From Publishers Weekly
At the start of Rowland's assured 10th historical set in 17th-century Japan (after 2004's The Perfumed Sleeve), Sano Ichiro, now the shogun's chamberlain and second-in-command, returns to his previous role of criminal investigator after the country's top spy, Ejima Senzaemon, drops dead on his mount during a horse race. Sano quickly finds that Senzaemon was just the latest senior official to die without warning. With the assistance of Hirata, his longtime assistant, the chamberlain uses his highly irregular sources to get on the trail of a martial-arts master using the legendary dim-mak, or touch of death. As always, the potential political ramifications of the crimes, which threaten the regime's precarious hold on power, add urgency to the inquiries, and failure risks not only Sano's status but his family's lives as well. While the significance of the subplot featuring Sano's wife, Reiko, may strike some as coincidental, the compelling story line, evocative detail and suspense should engage newcomers and satisfy longtime fans alike. At a point when many series show signs of wear, Rowland's characters remain fresh.
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From
Lately, this popular series, set during Japan's feudal period, has shown signs of lethargy. But now it feels reenergized. Sano Ichiro, the former ronin (a samurai without a master), has been promoted from investigator to chamberlain, the shogun's second-in-command and overseer of Japan's military government. The story, which involves the mysterious death of the chief of the shogun's intelligence service, is much more political than previous Sano adventures. Sano himself, perhaps because of his new responsibilities (or is it because his wife may be implicated in the man's death?), seems different, too: less impetuous, more deferential to authority. Even Rowland's writing, which was never a problem, even when the stories began to decline, feels a little livelier. A welcome breath of fresh air and a reminder that staleness is a fixable problem, at least in series fiction. David Pitt
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