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The Samurai's Wife

Author : Laura Joh Rowland
Publisher : Minotaur Books
ISBN 13 : 1429961678
Total Pages : 565 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (299 download)

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Book Synopsis The Samurai's Wife by : Laura Joh Rowland

Download or read book The Samurai's Wife written by Laura Joh Rowland and published by Minotaur Books. This book was released on 2000-04-25 with total page 565 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A compelling murder mystery set in seventeenth-century Japan, filled with finely drawn characters and suspenseful plot twists, Laura Joh Rowland's The Samurai's Wife is a novel as complex, vivid, and artful as the glorious, lost world it portrays. Far from the Shogun's court at Edo, Most Honorable Investigator Sano Ichiro begins the most challenging case of his career. Upon the insistence of his strong-willed and beautiful wife Reiko, Sano arrives with her at the emperor's palace to unmask the murderer--who possesses the secret of kiai, "the spirit city," a powerful scream that can kill instantly. A high Kyoto official is the victim. Treading carefully through a web of spies, political intrigue, forbidden passions, and intricate plots, Sano and Reiko must struggle to stay ahead of the palace storm--and outwit a cunning killer. But as they soon discover, solving the case means more than their survival. For if they fail, Japan could be consumed in the bloodiest war it has ever seen...

The Samurai's Wife

Author : Laura Joh Rowland
Publisher : Minotaur Books
ISBN 13 : 9780312203252
Total Pages : 203 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (32 download)

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Book Synopsis The Samurai's Wife by : Laura Joh Rowland

Download or read book The Samurai's Wife written by Laura Joh Rowland and published by Minotaur Books. This book was released on 2000 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sano Ichiro, special investigator to the shogun, discovers that he needs the help of his new wife Reiko more than ever after he finds himself embroiled in a case involving a sinister murderer. By the author of The Concubine's Tattoo. 20,000 first printing.

Woman in the Crested Kimono

Author : Edwin McClellan
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780300046182
Total Pages : 212 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (461 download)

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Book Synopsis Woman in the Crested Kimono by : Edwin McClellan

Download or read book Woman in the Crested Kimono written by Edwin McClellan and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1985-01-01 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The life of Shibue Io and her family, a kind of Japanese Buddenbrooks, may be unknown in the West, but her rich and engaging story marks the intersection of a remarkable woman with a fascinating time in history."--Arthur Golden, author of Memoirs of a Geisha "It stands clichÈs about traditional Japan on their heads. . . .Together with the people she knew, Io lives on in this literary album of old family pictures. It is well worth looking at."--Ian Buruma, New York Times Book Review "A most engaging book. Seeing Shibue Io through the various lenses of her husband, her son, Tamotsu (from whom much information is gleaned), the novelist Ogai, and the biographer McClellan is an interesting, moving, disarming experience."--Donald Richie, Japan Times "McClellan. . . has created a lively world, populated by women of various classes, samurai, doctors, poets, merchants, juvenile delinquents, and old eccentrics. The various incidents in which these people become involved provide a vivid picture of late Tokugawa society. This is a remarkable accomplishment."--Nakai Yoshiyuki, Monumenta Nipponica "An engrossing, informative, and extremely useful book. . . . Woman in the Crested Kimono is not simply the account of one unusual Tokugawa woman. It is an evocation of a family, and through a family the entire samurai class, going from the comparative affluence of the late Tokugawa period through the turmoils of the restoration and beyond."--Susan Napier, Journal of Asian Studies Daughter of a merchant family in nineteenth-century Japan and wife of a distinguished scholar-doctor of the samurai class, Shibue Io was a woman remarkable in her own right for her exceptionally keen mind and fearless spirit. Edwin McClellan now draws on the biography of her husband, written by Mori Ogai, to tell the story of Shibue Io, her society, and her times.

The Courtesan and the Samurai

Author : Lesley Downer
Publisher : Random House
ISBN 13 : 1409095452
Total Pages : 481 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (9 download)

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Book Synopsis The Courtesan and the Samurai by : Lesley Downer

Download or read book The Courtesan and the Samurai written by Lesley Downer and published by Random House. This book was released on 2010-04-13 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 1868. In Japan's exotic pleasure quarters, sex is for sale and the only forbidden fruit is love ... Hana is just seventeen when her husband goes to war, leaving her alone and vulnerable. When enemy soldiers attack her house she flees across the shattered city of Tokyo and takes refuge in the Yoshiwara, its famous pleasure-quarters.There she is forced to become a courtesan. Yozo, brave, loyal and a brilliant swordsman, is pledged to the embattled shogun. He sails to the frozen north to join his rebel comrades for a desperate last stand. Defeated, he makes his way south to the only place where a man is beyond the reach of the law - the Yoshiwara. There in the Nightless City where three thousand courtesans mingle with geishas and jesters, the battered fugitive meets the beautiful courtesan. But each has a secret so terrible that once revealed it will threaten their very lives ...

