In this novel we start with waitresses and their best customer, Tatsuo Yasuda, in the Koyuki restaurant in Akasaka, Tokyo.
He often brings business clients and dines with them but also regularly visits on his own too. He has become very friendly with the waitresses here and his designated waitress is Toki, a youthful looking 26 year old.
One evening Yasuda invites two of the girls to dine with him the next day, he meets meets and entertains them but when it's time to leave he asks them to accompany him to the train station. He is going to visit his convalescing wife, they agree thought think it rather odd. At the train station he points out Toki, across the platforms, with a man. They are all surprised as she has never mentioned a lover to anyone.
The following evening Yasuda is back in the restaurant with another client and enquires about Toki, he is told she had requested some leave and they all assume she is having a holiday with her lover ... unfortunately Toki is later found dead, poisoned in a supposed lovers suicide pact.
We then follow along with the detectives assigned to the case, Torigai, a weathered longtime detective and the younger Kichi Mihara (who reminded me of a younger Poirot)
Some things about the case, however don't add up. If they had caught the train together, why was there only one meal ticket? Why had the man checked into a hotel, alone, under a false name? Could it be that he was implored by a company currently being investigated for bribery?
We follow along Mihara's investigation, months and months of work, something about this double suicide just doesn't seem right.
Does Mihara solves his queries? You'll have to read to find out!
Although only a slim novel it certainly packs a punch! I loved Matsumoto's writing style, he describes things beautifully but also doesn't shy away from the harsh facts. My first book by this author and definitely not my last!

A very clever mystery that would never work here in the UK (once you finish, you'll see why! haha). It was perfect and although it was written in the 80's, it did not feel dated at all.

Who knew train timetables could be so gripping? A joyfully complex 'howdunnit' from a master of mystery, this is a wonderful addition to the recent publication of classic Japanese crime mysteries.

A seemingly simple case becomes more and more complex, with a couple of dogged detectives (one local and one from Tokyo) determined to somehow prove that the two dead bodies were not a suicide but were murder. The devil is in the detail, and boy do you get hooked on the very fine margins of possibility.

Absorbing, and with the added interest of the 1950s post-war setting, which adds more layers of history and social norms. Wonderful. I devoured it in one sitting.

(With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this title.)

A thoroughly intelligent and enjoyable police procedural novel from Japan. Originally published in 1958, it hasn’t dated, and gives an interesting glimpse into Japanese society. A young couple are discovered dead on a beach. It is at first assumed to be a “love suicide”, something I understand was all too common in Japan at that time. Case closed. However, a local detective isn’t happy about this conclusion and with the help of another detective from Tokyo who is also suspicious, he sets out to delve deeper. It’s an intricately plotted novel – which relies on the accuracy and reliability of Japanese trains. Train enthusiasts will love this part of the book. Well-paced and well-written, with no gratuitous violence, I found it both intriguing and entertaining, and would love to read more from this author.

This is an intricate police procedural investigation into the apparent double suicide of a young couple. The case is more complicated than originally appears because the young man works for a government ministry involved in a bribery scandal. The mystery had me hooked and I read to the end intrigued with the conclusion. Unfortunately it is written in an incredibly dry way with train timetables taking up much of the story. This becomes repetitive and I’m sure there could’ve been a better way of getting across how the crime could be solved using the timetables (plane and ferry timetables are also in the mix!). An interesting mystery that failed for me in the writing.

A wonderfully detailed and precise murder mystery that has been expertly and beautifully translated. This is the first book I’ve read of the author’s, and I’d say it was ultimately less of a who-done-it mystery and more of a why-have-they-done-it which I found more enjoyable. Though some readers may find this novel to have a slow start, it’s worth sticking it out as I was utterly hooked and loved it right up until the end.

You might see this as spoilery, I do not reveal the plot or the answers but some of the later structure and style choices!

I remember this book starting strong and being very interesting. We follow the detecived on finding out how the victims got there and if it really was love suicide or if it was murder and how everything played out. At first we get to see everything in detail. As more confused was I when we had a timejump at the end to immediately just jump into the reveal. I wish we would have seen more of what had happened in the 3 or something months that were just gone by when the reveal was done via letter. I feel it condusing to have the perspective of the detective in some chapters but the reveal at the end only coming as a letter you're reading from somebody else's perspective writty by the detective. I feel this book just missed some chapters before the last one. That's I was a bit disappointed. I would still pick up other works by this author and have already known this author from 'A Quiet Place' before.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Its my first time reading from Seicho Matsumoto and i think this was an average read. Reading from the detectives POV on the mystery of a double suicide that may not be appeared as it is. This was a complex case, detailed and so many confusing things can happen
Questions arise, suspicions everywhere and puzzles need to be pieced together. If you love slow burn mystery, tying the clues together from the beginning step by step with repeated details and questions to be answered, then you may like this. As much as i love mystery, this one fell a bit too slow for me. The repetition gets boring by halfway point though it was satisfying to finally reach the conclusion. The reveal showed how human capable to do anything and it was kinda ironic. In the end, i will still read more from Matsumoto because i think he definitely excel in detailing police procedure from start to finish.

