After Sano traces the cause of Lady Harume's death to a self-inflicted tattoo, he must travel into the cloistered, forbidden world of the shogun's women to untangle the complicated web of Harume's lovers, rivals, and troubled past, and identify her killer. However, the death of the shogun's favorite concubine interrupts the couple's wedding ceremony and shatters any hopes the samurai detective had about enjoying a little peace with his new wife. He looks forward to the comforts that his arranged marriage promises: a private life with a sweet, submissive wife and a month's holiday to celebrate their union.
Even so, Rowland's understanding of the society she depicts shines through, and she succeeds in presenting Sano as an intriguing combination of wiliness and decency, making this a good bet for fans of historicals as well as of mysteries past.Twenty months spent as the shogun's sosakan-sama-most honorable investigator of events, situations, and people-has left Sano Ichiro weary. The book suffers, as Rowland's previous novels have, from a common hazard of historical mysteries: the pace is weighed down by the very details with which the author so painstakingly bedecks her narrative. Meanwhile, Reiko rebels against the submissive role of Japanese wife and insists on helping in the investigation. Suspects include Yanagisawa, Sano's bitter rival for the shogun's favor a young officer who loved Harume and other concubines who had much to lose as Harume gained the shogun's affections. Sano's investigation requires extraordinary skill and care, for failure in a case involving the shogun's household could mean his death. The wedding is interrupted by the sudden death of Hamune, one of the shogun's concubines, the victim of poisoned ink that Hamune used to give herself an intimate tattoo. As his fourth adventure (after 1997's The Way of the Traitor) begins, he is marrying the beautiful Lady Ueda Reiko. Sano Ichiro has risen to the rank of Most Honorable Investigator for the shogun in 1690 Japan. Rowland once again delivers a mystery laden with details of period and place, with strong portrayals of palace intrigue in 17th-century Japan.
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