as the preeminent chronicler of contemporary New England society and one of America’s finest writers.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B010N004ES
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Open Road Media Mystery & Thriller (August 18, 2015)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 18, 2015
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3478 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 41 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
John P. Marquand

John P. Marquand

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
41 global ratings
Book Synopsis, Trivia
4 Stars
Book Synopsis, Trivia
Originally serialized in the Saturday Evening Post in 1936. The heir to an American banking firm (Wilson Hitchings, the protagonist) is sent to Honolulu to clear up a family matter involving a gambling house. Moto is also drawn to Hawaii to stop money being channeled into China to support revolutionaries. Made into a film of the same name the following year (1937) and starred Peter Lorre as Mr. Moto. John P. Marquand won the Pulitzer Prize in 1938. Think Fast, Mr. Moto is the third of six Mr. Moto novels by Marquand. Fun, fast read (albeit a little antiquated). The 1958 Banam Books paperback ed. is 151pp.
Hide
Thank you for your feedback
Sorry, there was an error
Sorry we couldn't load the review

Top reviews from the United States

Crafter
5.0 out of 5 stars This is my favorite Mr. Moto of all
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2019
Verified Purchase
Wilson Hitchings appears clueless but is far more capable than he gives himself credit for. Throw in a rogue heiress, a gambling house in Hawaii, a laconic mobster, and Mr. Moto and you have a great story.

I've never seen the movie by the same name but I've read this book many times.
Helpful
 Report
wisdomstar
4.0 out of 5 stars a very, very pleasant surprise
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2007
Verified Purchase
Being a fan of old 1930's murder mystery movies, such as the Chans and the Thin Man, I was eager to get acquainted with Mr. Moto when the series was recently released on DVD. I was not disappointed. Most of the movies held up quite well. The second set of movies included an interesting biography of John P. Marquand, the author of the original Moto novels. That led to a curiosity to read one of the mysteries. While Marquand's stories are not complicated as mysteries go, he does have an ability to draw engaging multi-dimensional characters with a swipe of the pen. Having been to the Orient himself during the time he is writing about, he describes Shanghai and Honolulu before World War II so well that you see each scene vividly. Interestingly enough, though the movies depart drastically from the plots of the novels, the character of Moto played by Peter Lorre seems exactly right as you follow Moto in the novel. In fact, I think Lorre may have injected even more inscrutable Oriental mystery into Moto than Marquand himself. For those of us who like a bit of history along with the murder, this is an entertaining read.
8 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Israel Drazin
5.0 out of 5 stars All of Marquand's Mr. Moto novels are great
Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2017
This is the third of the six Mr. Moto spy novel by John P. Marquand. It was published in 1936, prior to World War II, and was able to portray a somewhat favorable relationship between the US and Japan. A film with this name was released in 1937. It starred Peter Lorre as Mr. Moto, but in the film he is not a Japanese government agent as he is in this and the other Marquand books and the plot is different as well.
As in other Marquand Mr. Moto books, the principle character in the tale is an American, not Mr. Moto. And, as in the other novels, the American meets a beautiful woman. The American is a member of a highly respected family of merchants who have been involved in business for generations. He is new to the business and is working in China under the tutelage of his uncle. One day, Mr. Moto, a Japanese official, comes to the family business and obliquely tells them to stop helping a certain person. The nephew does not understand what Mr. Moto wants and why.
His uncle discovers that a relative is using the family name for a gambling place in Honolulu Hawaii. The uncle sends his nephew to Hawaii to stop her from doing so and, if necessary, buy the establishment. A lot is going on that the nephew does not know and he becomes involved in intrigue. Mr. Moto also arrives in Hawaii also to stop the enterprise, but for different reasons. The story is very well written and despite its age, it is fascinating. I read all but one of the Marquand Mr. Moto novels and enjoyed them all.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Kindle Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Classic
Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2021
Verified Purchase
This book is a time machine to the late 30s...Hong Kong...Shanghai...Hawaii...gangsters...gambling...spies...a pretty woman and a stand up guy...they don’t write them like this anymore.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Andy McKinney
4.0 out of 5 stars Very sharp depiction of desperet events set in the late 1930s. Great history, social realism and a good mystery.
Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2016
I can see now why the Mr. Moto books have achieved such a sterling reputation, a reputation and a popularity that has resulted in a series of movie spin offs. Even after 80 years Think Fast Mr. Moto provides real entertainment value to the reader. In the story a young American businessman goes to Shanghai to join his respectable and very well established firm of merchant bankers. The firm at the time of the story has lasted through nearly a century of buying and selling----and some discrete banking in the orient, no small achievement. Mind you the books events take place in the late 1930s, a time of perilous financial situations and in China, a time of revolution, war lords and Japanese intervention. When it comes to the attention of the firm that a distant branch of the family has set up an illegal gambling operation in Honolulu, the young and inexperienced family member is dispatched to Hawaii to squash the potential blot on the firm's good name. It these times such a muddy smear to the firm might well do it in.
I was very impressed with the skullduggery in the story. What is now history to us was at the time current events. The plot involves mysterious Chinese patriots, the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo and the Japanese secret agent, Mr. Moto. This makes for a very believable and fascinating look into the history of the era and also into the social morays of the time.
I enjoyed this story so much that I think I will seek out the movies as well. J. P. Marquand wrote a bunch of Mr. Moto books and I'll bet they are all as interesting and fun to read as this one.
Helpful
 Report
rgh61071
4.0 out of 5 stars Book Synopsis, Trivia
Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2010
Originally serialized in the Saturday Evening Post in 1936. The heir to an American banking firm (Wilson Hitchings, the protagonist) is sent to Honolulu to clear up a family matter involving a gambling house. Moto is also drawn to Hawaii to stop money being channeled into China to support revolutionaries. Made into a film of the same name the following year (1937) and starred Peter Lorre as Mr. Moto. John P. Marquand won the Pulitzer Prize in 1938. Think Fast, Mr. Moto is the third of six Mr. Moto novels by Marquand. Fun, fast read (albeit a little antiquated). The 1958 Banam Books paperback ed. is 151pp.
Customer image
rgh61071
4.0 out of 5 stars Book Synopsis, Trivia
Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2010
Originally serialized in the Saturday Evening Post in 1936. The heir to an American banking firm (Wilson Hitchings, the protagonist) is sent to Honolulu to clear up a family matter involving a gambling house. Moto is also drawn to Hawaii to stop money being channeled into China to support revolutionaries. Made into a film of the same name the following year (1937) and starred Peter Lorre as Mr. Moto. John P. Marquand won the Pulitzer Prize in 1938. Think Fast, Mr. Moto is the third of six Mr. Moto novels by Marquand. Fun, fast read (albeit a little antiquated). The 1958 Banam Books paperback ed. is 151pp.
Images in this review
Customer image
Customer image
4 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Peter Kenney
4.0 out of 5 stars Mr. Moto In Honolulu
Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2000
In this early Moto book written after the author's visit to Shanghai and the Orient, Moto saves a young couple and simultaneously serves the interests of the Japanese Empire. Wilson Hitchings is heir to the Shanghai branch of Hitchings Brothers, bankers and commission merchants. He is sent by his uncle to Honolulu to shut down a gambling casino run by a distant relative named Eva. The uncle fears the gambling operation is creating too much bad publicity for the Hitchings family. Mr. Moto is also interested in closing down the gambling operation since money is being funnelled through the casino by Chinese and Russian interests to anti-Japanese bandits in Manchuria. This book is an exciting thriller written by a Pulitzer Prize-winning author.
6 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Report an issue

Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report