The Last Samurai

Author : Helen DeWitt
Publisher : New Directions Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0811225518
Total Pages : 576 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (112 download)

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Book Synopsis The Last Samurai by : Helen DeWitt

Download or read book The Last Samurai written by Helen DeWitt and published by New Directions Publishing. This book was released on 2016-05-31 with total page 576 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Called “remarkable” (The Wall Street Journal) and “an ambitious, colossal debut novel” (Publishers Weekly), Helen DeWitt’s The Last Samurai is back in print at last Helen DeWitt’s 2000 debut, The Last Samurai, was “destined to become a cult classic” (Miramax). The enterprising publisher sold the rights in twenty countries, so “Why not just, ‘destined to become a classic?’” (Garth Risk Hallberg) And why must cultists tell the uninitiated it has nothing to do with Tom Cruise? Sibylla, an American-at-Oxford turned loose on London, finds herself trapped as a single mother after a misguided one-night stand. High-minded principles of child-rearing work disastrously well. J. S. Mill (taught Greek at three) and Yo Yo Ma (Bach at two) claimed the methods would work with any child; when these succeed with the boy Ludo, he causes havoc at school and is home again in a month. (Is he a prodigy, a genius? Readers looking over Ludo’s shoulder find themselves easily reading Greek and more.) Lacking male role models for a fatherless boy, Sibylla turns to endless replays of Kurosawa’s masterpiece Seven Samurai. But Ludo is obsessed with the one thing he wants and doesn’t know: his father’s name. At eleven, inspired by his own take on the classic film, he sets out on a secret quest for the father he never knew. He’ll be punched, sliced, and threatened with retribution. He may not live to see twelve. Or he may find a real samurai and save a mother who thinks boredom a fate worse than death.

The Samurai's Wife, see ISBN 978-1-4299-6167-7

Author : Laura Joh Rowland
Publisher : Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 1429908440
Total Pages : 369 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (299 download)

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Book Synopsis The Samurai's Wife, see ISBN 978-1-4299-6167-7 by : Laura Joh Rowland

Download or read book The Samurai's Wife, see ISBN 978-1-4299-6167-7 written by Laura Joh Rowland and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2007-04-01 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Far from the Shogun's court at Edo, Most Honorable Investigator Sano Ichiro begins the most challenging case of his career. Upon the insistence of his strong-willed and beautiful wife Reiko, Sano arrives with her at the emperor's palace to unmask the murderer--who possesses the secret of kiai, "the spirit city," a powerful scream that can kill instantly. A high Kyoto official is the victim. Treading carefully through a web of spies, political intrigue, forbidden passions, and intricate plots, Sano and Reiko must struggle to stay ahead of the palace storm--and outwit a cunning killer. But as they soon discover, solving the case means more than their survival. For if they fail, Japan could be consumed in the bloodiest war it has ever seen... A legendary land comes alive in this compelling murder mystery set in seventeenth-century Japan. Filled with finely drawn characters and suspenseful plot twists, The Samurai's Wife is a novel as complex, vivid, and artful as the glorious, lost world it portrays.

The Salaryman's Wife

Author : Sujata Massey
Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 0062325256
Total Pages : 436 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (623 download)

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Book Synopsis The Salaryman's Wife by : Sujata Massey

Download or read book The Salaryman's Wife written by Sujata Massey and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2013-10-01 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Agatha Award. "Sujata Massey blasts her way into fiction with The Salaryman's Wife, a cross-cultural mystery of manners with a decidedly sexy edge."-- Janet Evanonich Japanese-American Rei Shimura is a 27-year-old English teacher living in one of Tokyo's seediest neighborhoods. She doesn't make much money, but she wouldn't go back home to California even if she had a free ticket (which, thanks to her parents, she does.) She's determined to make it on her own. Her independence is threatened however, when a getaway to an ancient castle town is marred by murder. Rei is the first to find the beautiful wife of a high-powered businessman, dead in the snow. Taking charge, as usual, Rei searches for clues by crashing a funeral, posing as a bar-girl, and somehow ending up pursued by police and paparazzi alike. In the meantime, she attempts to piece together a strange, ever-changing puzzle—one that is built on lies and held together by years of sex and deception. The first installment in the Rei Shimura series, The Salaryman's Wife is a riveting tale of death, love, and sex, told in a unique cross-cultural voice.