"Looking back now, I see that, from start to finish, this case was only ever a matter of train and plane timetables. The answers all lay buried within them."

1950s Japan, a couple is found dead on a beach. It looks like double suicide. The man is a high official at Ministry X, embroiled in a corruption scandal. The woman is a waitress at a restaurant where business man and supplier of the Ministry, Mr Yasuda, is a regular. But is it suicide? Or is Yasuda somehow connected?

A pretty straightforward detective novel with a pleasant calm tone and pace, and an increasingly intricate plot build on the departure and arrival times of trains. The continuous criss-crossing of Japan certainly added to the atmosphere.

I wouldn't go so far as to call this a literary thriller, but it is definitely intriguing and well done. 3,5

Tokyo Express presents its readers with an intriguing set-up that is somewhat let-down by the story giving away too much too soon. The premise made me think that this would be a whodunnit with some noir undertones, but it soon became apparent that the mystery driving the narrative was more of the whydunnit variety. There was a cat-and-mouse sort of dynamic that had the potential of elevating the story into the realms of a work of psychological suspense that is never utilised to its full potential (the characterization for both cat and the mouse is too surface-level). Nevertheless, the writing is concise and clear-cut, and the plot develops in a cogent manner. There are some unlikely coincidences (our detective is questioning someone who after claiming they can’t remember X or Y, all of a sudden come up with some vital bit of info). The atmosphere is the driving force of the story, as I found the setting (1950s Japan) and ambience in Tokyo Express to be strongly rendered.

Our unassuming detective, Torigai Jutaro, is convinced that the death of a young, attractive woman and man was not, contrary to what evidence suggests, a lover's suicide. Jutaro is certain that a key witness connecting the two deceased is somehow involved in their death. Trains and timetables are crucial to exposing this person, and Jutaro spends much of his investigation travelling trying to understand how to break his suspect’s alibi. Jutaro was kind of a blank, and I happen to prefer my detectives to be either pompous eccentrics or walking disasters. Jutaro has this vaguely hinted-at personality that doesn’t really emerge given the pace and brevity of the story. The culprit is revealed too early on, and I would have found Jutaro’s investigation more intriguing if that had not been the case. There is an attempt at a twist later on in the story which utilizes a femme fatale/vixen sort of figure, and I happen to have a love/hate relationship with this trope.
For the most part I enjoyed the train motif in this story even if it wasn't quite on the level of Agatha Christie's train-related whodunnits.
Still, Tokyo Express made for a quick and fairly engaging read that I would recommend to fans of Georges Simenon and Keigo Higashino.

There are few, very few novels that can boast such brilliant storyline as built by Seichō Matsumoto for this intense and lively story which is the main mystery of “Tokyo Express”, where the apparent suicide of two lovers hides a terrible and incendiary case of bribery.
“Tokyo Express” is a tale of details, on those elements seemingly unimportant which actually unveil the real meaning of an event, where the deception of appearances becomes an instrument of power to oppress, whose careful observation, intuition and in depth analysis are the path towards freedom and truth. The detail is what gives meaning to the content and structure of this novel: the author’s care to every part of the plot, the one of the culprits when they plan and carry out the crime, of detectives who tried to make justice to the dead and to the citizens, victims of a political system which takes on criminal behaviours to benefit itself. And through the many details that Matsumoto leads us to the surprising end of this literary journeys. A both literary and literal journey, since, as it’s suggested by the title, “Tokyo Express”, trains are the protagonists of this complex mystery, where the railway is the perfect background and trains rides instruments of the crime, and solutions to the case.
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Press UK I had the chance to read this precious, mind-blowing Japanese classics. A smart novel, well-written, whose translation by Jesse Kirkwood is capable to bring the beauty of Seichō Matsumoto’s language into English.

An interesting book that is very different from other crime fiction I have read. I think that its premise is really good and an excellent who done it.
At times I must admit it was confusing due to the Japanese cities talked about and train timings as I do not know Japan that well but do not let this put you off what is a really good read.

