オリエント急行を追え

by Kyōtarō Nishimura

イベントで再来日したオリエント急行。しかし、列車から百丁のトカレフ拳銃と白骨化した手首が発見された……。政界絡みの拳銃密輸事件を捜査中に行方不明となった刑事を追い、十津川警部はベルリンへ向う。一方、日本での捜査に当たる亀井の前には謎のドイツ人が……。十津川は犯人との接触を続け、ついに舞台はモスクワ、そして厳寒のシベリアへ！　激動のヨーロッパ大陸で冴えわたる十津川の名推理。本格海外トラベルミステリー!!

Paperback Bunko

First published September 7, 1993

About the author

Kyotaro Nishimura (pseudonym of Kihachiro Yajima, born 6 September 1930 in Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese writer of mystery stories. Nishimura is best known for his "train series" mysteries. He won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 1981 for The Terminal Murder Case.

Reviews

[Oji Kenobi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was published as a serial story between July and December of 1990. It is not clear which publication carried the 24 chapters. The story is plot-driven with not much character development. I enjoyed reading details about how a train is transported and modified to ride the rails of different countries. The details were convincing enough to compel me to fact-check whether the Orient Express ever actually rode the rails of Japan as a PR gesture. But the plot is thin and predictable. Rather than being described in a fashion that creates an atmosphere, the events are listed like items on a to-do list. “They chased a car. It crashed. Then everyone went home.” I picked up a paperback version of this book from a used book shelf. I used it to advance my knowledge of Japanese grammar and vocabulary. Intermediate-level students of the language will have no trouble reading this.