Detective Kanzaki found three case files in an unclaimed umbrella at the Lost and Found. Everything in this city has a number: the stations, the wards, the blocks. Four steps, one pen, no knowledge of Tokyo needed.
Every witness gives you one fact. None of them lies. Each fact rules out part of the city.
Hatch the wards the clue eliminates, or ride the Yamanote loop and count the stations.
Six real neighbourhoods per ward, with their kanji. Cross the ones that no longer fit.
Blocks 1 to 120 in every neighbourhood. Keep going until a single door survives, then check the verification code.
The Yamanote loop line circles the city with 30 stations. Witnesses tell you how far someone rode, clockwise or against the clock. Count the stations, cross out the wards they serve, and the loop closes in on the killer. A worked example sits next to the loop of each case.
Every Murder Map book has one twist, taken from something real about its city. Same rules, same pen, a different way to close in.
23 genuine wards with their official boundaries. 138 real neighbourhoods, six per ward, printed with their kanji. 16,560 block numbers to cross out. Every clue is printed on the page: on the bay or beyond the Sumida, inside the loop or out at the edge of the 23, a block number that is prime.
Three cases inspired by Japanese ghost stories, each with its own printed city. Fifteen to sixteen statements per case, about two hours each, and exactly one answer, checked by an independent solver before printing.
A lantern maker with a husband, a debt and a jar of face cream. The lanterns went out. So did she.
A cosmetic surgeon, a woman in a surgical mask, a paper bag of candy on his desk.
A night track inspector who swore the loop has a thirty-first station, and went to get off there.
6 × 9 inch paperback, matte cover, white paper made to take a pen. The city is printed three times, once per case.
The paperback is on its way to Amazon. Check back in a few days, or follow Kob House on Instagram.
Every case is generated and then re-solved by an independent solver before it goes to print, which means the logic always holds: one solution, no guessing, no dead ends, no case that falls apart on page forty.
Also in the Murder Map series: