Seicho Matsumoto · 1958 · rail

Seicho Matsumoto's 1958 masterpiece, also published as Points and Lines, the novel that pioneered the Japanese alibi-busting mystery. When a man and woman are found dead together on a beach near Hakata, it looks like a lovers' suicide, until two dogged detectives begin picking apart a suspect's seemingly perfect alibi, an alibi built on railway timetables and stretching the length of Japan.

1. 1
   Kashii Beach, Hakata

   Two bodies are found on a lonely beach near Hakata; it looks like a double suicide.

2. 2
   Tokyo

   A suspicious detective traces the case to Tokyo, and a businessman whose alibi seems flawless.

3. 3
   Aomori

   The alibi runs north by express train to the tip of Honshu.

4. 4
   Hakodate

   Across the Tsugaru Strait by ferry to Hokkaido.

5. 5
   Sapporo

   And on to Sapporo, the alibi airtight, until the timetables finally betray it.