Rating: 
Summary: Historical mystery fans will shout "Banzai" to a great tale
Review: In 1690 Edo, Japan, Sano Inchiro, the Most Honorable Investigator, looks forward to marrying his beloved Lady Ueda Reiko. However, Sano's nuptial bliss is abruptly interrupted when Harume, a favorite concubine of Shogun Tsunayoshi, is murdered by an assailant who placed poison in the lady's tattoo ink. In his twenty months on the job, Sano has investigated several murders including a Dutch trader in Nagasaki. However, as dangerous as some of them were, Sano realizes that he begins his most perilous case because failure to solve this case would mean dishonoring the Shogun and potentially lead to Sano's death. Making maters more difficult for the Most Honorable Investigator is his new wife refuses to stay at home. Instead she begins her own brand of sleuthing. With her fourth Sano novel, THE CONCUBINE'S TATTOO, Laura Joh Rowland continues her rapid climb to the top of the historical mystery sub-genre. The story line is filled with intriguing detail into Japanese history and culture without slowing down the who-done-it, which is intimately tied to the culture. In previous tales (see THE WAY OF THE TRAITOR, BUNDORI, and SHINJU) Sano has been a fully developed protagonist. However Reiko adds much personal depth to her spouse's character, turning him into a warmer sleuth. Fans of historical mysteries will shout "Banzai" after reading this deftly developed novel.
Rating:
Summary: Wedded Bliss?
Review: After putting off his arranged marriage for a couple of novels, Rowland's latest Sano Ichiro mystery finds the detective married to Reiko, the daughter of a samurai. The wedding is barely over when a murder is discovered -- one of the Shogun's concubines has been apparently poisoned while applying a tatoo to a rather intimate area of her body. No honeymoon for Sano -- and, as the book continues -- possibly no wedded bliss, either, for Reiko turns out to have her own ideas on the murder and on life in general. These ideas are radically different from Sano's view of women and marriage. In previous novels, after all, he's been around, to say the least. This novel is one of the more explicit in the series, and even Sano's trusty assistant, Hirata, has an interesting encounter with another of the Shogun's women. In fact, women figure prominently in this novel, from concubines, to wives, to mothers; by the end, Sano gains a new appreciation for the role of women in Japanese society, and especially for the courage of his new wife.
Rating:
Summary: Wedded Bliss?
Review: After putting off his arranged marriage for a couple of novels, Rowland's latest Sano Ichiro mystery finds the detective married to Reiko, the daughter of a samurai. The wedding is barely over when a murder is discovered -- one of the Shogun's concubines has been apparently poisoned while applying a tatoo to a rather intimate area of her body. No honeymoon for Sano -- and, as the book continues -- possibly no wedded bliss, either, for Reiko turns out to have her own ideas on the murder and on life in general. These ideas are radically different from Sano's view of women and marriage. In previous novels, after all, he's been around, to say the least. This novel is one of the more explicit in the series, and even Sano's trusty assistant, Hirata, has an interesting encounter with another of the Shogun's women. In fact, women figure prominently in this novel, from concubines, to wives, to mothers; by the end, Sano gains a new appreciation for the role of women in Japanese society, and especially for the courage of his new wife.
Rating: 
Summary: Ill-conceived waste of time and money
Review: Being completely new to the Sano Ichiro series, I'm notqualified to give an opinion on past books. But oh my, what adisappointment in form and flavor was "The Concubine'sTattoo." First of all, Joh Rowland's writing style leaves much to be desired. Her language is colorless, even pedantic at times. Add in the occasional (okay, more than occasional) anachronism, it all got to be very boring in the end. Her "eye for detail" concerning 17th century Japan is well-deserved, but she does little to evoke the true feeling of the culture and the times. Used with a standard adult-mystery plot, the setting just seemed like an excuse to use the word "exotic" somewhere in the novel's description. Oh, and those characters. There's a very fine line between "dramatic" and "over-the-top," or, for that matter, "mind-numbingly cliched." Ah, Sano Ichiro is less samurai-living-by-the-ancient-code-of-Bushido than he is the prototypical Ultra-Capable Western Hero. Oh, and the wife? A kimono-wearing, dagger-wielding cheerleader/damsel-in-distress who really has no purpose in the novel other than to warm her husband's bed and to be saved by him. She's not "spunky," she's rather annoying, not to mention foolish. This novel, overall, is one spectacular almost-accomplishment. Joh Rowland could've done so much with all that research she did. Write an enjoyable book, for one.
