A classic detective plot with an intricate episode of murder crime set in the 60s. I followed Inspector Onitsura and his assistant, Tanna in their investigative journey to solve a murder case of a textile company’s director who was found dead on a railway track outside the Kuki Station in Saitama Prefecture. As the tension heightened, another related murder strikes and a chaos of emergency occured that Onitsura needs to be quick before another target is set to be killed.

A puzzling case with a rich sense of cultural backdrop that brought me into the city of Tokyo and its provincial during the postwar; an insight of impact that still left which indirectly cause a motive to the killer. Bit twisty with light suspense on the murder part and as much as I could make my guess on the whodunnit, it still enraptured me on the investigation details and those deductions by Onitsura; loved how he hooked me on the trick and flaws of uncovering the alibi— he was so logical and determined to get the howdunnit correctly even the killer can’t do much and gave me that chapter of confession nearly the end.

Quite ingenious on the plan, I enjoyed the thrills and Onitsura chapters through and through— loved the inclusion of those train schedules/route in between and his interaction with Tanna. Appealing characterization for Atsuko; a filler to misdirect with those Haibara’s mess, too bad of what had happened to Narumi and I loved her scenes with Fumie esp towards the end. A distressing revelation on the backstory of the killer’s motive yet appreciate how the author linked the crime to that gaze on societal tensions, of class struggles and ideological movements giving a gripping manipulative revenge plan for the killer.

4/5*

(review copy courtesy Pansing Distribution, thank you!)