Daughters of the Samurai: A Journey from East to West and Back

Author : Janice P. Nimura
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 0393248240
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (932 download)

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Book Synopsis Daughters of the Samurai: A Journey from East to West and Back by : Janice P. Nimura

Download or read book Daughters of the Samurai: A Journey from East to West and Back written by Janice P. Nimura and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2015-05-04 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Nimura paints history in cinematic strokes and brings a forgotten story to vivid, unforgettable life." —Arthur Golden, author of Memoirs of a Geisha In 1871, five young girls were sent by the Japanese government to the United States. Their mission: learn Western ways and return to help nurture a new generation of enlightened men to lead Japan. Raised in traditional samurai households during the turmoil of civil war, three of these unusual ambassadors—Sutematsu Yamakawa, Shige Nagai, and Ume Tsuda—grew up as typical American schoolgirls. Upon their arrival in San Francisco they became celebrities, their travels and traditional clothing exclaimed over by newspapers across the nation. As they learned English and Western customs, their American friends grew to love them for their high spirits and intellectual brilliance. The passionate relationships they formed reveal an intimate world of cross-cultural fascination and connection. Ten years later, they returned to Japan—a land grown foreign to them—determined to revolutionize women’s education. Based on in-depth archival research in Japan and in the United States, including decades of letters from between the three women and their American host families, Daughters of the Samurai is beautifully, cinematically written, a fascinating lens through which to view an extraordinary historical moment.

The Pillow Book of the Flower Samurai

Author : Barbara Lazar
Publisher : Tinder Press
ISBN 13 : 0755389271
Total Pages : 411 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (553 download)

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Book Synopsis The Pillow Book of the Flower Samurai by : Barbara Lazar

Download or read book The Pillow Book of the Flower Samurai written by Barbara Lazar and published by Tinder Press. This book was released on 2012-07-05 with total page 411 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I am Kozaisho: Fifth daughter, Woman-For-Play, teller of stories, lover, wife and Flower Samurai. In the rich, dazzling, brutal world of twelfth century Japan, one young girl begins her epic journey, from the warmth of family to the Village of Outcasts. Marked out by an auspicious omen, she is trained in the ancient warrior arts of the samurai. But it is through the power of storytelling that she learns to fight her fate, twisting her life onto a path even she could not have imagined...

Stranger in the Shogun's City

Author : Amy Stanley
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1501188542
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (11 download)

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Book Synopsis Stranger in the Shogun's City by : Amy Stanley

Download or read book Stranger in the Shogun's City written by Amy Stanley and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-07-14 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Biography* *Winner of the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Award* *Winner of the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography* A “captivating” (The Washington Post) work of history that explores the life of an unconventional woman during the first half of the 19th century in Edo—the city that would become Tokyo—and a portrait of a city on the brink of a momentous encounter with the West. The daughter of a Buddhist priest, Tsuneno was born in a rural Japanese village and was expected to live a traditional life much like her mother’s. But after three divorces—and a temperament much too strong-willed for her family’s approval—she ran away to make a life for herself in one of the largest cities in the world: Edo, a bustling metropolis at its peak. With Tsuneno as our guide, we experience the drama and excitement of Edo just prior to the arrival of American Commodore Perry’s fleet, which transformed Japan. During this pivotal moment in Japanese history, Tsuneno bounces from tenement to tenement, marries a masterless samurai, and eventually enters the service of a famous city magistrate. Tsuneno’s life provides a window into 19th-century Japanese culture—and a rare view of an extraordinary woman who sacrificed her family and her reputation to make a new life for herself, in defiance of social conventions. “A compelling story, traced with meticulous detail and told with exquisite sympathy” (The Wall Street Journal), Stranger in the Shogun’s City is “a vivid, polyphonic portrait of life in 19th-century Japan [that] evokes the Shogun era with panache and insight” (National Review of Books).

