Dread Journey

８時ちょうどのあずさ２号で

私は　私は　あなたから旅たちます

「あずさ２号」（狩人）

At eight exactly, taking the Azusa 2

I will, I will, depart away from you 

"Azusa 2" (Karyuudo)

Yes, I know, reading a random Nishimura Kyoutarou novel is always just like doing a gatcha game. The chance on getting an SSSR is really small, and most of the time you'll just get a C. As he wrote over 650 novels during his lifetime, most of them focusing on the so-called "travel mystery" subgenre, it's not surprising most of his output is very formalistic, with very fast-paced and light stories, featuring elements of the Croftian school, with alibi tricks using trains, airplanes and other means of transport, with stories set across various locations and areas in Japan. That was in fact the reason why I picked today's book. 

I came across Nishimura Kyoutarou's Tokkyuu Azusa [Alibi Train] Satsujin Jiken ("The Alibi Train Azusa Express Murder Case", 1986) while I was looking for a mystery novel involving the Azusa Express and the city of Matsumoto, and not surprisingly, Nishimura had written a book about it because I am going to guess he wrote a book about every limited express in Japan that ran during his lifetime. The book opens with Inspector Totsugawa's subordinate Kusaka Junichi receiving a call from someone he had never expected to hear from again: once upon a time, he was all ready to marry Keiko, but she disappeared (with his money and an engagement ring) and with that, Kusaka learned a lesson. He's stunned when he hears her voice again at work, but it's what she says that puzzles him. She asks him to lie for her if he is asked what he was doing on a certain day, and he's to say he took the Azusa Express 7 with her to visit Matsumoto. As a police detective however, Kusaka can't promise her he'll lie, even though she says her life depends on it. When later Kusaka is called by a mysterious person who asks him about the day, Kusaka is indeed unable to lie for Keiko. Soon after, the dead body of Keiko is found in a park in Tokyo and she was seemingly tortured before her death. Realizing his refusal to lie led to her death, Kusaka confides in Totsugawa, and they soon realize Keiko had wanted Kusaka to provide her with an alibi for that day by saying she had been on the Azusa 7. They identify two major robberies that occured on that day in Tokyo for which the Azusa Express would have served as an alibi, but for which of these was Keiko trying to gain an alibi, and why was she killed?

Okay, so reading random Nishimura is a gatcha, and this one is definitely just a C pull.

Totsugawa's investigation rather swiftly allows them to identify which incident Keiko was involved with: a bank robbery. If Kusaka had lied about having gone to Matsumoto in the Azusa with Keiko, she'd have a perfect alibi for that time, but Kusaka didn't, and now his former fiancée is dead. But then another suspect in that robbery ends up dead, making it clear someone is killing off the people in the gang. Is it someone in the gang trying to make their own share larger, or is something else going on. Another mystery is the fact the other victim actually had been investigated by the police before, and he could provide an alibi... as he had been riding the Azusa Express during the robbery. So why do all these clues point at the Azusa?

Well, for no other reason but that it's in the title. I picked the book hoping it'd at least give me a glimpse of the Azusa Express and the city of Matsumoto, but I was rather surprised by how irrelevant they are for the story. For some reason, we have like seven or eight different times we see characters board the Azusa, but you don't get many scenes inside the Azusa, and you see even less of Matsumoto itself, even though they are all heading to that city! So if you were ever considering to read this book because of the title, I'd recommend find something else.

Ultimately, the idea of having multiple people pick the Azusa as an alibi is an interesting concept to get the mystery going, but the reason provided for why specifically Azusa is so meaningless and simple, it really feels as nothing but an excuse so Nishimura could use the Azusa in the title. The story then shifts to the question of who is killing the gang members, and the thing evolves into a surprisingly large conspiracy-level plot that goes far beyond just the bank robbery, but that's also a reason why the titular Azusa Express feels so underutilized in the book, as the train is basically only relevant in the very first chapters of the book, and afterwards, the investigation is about something else. And... I didn't really like, as you may have guessed. The book reads more like a suspense thriller, with especially the latter half having Totsugawa directly facing a diabolical enemy whom he tries to outsmart while the lives of people are at stake, and at that point, it's just so far removed from what I expected this book to be. I mean, the Azusa train isn't even used for an alibi trick, Keiko wanted to use the train for one, and the "trick" was just by having her former fiance lie! The big plot Totsugawa stumbles upon is interesting in concept, but it isn't an idea that is a good facilitator for a mystery story per se.

So yeah, Tokkyuu Azusa [Alibi Train] Satsujin Jiken is quite disappointing overall. It's barely a mystery story, and I think I could've even forgiven than somewhat if the book had actually focused on the Azusa and Matsumoto more because I wanted to read the book for that reason, but even that it couldn't provide. So definitely not one of Nishimura's highlights. He's definitely written better novels than this one, ones that are true puzzle plot mysteries, so you can ignore this easily.

Original Japanese title(s): 西村京太郎『特急「あずさ」(アリバイ・トレイン)殺人事件』