点与线 (1958)

《点与线》（日语：点と线／てんとせん，罗马化：Ten to sen），是日本作家松本清张所作的一部推理小说，1957年在《旅》杂志上连载。

小说讲述助理科长佐山宪一和女招待阿时一起在九州香椎海滩身亡，由于死时仪容完好，阿时身边放有一批含氰化钾的橘子汁，当地警方认为是殉情自杀。但是老刑警鸟饲发现其中的疑点：佐山来到九州都是一个人住旅馆，去海滩仅仅是接到了阿时的电话通知。鸟饲决定调查此事，结果发现佐山的上司石田与机械工具公司经理安田间有贪污受贿的行径，东窗事发后佐山被警方传讯。石田为了掩盖案情，将佐山和阿时骗到海滩，由安田夫妇策划毒死，导演了这幕戏。当警方最终要逮捕安田夫妇时，他们却畏罪自杀。由于关键人物均已身亡，石田得以逍遥法外，还在上级包庇之下加官进爵。

本书描绘了政商勾结徇私舞弊的行为，揭示了社会阴暗面以及法律的局限。石田的污秽思想在社会上的流布，为奸商贪官的最终得逞创造了条件。餐厅女招待是作者倾注了极大同情的下层人物，她早年丧父、婚姻不幸，母亲和五个弟妹靠她一人供养，来到东京后无辜被社会所吞噬。作者在她身上集中反应了社会矛盾。写作风格上，松本营造曲折的案情，巧妙的设计了警方的侦破技术，将推理小说推到了一个新的高度。

登场角色

三原纪一

警视厅捜查二科股长，喜欢在咖啡厅思考事情。

鸟饲重太郎

福冈分局刑警。

安田辰郎

机械工具商“安田商会”经营者。

石田芳男

××部××司长，涉入贪渎案。

佐佐木喜太郎

××部事务官。

安田亮子

安田辰郎之妻，因得了肺病而在镰仓疗养。

佐山宪一

××部××司××科副科长。

日本料理店“小雪”女侍，本名桑山秀子。

改编作品

2007年播出的电视剧《点与线》

Points and Lines (Japanese: 点と線, Hepburn: Ten to Sen), is a novel by Seichō Matsumoto, published in 1958. It was initially serialized, and first translated into English by Makiko Yamamoto and Paul C. Blum, published by Kodansha International in 1970. A new translation by Jesse Kirkwood was released as Tokyo Express by Penguin Classics in 2022. Points and Lines was Matsumoto's first published novel.

Plot

The novel starts with a Tatsuo Yasuda, a businessman with several connections in a government ministry currently being investigated for corruption, inviting two waitresses from a restaurant he frequents for dinner. At the train station where they see him off, the waitresses notice their coworker, Toki, boarding the Asakaze with what they believe is her lover.

Around a week later, two bodies are discovered at a beach in Kashii. Officers identify the victims as Toki and Sayama, a key witness who worked at the government ministry being investigated, and conclude it was a double suicide between two lovers. Veteran detective Shigetaro Torikai suspects foul play and investigates on his own, finding good reason for his suspicions, but is halted by his superiors.

Detective Mihara Kiichi, whose department is currently investigating the corruption scandal, arrives from Tokyo to Fukoka to investigate. The novel carries on from his perspective as he meets with Yasuda, his bedridden wife Ryoko, and traces the train, ferry, and plane routes that make up his alibi.

The novel ends with Kiichi writing a letter to Torikai, explaining how Yasuda had colluded with a senior in the government ministry to kill Sayama and prevent him from incriminating them. Yasuda and Ryoko had poisoned Toki, revealed to be Yasuda’s mistress, and Sayama separately, then arranged their bodies together in order to make their deaths appear to be a suicide instead. Kiichi laments that Ryoko and Yasuda committed suicide before they could be arrested, and no evidence was left behind to arrest the senior government minister who colluded with them.

Reception

Points and Lines was Matsumoto's first novel, and is often considered his finest work. The novel's themes reflect his left-wing ideals and the trepidation of post-war Japan, exploring government corruption and the limits of justice through Japan's efficient transit system as a symbol of progress.

Writing for World Literature Today, J. Madison Davis named it among the ten greatest crime novels of all time.

It was made into a movie by Toei Company in 1958 and a TV drama in 2007.