A Sano Ichiro Collection

Author : Laura Joh Rowland
Publisher : Minotaur Books
ISBN 13 : 1250108284
Total Pages : 960 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (51 download)

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Book Synopsis A Sano Ichiro Collection by : Laura Joh Rowland

Download or read book A Sano Ichiro Collection written by Laura Joh Rowland and published by Minotaur Books. This book was released on 2016-02-23 with total page 960 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Laura Joh Rowland's acclaimed Sano Ichiro novels, set in seventeenth-century Japan, are riveting, richly imagined, and suspenseful. As Sano navigates a treacherous political landscape he works to protect the people of Edo, his family, and his honor in these compelling thrillers. The Concubine's Tattoo Sano Ichiro, the Shogun's most honorable investigator, is summoned to the imperial palace to find the murderer of a young concubine poisoned while applying a lover's tattoo. Sano's new bride, Reiko, insists on helping him with the case. Reiko's samurai blood and warrior's skill alarm her new husband, who expected a docile wife. But Reiko is only the first of many surprises... The Samurai's Wife Sano Ichiro, the Shogun's Most Honorable Investigator of Events, Situations, and People, has his doubts about the partnership that he and his spirited new wife, Reiko, have forged: While he recognizes that her help on his cases can be invaluable, he sometimes longs for a more traditional wife. Still, when a botched case and the resulting loss of face sends Sano to the Imperial city to find a killer whose methods are as terrifying as they are elusive, Sano needs the talents of his wife more than ever to infiltrate the emperor's inner circle. Black Lotus When Sano Ichiro is called on to investigate the burning of a cottage belonging to the Black Lotus Temple, he makes a shocking discovery. The three victims of the blaze were murdered before the fire even began. Sano's search for a killer leads him to Haru, an orphan girl found at the scene of the crime. But Sano's wife, Reiko, investigating the case against Sano's wishes, is convinced of Haru's innocence. Behind the walls of the Black Lotus Temple she discovers a sect involved in extortion, prostitution, and hedonistic rituals. Could one of the sect's members be the killer? Now Reiko must risk her marriage to Sano in order to prove Haru's innocence...

Lady Gracia

Author : 三浦綾子
Publisher : IBC PUBLISHING
ISBN 13 : 9784925080828
Total Pages : 452 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (88 download)

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Book Synopsis Lady Gracia by : 三浦綾子

Download or read book Lady Gracia written by 三浦綾子 and published by IBC PUBLISHING. This book was released on 2004-07 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The Iris Fan

Author : Laura Joh Rowland
Publisher : Minotaur Books
ISBN 13 : 1466847433
Total Pages : 351 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (668 download)

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Book Synopsis The Iris Fan by : Laura Joh Rowland

Download or read book The Iris Fan written by Laura Joh Rowland and published by Minotaur Books. This book was released on 2014-12-09 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Riveting and richly imagined, with a magnificent sense of time and place, The Iris Fan is the triumphant conclusion to Laura Joh Rowland's brilliant series of thrillers set in feudal Japan. Japan, 1709. The shogun is old and ailing. Amid the ever-treacherous intrigue in the court, Sano Ichiro has been demoted from chamberlain to a lowly patrol guard. His relationship with his wife Reiko is in tatters, and a bizarre new alliance between his two enemies Yanagisawa and Lord Ienobu has left him puzzled and wary. Sano's onetime friend Hirata is a reluctant conspirator in a plot against the ruling regime. Yet, Sano's dedication to the Way of the Warrior—the samurai code of honor—is undiminished. Then a harrowing, almost inconceivable crime takes place. In his own palace, the shogun is stabbed with a fan made of painted silk with sharp-pointed iron ribs. Sano is restored to the rank of chief investigator to find the culprit. This is the most significant, and most dangerous, investigation of his career. If the shogun's heir is displeased, he will have Sano and his family put to death without waiting for the shogun's permission, then worry about the consequences later. And Sano has enemies of his own, as well as unexpected allies. As the previously unimaginable death of the shogun seems ever more possible, Sano finds himself at the center of warring forces that threaten not only his own family but Japan itself.

Blade of the Samurai

Author : Susan Spann
Publisher : Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 1250027055
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (5 download)

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Book Synopsis Blade of the Samurai by : Susan Spann

Download or read book Blade of the Samurai written by Susan Spann and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2014-07-15 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Master ninja Hiro Hattori is trying to sleep when he has an unexpected visit from his friend Kazu, a fellow shinobi and member of the same ninja clan working undercover at the shogunate. Kazu says that Saburo, the Shogun's cousin, has been stabbed to death within the walls of the Shogun's palace with Kazu's dagger, and that though he is innocent, he fears he will be blamed for the murder. He begs Hiro's help in escaping the city. But before he can flee, Hiro and Father Mateo, the Jesuit priest under Hiro's protection, are summoned to the palace to aid in the investigation. There they learn of a plot to assassinate the Shogun and overthrow the ruling Ashikaga clan. With Lord Oda, a rival warlord, scheduled to arrive in Kyoto soon and the murderer poised to strike again, Hiro must use his assassin's skills to reveal the killer's identity and protect the Shogun. Kazu, trapped in the city, still will not admit where he was at the time of the murder, and this makes Hiro doubt his innocence. Other suspects include the maid who found the body, Saburo's wife, and the stable master. Unfortunately, the Shogun demands the murder solved before Lord Oda arrives, and if the murderer can't be brought to justice, Hiro and Father Mateo may have to die in his place. Blade of the Samurai is a complex mystery that will transport readers into 16th century Japan for a thrilling and unforgettable adventure"--

