Finding calm in a Japanese train-timetable murder mystery

I've always found it slightly funny that one of my favorite ways to unwind is reading detective novels.

Most people relax by shutting their brains off. I relax by trying to solve fictional murders.

I just finished Tokyo Express by Seichō Matsumoto, a Japanese detective novel that was originally published in 1958. When I looked up the publication date afterwards, I honestly couldn't believe it. Apart from the absence of smartphones and email, it didn't feel dated at all.

The story starts with what appears to be a lovers' suicide, but two detectives become suspicious and start pulling on loose threads. Before long they're analyzing train schedules, station stops, travel times, and alibis in painstaking detail.

And somehow it's absolutely gripping.

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