On Kashii beach, Japan, a man and woman are found dead in what looks to be a suicide pact. But appearances often aren’t what they seem and it’s up to two tenacious and studious detectives to piece together the puzzle of the couple’s death.

Seicho Matsumoto is considered the master of crime fiction and also popularised crime fiction in Japan. Tokyo Express was originally published in 1958 and this new translation by Jesse Kirkwood captures the feel of the particular era and its writing perfectly.

Full review: https://westwordsreviews.wordpress.com/2022/07/18/tokyo-express-seicho-matsumoto/

Very much enjoyed this, a good summer read. I have always loved Japanese translation and this was no exception. We've already ordered some copies in for our shop and they are selling quickly!

Tokyo Express was banned in its day (published in 1957) for its 'decadent western ideas', but it is now widely available in English for the first time thanks to Penguin, published on the 30th of last month (June). It has been published before, mostly to obscurity, it seems, with the title Points and Lines. Matsumoto only began publishing in his 40s, but was quickly regarded a master of crime fiction. This short crime novel revolves around a double suicide on a beach. For 160 pages it unravels as two detectives feel there is more to the story than first supposed. I don't read a lot of crime at all but I enjoyed the pared down Japanese prose. Parts of the investigation became a little repetitive but at 160 pages, nothing lasted for very long. There is a lot about trains and train times in the investigation, fitting as I read about half of this on a longish train journey home yesterday. Thank you to Allen Lane, Penguin Press UK for the advance review copy.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4842123268

The bodies of a man and woman are found on a beach, the Japanese authorities assume it is a double suicide but one detective has doubts and links are swiftly established with another ongoing case.

I enjoyed this - a police procedural puzzle which is readable and gripping whilst also feeling slightly dated (it was written in the late 1950s) and definitely pre-digital as the detective pores over timetables trying to work out how the crime, if it was indeed a crime, was done.

My thanks to Penguin Press UK and NetGalley for a review copy of this book.

Tokyo Express is a Japanese mystery/detective novel by Seichō Matsumoto, first published in 1958 and in this version, translated by Jesse Kirkwood. Having only read two of Seishi Yokomizo’s Kindaichi mysteries so far, when this showed up on NetGalley, I was keen to give it a try, and while it turned out quite different from the usual ‘mystery’ novel, I found it to be a very enjoyable one indeed.

After a short opening chapter, the significance of most of the happenings of which we realise only later, we find ourselves on Kashii Beach in Fukuoka where two bodies are found, a man in western clothes and a young woman in a kimono, both of whom have consumed arsenic. Everything seems to point to a ‘love’ suicide, as the persons involved had been seen boarding a train together at Tokyo station and now some days later the bodies have been found side-by-side. But seasoned detective Jūtarō Torigai, of the local police is not entirely convinced, and begins investigating the possible course of events, which if anything, only deepens his suspicions that something doesn’t quite fit. Then one day, Torigai has a visitor, a young colleague from the Tokyo police, Kiichi Mihara, who shares his suspicions. With inputs from Torigai, Mihara begins to investigate the matter, with support from his immediate superior and soon, others up the hierarchy as well. The puzzle before Mihara is no easy one, and us readers go along for the ride as he works at it from different angles, trying to decipher what exactly happened that night at Kashii Beach.

Tokyo Express is a short and very crisp book, rather different from the usual order of mysteries that I have read in that here our focus is almost entirely Inspector Mihara as he doggedly pursues the rather complex puzzle before him. More than a whodunit, since we do pretty much know ‘who’ early on, our focus is on how ‘it’ was done (if indeed there was an ‘it’), and how the person in question could have been at the scene of the crime when there’s a rather iron clad alibi with several witnesses placing them elsewhere. Mihara does interview the suspect and several witnesses, but they never take centre stage, nor do we go deeper into their personalities nor indeed those of the detectives themselves—the book belongs almost solely to Mihara and the puzzle. This is no simple puzzle, though; rather one that keeps us readers entirely engaged. Mihara is pitted against a clever adversary, and while there is no direct battle of wits, there is an indirect one, with the culprit having woven a strong, seemingly unbreakable web, such that it proves hard for Mihara to find the tiniest of chinks. One reads on excitedly to see whether such a chink exists and whether and how Mihara manages to break it. Those looking for a ‘mystery’ needn’t be disappointed either, for there are some surprises in the solution as well.

