Seichō Matsumoto’s classic detective story was first published in 1958. Since the timetables of trains and planes play a very important part in this book, at the end, there is a note saying, “All train and plane times mentioned in this work are taken from the timetables of 1957, the year in which the incident took place” (p. 149). There are two maps in this book that enable readers to locate the numerous references to places stretching from one end of Japan (Fukuoka) to the other (Sapporo).

The ”incident” mentioned in the note happened on 21 January 1957, when a worker found the corpses of a man and a woman lying next to each other on a rock of Kashii beach of the Hakata Bay. The man was Kenichi Sayama, an assistant section chief in a ministry. The woman, in her job as a waitress, went by the name of Toki. The police found an empty orange juice bottle  next to them. When the police doctor arrived, his assessment was clear: “Potassium cyanide, the pair of them. … They must have taken it with the orange juice.” Thus, this clearly seemed to be a double suicide by two lovers. Yet, old-hand inspector Jūtarō Torigai has suspicions and starts an investigation on his own. He does make some good progress, but as a local police officer, the range of what he can do is limited. On page 44, the direction of the investigation is fundamentally altered when Kiichi Mihara, in his early thirties, arrives on the scene. He is an inspector at the Tokyo Police. That they sent an inspector to talk with Torigai about what the local police had categorized as a love-related double suicide was because the ministry where the man who had died worked had been under investigation for corruption. To those investigating the corruption case, the death of the assistant section chief was a heavy blow since a man in his position would basically run the section and know best about everything that happened there. Therefore, he was both a crucial witness, and, perhaps, even a possible perpetrator. His death was very convenient for a good number of people in the ministry.

            With Mihara entering the picture, the investigation moves from the local police in Fukuoka to the police in Tokyo. But Kiichi and Torigai remain in contact. In Tokyo, Inspector Kiichi is actively supported by his superior, Inspector Kasai. Very soon, a businessman dealing with machinery and with the ministry under investigation, Tatsuo Yasuda, becomes the center of suspicion. However, it appeared that he might have anticipated an investigation of his whereabouts during the “double suicide,” and meticulously constructed a complex web of movements that should prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he had nothing whatsoever to do with them, because he had not even been at the beach at the time the deaths occurred. Every time Mihara is excited because he thought he had cracked Yasuda’s alibi, new documentary evidence would show up to demonstrate that he was wrong. Torigai sends him a long letter urging him to persevere. He also offers some new theories about what could have happened. Yet, it seems as if Mihara runs against “An Unbreakable Barrier” (the title of part II, starting on p. 96).

            The solution to the case is offered in the form of a long letter from Mihara to Torigai (pp. 130-149). Mihara reports what he has found out. Part of his findings confirm suspicions that Torigai had formulated in his earlier letter. The entire construction is watertight. But it has one fatal flaw: It is entirely circumstantial. There are no hard facts; there is no proof. Mihara and Torigai know exactly what has happened, but they cannot bring Yasuda to court. Nevertheless, the case can be closed, but in an unexpected way.

MHN

Nonthaburi, Thailand

22 December 2023