More recently I was wanting to read some shorter novels and happened to come across this murder mystery almost as soon as I walked into my local library. Tokyo Express by Seicho Matsumoto was considered new because it was recently translated to English! Apparently it’s quite popular in Japan, and I can see why!
At just 150 pages, this book never felt rushed and had me guessing up until the big reveal! The story starts with a business man and his habit of frequenting a nice restaurant with clients that sometime include government workers. But no sooner have we met Tatsuo Yasuda, we are then introduced to a dead couple on a beach. One happens to be a low-level government employee, while the other is a waitress from Yasuda’s restaurant. It turns out a section of the government is being investigated for bribery, but the fact that this couple is found dead on the beach from poisoning it seems to be that it was a lovers double suicide.
The local police station is satisfied with that answer, but when older, veteran detective, Torigai, finds a train dining car receipt for just one person, he begins to question if they have the whole story. It doesn’t sound like this small town gets its fair share of deaths, and suicides are uncomplicated, but Torigai keeps pushing a little bit more until a Tokyo Police detetive comes to learn what Torigai has uncovered. Though a lot of what Torigai has uncovered seems to be marred with a good amount of speculation, he does have enough solid facts to allow Kiichi Mihara to investigate further at his captain’s encouragement.
A major point in the investigation deals a lot with the trains that run all throughout Tokyo. As someone who was there recently, I can attest that there are a lot of trains. The schedules are a point of interest, and they both help and hinder Mihara in his deep dive. His gut tells him that Yasuda is fishy, especially learning that his company has dealt in business with the government in trouble for bribery, and also because he knew the woman who was found dead on the beach. No, he didn’t know her closely, but after learning about a four minute window on a platform, Mihara believes that he was making witnesses to help smooth out his timeline. Just when Mihara thinks he’s making progress it feels like he’s quickly shoved back a few steps.
But, he is persistent. And with a motivational letter from Toigai, he perserveres and keeps digging and trying to view things from all angles. I will say that if I was a more geographically intelligent person, perhaps the listing of trains would have been a little more clear to me. Though, I suppose I could have refereneced the map provided in the book for more clarity. In any case, I really like how everything came together in the end. It’s crazy how much people could have probably gotten away with back in the 50s when your face and other details weren’t stored in the cloud for intelligence agencies to access. A great read!