The puzzle that Mihara must solve is around railway lines and timetables, and of course the places where the suspect ought to have been and where they have actually proved themselves to be. His having to work though various railway routes and lines, timings, and stops was something I found especially fun since one of the few programmes I watch on TV these days is something called Japan Hour, on which one of the programmes featured is trips on local train lines in Japan where the hosts try to find original spots to visit. So, all the discussion and exploration of mainlines and local lines felt familiar territory. I think the book does carry a map and segments from the timetables but this was a bit muddled in the ARC.

Naturally, only having read a couple of Seishi Yokomizo’s books, that was the only point of comparison I had for Japanese mystery fiction. The first thing I noticed was while Tokyo Express is set only around a decade after the two Yokomizo books I’d read (set in the mid-1940s), this one feels more modern-day, closer in time to where we are with Japan’s well laid out and busy railway system, Tokyo with its coffee shops and trams, and government offices with clandestine dealings with businesses and corruption. Very different from Yokomizo’s isolated villages, rife with superstition and cut off in a sense from city life and ways. Yokomizo of course, also gives us a closer look at the people involved.

Both the detectives we come in the book across are likeable—whether it is the young, energetic and intelligent Mihara or the older, somewhat self-deprecating Torigai who first suspects that all is not as seems to the eye. Neither of them like more modern detective fiction carry any great burdens, and I kind of liked having a book that was focused on the puzzle rather than the people for a change. Torigai is of course weighed down by past mistakes and long experience while Mihara is unsurprisingly more spirited. I wish Torigai had had more of a role in the investigation, though, since I’d enjoyed seeing him work on the case initially and examine things he thought seemed wrong. But it was good to see that whether it was the local police or those in Tokyo, none was content to simply take the matter at face value and move on. All wanted to find the truth.

Fast moving, precise and with a very interesting puzzle at its centre, this was a book I very much enjoyed reading, and which made me want to explore more of Matsumoto's books

Two bodies are found on an isolated beach in Bay of Hakata in 1950s Japan. To all appearances, it's a lover's suicide but experienced detective Torigai Jutaro finds a few issues with that assumption which are later followed up on by young detective Kiichi Mihara. Tokyo Express is the first English release of Seicho Matsumoto's debut novel Ten to Sen (translated as Points and Lines), which was published in 1957.

Having read some earlier Japanese detective fiction, I was quite interested to see another writer of the genre. It's an enjoyable read that includes twists and turns throughout and includes some interesting characters. In this book, the first doubts about the double suicide come from detective Jutaro. Maybe not so much the doubts but he is troubled by the receipt from the restaurant on the train. My expectation was he would be the one to delve further into the case. Instead, it was detective Mihara who does most of the work and solves the case.

The story gives some insight into the norms of society during that period in Japan in a concise work that covers quite a few details. While it's not the best of the detective stories I've read, it definitely left an impression on me for its simplicity,

Overall I would give this 3.5 stars. I would like to thank Netgalley and Penguin Classic for providing this advanced reader copy. My review has been written voluntarily.

First of all, I'd like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an early copy of this book in return for an honest review.

This is an "orthodox" crime fiction book by one of the most prolific Japanese authors in this genre. It is, in many ways, a traditional crime story, involving a double suicide, government corruption, tireless detectives, and train timetables (!). Technically, and within the genre, it's brilliant - the victims are clear (more or less), as is the criminal (more or less), but what is unclear at all is the motive and the method. As the story develops, the detectives untangle the complexity of the crime, and thread by thread unravel the mystery.

Like other books in this genre (by e.g., Rampo,, Yokomizo), it's very methodical and algorithmic. It's a puzzle, and the puzzle is interesting. The book is short enough for the puzzle (and lack of much else in the book) to not bore the reader, and the story is credible and lifelike enough to not feel forced (like much of Yokomizo's work, in my view at least).

For a representative of this genre, in its sweet spot, it's an excellent book. However, I personally don't like it. Even in my crime fiction books I expect more depth to the characters, and look for something more exciting and emotional. Higashino is a great example of how this can be done, as is Miyabe. In this particular case, I found it to be too sterile. A bit like a crossword puzzle in a daily. Nothing wrong in this, and some readers might find this great, but it's not for me. So - if you like this genre (and its "orthodox" subgenre in Japan) overall, I highly recommend it.

This was a wonderful read. Short. Well written. And massively enjoyable.
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It felt as though I was reading episodes of a great tv show, which makes sense when you put together the fact that it was originally magazine shorts which then created the full length story
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A brilliant and mystery filled read for pretty much everyone to enjoy!