Tokyo Express

Points and Lines was written in 1958 by Seicho  Matsumoto and it was originally translated into English in 1970. A new translation by Jesse Kirkwood was released in 2022 with the title Tokyo Express. This novel is celebrated around the world as Seichō Matsumoto’s masterpiece. 

The publisher's summary:

In a rocky cove at Hakata Bay, the bodies of a young and beautiful couple are discovered. Standing on the cold beach, the police see nothing to investigate: The flush of the couple’s cheeks and the empty juice bottle speak clearly of cyanide, of a lovers’ suicide. But in the eyes of two men, senior detective Torigai Jutaro and Kiichi Mihara, a young gun from Tokyo, something is not quite right. Together, they begin to pick at the knot of a unique and calculated crime.

For a novel written almost 70 years ago it's amazing that it reads like a modern day mystery. I loved it. The key to this mystery are the timetables for the trains that traverse Japan. I didn't understand the clues related to the timetables until the very end. The times that trains left and arrived at various stations were reviewed extensively by the investigators. There is alot of internal musings by Mihara that show us his train of thought. I believe the story would have been better if there was less of that and more action. 

It was odd that Torigae Jutaro and Kiichi Mihara's boss allowed them to continue investigating the so-called suicide of a man and woman after he closed the case. The deceased are waitress Toki and Sayama, a possible witness in a corruption scandal. A businessman by the name of Tatsuo Yasuda becomes an early suspect by the police but they do not have any evidence against him. Jutaro and Mihara do not consider anyone else as a possible suspect. A key piece of the evidence, though, is that Yasuda brought two waitresses with him to a platform at Tokyo Station so that they could see their co-worker Toki traveling with an unknown man. Yasuda knew these waitresses well. They served him at a restaurant that he frequented. The next morning both Toki and Sayama's bodies are found lying together on Kashii Beach.

We don't know much about the characters. The author does not delve into their lives nor does he use forensics. The book was written in 1958 before forensics became popular. The book is an intellectual mystery that focuses on the timetables and train stations. It was frustrating at times because I couldn't figure out any of the clues. The ending, though, was satisfying 

4 out of 5 stars.