Rating: 
Summary: A Pretty Good Entry into the Shogun Lite Series
Review: First and foremost Concubines Tattoo is on the same level as Shinjuku, Bundori, the Way of the Traitor the other books Laura Rohland has written in this series. Laura Rohland's Sano mysteries set during the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan are pretty good. Set in a time period a little after the time period described in the classic book Shogun, these books are pretty good. They do a decent job with the setting, characters, and the story. The Concubine's Tattoo is up to par with the rest of the series. Once again our hero Sano protects the Shogun and solves the mystery. There is some good period and historical detail and at the same time there is some cheese. If you are interested in Japan and Japanese history you will like this book and the others in the series. For mystery fans the books are ok also. Again, I think this book or any in the series are no Shogun but if you like Japan and Samurai type stuff this is pretty good. For a more modern mystery series set in Japan check the Salaryman's Wife and Zen Attitude. This is not a classic book. But if you are looking for a good period historical mystery to read on the beach, plane or on the train this book fits the bill.
Rating:
Summary: Not Too Bad
Review: First book written by Laura Joh Rowland that I've read. As a lover of mystery and history, I was quite intrigued by the story of a Japanese 17th century investigator under the ruling of a shogun. Basically Sano Ichiro, our courageous and justice obsessed investigator, is instructed by the shogun, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, to find out who murdered his concubine, Lady Harume. That's the main plot; there are other sub-plots for Sano to figure out as well. The author gives detailed descriptions about 17th century Japan; the customs, the people and the harsh life which awaits the women. It's not that hard to figure out the murderer and I enjoyed reading the book. However the sex scenes could be cut down; does nothing for the story.
Rating: 
Summary: Ms. Rowlands best so far.
Review: Having read her entire Sano series to date, this one out does them all. More personality, and the suspense builds nicely to the end. Rieko is a great character addition to investigators team. The author could plan and plant the clues for the reader a little better but great reading over all.
Rating:
Summary: dreadful book
Review: I can't say it better than Ms. Siosan or Ms. Donihue; but this book was dreadful. Poorly written, trite dialog. It had an interesting idea, but was poor in the execution. If this is her best (as some of her fans indicate), the others should definitely be avoided.
Rating:
Summary: decent beach book
Review: I had never heard of this author or the book and bought it at the supermarket so I wasn't expecting too much. But I was pleasantly surprised. While parts of the book were a little dull and slow, the overall setting kept things moving along quite nicely. Of course the author makes heavy use of some pretty standard hooks: sex, Japanese history, drugs, sex, violent death, basic murder mystery plot, sex and naked women. But hey, this is a supermarket book, you kind of expect that in a paperback bestseller. There was too much about nothing concerning the heroine. The Japense equivalent of a woman in a Steven Segal movie, I guess. But I did enjoy the book. Definitely a great read for a plane trip or the beach.
Rating:
Summary: Better than the third with expanded characters
Review: I liked this one better than the third book. Sano is back home and getting married. Of course as soon as he is married he is called to investigate the death of one of the Shogun's concubines. I like this story. Rowland expands the characters of Sano and his sidekick Hirata, she also adds the character of Reiko as his non-submissive, untraditional wife. The addition of other characters in Sano's inner circle and adding depth to them adds to the story. The same adding of characters also threatens to take away from the overall series because along with Reiko other characters are also added. You can see the possibility of having too many characters coming into a story and making it more confusing or convoluted. But for this book it works. I give it a B on the StuPage.
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