Rating: 
Summary: Historical mystery can cause samurai night fever
Review: The Tokugawa shogunate in the 17th century has been a setting for a number of memorable works: the samurai films of Akira Kurosawa, Eiji Yoshikawa's epic novel "Mushashi," and James Clavell's "Shogun." It's also the setting for this series of four novels by Laura Joh Rowland featuring Sano Ichiro, the most honorable investigator to the shogun. When the shogun's favorite concubine is found poisoned, the discovery interrupts Sano's wedding feast as well as unleash a host of concerns. Was the killing an attempt to keep the shogun from begetting an heir? Will someone use the crime as a pretext for getting a rival out of the way? Sano has good reason to be doubly concerned about the case: failure to find the culprit could mean a visit to the execution ground for himself, his assistant and his family. Sano is also distracted by his bride, who is as spirited and unconventional as a 17th-century Katharine Hepburn. Their journey toward accommodation and compromise form a major part of the book. One word of warning: many forms of copulation show up in "The Concubine's Tattoo," and its explicitness may prove unsettling to regular readers of the genre.
Rating: 
Summary: Good airplane read, but lacks spice of "Memoirs of a Geisha"
Review: There are books and then there are books. One of my favorite Japan-based novels is "Memoirs of a Geisha", due in part to its detailed (yet not overbearing) description of Japanese culture, long (but well-paced) storyline, and its handling of sex: nervous, passoniate, curious, frightened, first experiences, all very realistic (but not cheap, dime-store erotica). Alas, Rowland could take a cue from Geisha's author, Arthur Golden, concerning that last topic. While her story has a great premise, it is continually slowed by unimportant (and sometimes sickening) erotica. Sex is wonderful if written correctly, and although some of her characters have curious sexual preferences, there is simply too much to take in at once, especially when some parts have little bearing on the story itself. Sano Ichiro is a brilliant detective to a feudal shogun (Japanese lord), but lately he's felt the pull of marriage life. His arranged marriage to Reiko Ueda, however, is interrupted by the violent death of the shogun's prize concubine, the Lady Harume, who stumbles screaming into the wedding hall after ingesting a very painful (and lethal) poison. Not only is his wedding party postponed, but Sano discovers that instead of the obedient, mousy wife he expected, Reiko turns out to be a trained samurai and she demands to help her husband catch the murderer. Hardly the thing a big tough samurai detective wants to do. Who wants to get upstaged by his wife? The first few chapters had me nailed to my seat, because I'll say this for Rowland: her skill at suspense is well-developed. Also, her detail of feudal Japanese life is exquisitely done. However, the book shifts between a mystery and an erotica paperback, and it cheapens the book's taste. One starts to wonder if EVERYONE in Japanese society has these secret, bizarre fetishes; almost every character is strangely corrupt, and most seem to love whippings and multiple pairings. It detracts from the book's flow, so eventually you forget why you're reading it in the first place. It would also help if Rowland knew when to stop; although I was hooked by the first couple of chapters, my enthusiasm waned as the book went on ... and on ... and on. No "Geisha" by any means, but adequate if you're reading during a long business flight.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the Best!
Review: This fourth novel in the series is perhaps the most satisfying as a detective story and as a novel. We take a journey through late 17th century Japan, following in the trail of Sano Ichiro as he seeks to discover who murdered one of the Shogun's concubines. Along the way we encounter the lowest of the low in Japanese society, as well as the highest of the high. We learn that social standing is oftern the opposite of moral standing. Rowland seems to improve with each novel.
Rating:
Summary: Medieval Japan, murderous actions, and a search for truth.
Review: This is the fourth book in Ms. Rowland's "samurai" series - and well worth reading. Her ability to create a time and place (and people) far from our own time and culture had me reading the four books practically non-stop. I recommend all of her books with no reservations. Great reading.
Rating:
Summary: An intriguing historical mystery
Review: This is the fourth book in the Sano Ichiro series, and probably the best of the three that I've read. Ichiro is ordered by the Shogun to investigate the death of his favorite concubine, and it soon becomes clear that the death is a result of poison. As always in this series, Ichiro is playing a delicate game trapped between the weak and stupid Shogun and his powerful enemy Chamberlain Yanigasawi. Yanigasawi is the Shogun's lover and favorite, but, since the Shogun trusts Ichiro, can only act against Ichiro in ways the Shogun doesn't notice. Since the Shogun is less than observant, that still leaves him with quite a few options. The book stands well on its own; I think it woud be unnecessary to read the earlier installments of the series before reading this one. This book adds the character of Ichiro's wife, Reiko, who is eager to take her own role in Ichiro's investigations. The presence of Reiko adds interesting complications and allows the Ichiro character to develop further, but from my own limited knowledge of the period, I doubt that either her independence, her Nancy Drew spunkishness, or Ichiro's relatively easy acceptance of it are at all realistic. The plot involves a good deal of sex, some of it kinky, as other readers have observed. I found it all appropriate - there is no explicit content just thrown in for its own sake without furthering the story - but it may be too much for some readers. The mystery is done well, with several vivid characters introduced as suspects, and Ichiro facing a dangerous dilemma when the evidence seems to point to the Shogun's mother, who it would certainly be fatal to accuse. Several readers have commented on the historical realism of the setting. It is always risky to read historical novels and expect to get real history, and this series is no exception. At one point in this book, the Shogun is portrayed reading the classic chinese novel, "The Dream of Red Mansions". That book in fact wasn't written until over half a century after this story takes place. I suspect that Rowland intended an earlier classic novel of chinese decadence and erotica, the Ch'in P'ing Mei. If a person like myself, with no special knowledge of the period in question, can spot a careless blunder like that, how many inaccuracies would a real expert catch? Probably quite a few - for instance, one reviewer of this series has stated that the teahouses which play a prominent role in this and other installments, while very popular in later Japan, wouldn't have existed at the time this story is set in.