The Samurai's Garden

Author : Gail Tsukiyama
Publisher : St. Martin's Griffin
ISBN 13 : 1429965142
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (299 download)

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Book Synopsis The Samurai's Garden by : Gail Tsukiyama

Download or read book The Samurai's Garden written by Gail Tsukiyama and published by St. Martin's Griffin. This book was released on 2008-06-24 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The daughter of a Chinese mother and a Japanese father, Gail Tsukiyama's The Samurai's Garden uses the Japanese invasion of China during the late 1930s as a somber backdrop for this extraordinary story. A 20-year-old Chinese painter named Stephen is sent to his family's summer home in a Japanese coastal village to recover from a bout with tuberculosis. Here he is cared for by Matsu, a reticent housekeeper and a master gardener. Over the course of a remarkable year, Stephen learns Matsu's secret and gains not only physical strength, but also profound spiritual insight. Matsu is a samurai of the soul, a man devoted to doing good and finding beauty in a cruel and arbitrary world, and Stephen is a noble student, learning to appreciate Matsu's generous and nurturing way of life and to love Matsu's soulmate, gentle Sachi, a woman afflicted with leprosy.

Bundori:

Author : Laura Joh Rowland
Publisher : Villard
ISBN 13 : 0307801470
Total Pages : 412 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (78 download)

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Book Synopsis Bundori: by : Laura Joh Rowland

Download or read book Bundori: written by Laura Joh Rowland and published by Villard. This book was released on 2011-11-23 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The sequel to the acclaimed novel Shinju again features detective Sano Ichiro as he trails a serial killer stalking feudal Japan. In 1689, an all-powerful shogun controls the state, surrounded by bitter machinations and political intrigues. When an ancient tradition suddenly and brutally reappears, Sano risks everything to bring the killer to justice. “Bundori is terrific. . . . So good you won’t want to put it down, even to get off a plane. . . . [Laura Joh] Rowland hits her stride as a writer who can deal equally well with the pacing of plot and the nuances of character development. . . . Rowland clearly knows how to build suspense and action, a talent that she demonstrates with great skill.”—New Orleans Times-Picayune “Bundori is one of those mysteries in which the itch to find out whodunit recedes before the pleasure of prowling through a different world.”—Washington Post Book World “Sano may carry a sword and wear a kimono, but you’ll immediately recognize him as an ancestor of Philip Marlowe or Sam Spade.”—Denver Post “A colorful pictorial style that conveys . . . excitement and . . . danger.”—The New York Times Book Review

The Pillow Book of Lady Wisteria

Author : Laura Joh Rowland
Publisher : Minotaur Books
ISBN 13 : 1429908467
Total Pages : 372 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (299 download)

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Book Synopsis The Pillow Book of Lady Wisteria by : Laura Joh Rowland

Download or read book The Pillow Book of Lady Wisteria written by Laura Joh Rowland and published by Minotaur Books. This book was released on 2007-04-01 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Pillow Book of Lady Wisteria, Laura Joh Rowland once again has written a book in which "an exotic setting, seventeenth-century Japan, and a splendid mystery...make for grand entertainment" (New York Daily News). In the carefully ordered world of seventeenth-century Japan, the Yoshiwara pleasure quarter is a place where men of all classes can drink, revel, and enjoy the favors of beautiful courtesans. But on a cold winter's dawn, Sano Ichiro--the shogun's Most Honorable Investigator of Events, Situations, and People--must visit Yoshiwara on a most unpleasant mission. Within a house of assignation reserved for the wealthiest, most prominent men, a terrible murder has occurred. In a room that reeks of liquor and sex, the shogun's cousin and heir, Lord Mitsuyoshi, lies dead, a flowered hairpin embedded in his eye, in the bed of the famous courtesan, Lady Wisteria. The shogun demands quick justice, but Sano's path is blocked by many obstacles, including the disappearance of Wisteria and her pillow book, a diary that may contain clues. The politics of court life, the whims of the shogun, and interference by his long time rival, Edo's Chief Police Commissioner Hoshina, also hinder Sano in his search for the killer. Sano's wife, Lady Reiko, is eager to help him, but he fears what she may uncover. When suspicion of murder falls upon Sano himself, he must find the real murderer to solve the case and clear his name.