Rating:
Summary: An intriguing historical mystery
Review: This is the fourth book in the Sano Ichiro series, and probably the best of the three that I've read. Ichiro is ordered by the Shogun to investigate the death of his favorite concubine, and it soon becomes clear that the death is a result of poison. As always in this series, Ichiro is playing a delicate game trapped between the weak and stupid Shogun and his powerful enemy Chamberlain Yanigasawi. Yanigasawi is the Shogun's lover and favorite, but, since the Shogun trusts Ichiro, can only act against Ichiro in ways the Shogun doesn't notice. Since the Shogun is less than observant, that still leaves him with quite a few options. The book stands well on its own; I think it woud be unnecessary to read the earlier installments of the series before reading this one. This book adds the character of Ichiro's wife, Reiko, who is eager to take her own role in Ichiro's investigations. The presence of Reiko adds interesting complications and allows the Ichiro character to develop further, but from my own limited knowledge of the period, I doubt that either her independence, her Nancy Drew spunkishness, or Ichiro's relatively easy acceptance of it are at all realistic. The plot involves a good deal of sex, some of it kinky, as other readers have observed. I found it all appropriate - there is no explicit content just thrown in for its own sake without furthering the story - but it may be too much for some readers. The mystery is done well, with several vivid characters introduced as suspects, and Ichiro facing a dangerous dilemma when the evidence seems to point to the Shogun's mother, who it would certainly be fatal to accuse. Several readers have commented on the historical realism of the setting. It is always risky to read historical novels and expect to get real history, and this series is no exception. At one point in this book, the Shogun is portrayed reading the classic chinese novel, "The Dream of Red Mansions". That book in fact wasn't written until over half a century after this story takes place. I suspect that Rowland intended an earlier classic novel of chinese decadence and erotica, the Ch'in P'ing Mei. If a person like myself, with no special knowledge of the period in question, can spot a careless blunder like that, how many inaccuracies would a real expert catch? Probably quite a few - for instance, one reviewer of this series has stated that the teahouses which play a prominent role in this and other installments, while very popular in later Japan, wouldn't have existed at the time this story is set in.
Rating:
Summary: YOU MUST READ THIS
Review: THIS SERIES HAS ME COMPLETELY HOOKED. IT HAS JUST ENOUGH MYSTERY, CULTURE, TRADITION AND ROMANCE TO BE A FANTASTIC MOVIE(hint hint hint). I WOULD RECOMMEND STARTING FROM THE FIRST BOOK "SHINJU:" AND WORKING YOUR WAY UP.
Rating:
Summary: YOU MUST READ THIS
Review: THIS SERIES HAS ME COMPLETELY HOOKED. IT HAS JUST ENOUGH MYSTERY, CULTURE, TRADITION AND ROMANCE TO BE A FANTASTIC MOVIE(hint hint hint). I WOULD RECOMMEND STARTING FROM THE FIRST BOOK "SHINJU:" AND WORKING YOUR WAY UP.
Rating: 
Summary: Barely So-so
Review: This story and the others by the same author appeal to the lowest common denominator. There is virtually no historical basis for the characterization of the protaganists and antagonists and the plotting is tepid at best. If you are stuck on an airplane from Tokyo to the U.S. and can't sleep this ought to do it.
Rating:
Summary: Reiko Rules!
Review: Unfortunately, I started this before I realized there were a couple in the series before it. Now I'll have to read them out of order. I'm sure there could have been men like Sano in 17th century Japan who grudgingly realized their culture oppressed women so I didn't see that as a big anachronism. Plus, there are women now who are ahead of their time, so why couldn't Reiko have been ahead of HER time? Two complaints: The author was trying to give the Shogun some kind of odd speech pattern where he said "Ahhh" in the middle of sentences in strange spots as in: "We must find, Ahhh, Lady Harume's killer!" It was annoying and strange. My other complaint was the harsh and abusive sex scenes. I think the author could have managed to convey the fact that the villain was a brute WITHOUT having that horrid scene of him abusing a teenaged boy. I think authors in general these days seem to feel they have to throw in some graphic violence as though they believe we readers are all bloodthirsty ghouls.
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