Rating: 
Summary: Delightful mystery
Review: In 1691 Japan, Imperial Minister Konoe Bokuden searches for any noble threatening the rule of his Shogun. However, the minister must have gotten too close to uncovering a plot because, an unknown assailant, applying the extremely difficult to master and therefore rarely used spirit cry of kiai, kills Konoe.The Shogun sends his Most Honorable Investigator of Events, Situations, and People, Sano Ichiro to make inquiries into the death of Konoe and to uncover what the minister learned. Sano knows he must succeed because the failure of his previous case not only dishonored him but also left the Shogun wondering whether to replace him. Over his initial objections and his fears how the Shogun will react, his new wife Reiko insists on helping him with this dangerous case. As the newlyweds get closer to the truth, their lives and that of the nobility is endangered, as civil war seems eminent unless they can expose the culprit. THE SAMURAI'S WIFE, the fourth historical mystery starring the Samurai Detective Sano, continues in the tradition of providing readers with entertaining novels. The who-done-it is cleverly designed and the lead couple is a fascinating duo working as a team over Sano's objections. However, what makes talented author Laura Joh Rowland's novel a jubilation for historical fans is the resplendent descriptions of Feudal Japan that makes the audience feel they are visiting the island in the late seventeenth century. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Nutshell
Review: Read 25 pages, fell asleep. Forced myself to read to page 100 - gave up in disgust - checked ending (predicatable).
Pluses - historical detail, description of costumes and life.
Minuses - totally implausable relationship with wife. Reliance on absurd kill-by-glance BS. Overheated prose. Overall - great concept - unexpectedly lame execution.
Rating:
Summary: Nutshell
Review: Read 25 pages, fell asleep. Forced myself to read to page 100 - gave up in disgust - checked ending (predicatable).
Pluses - historical detail, description of costumes and life.
Minuses - totally implausable relationship with wife. Reliance on absurd kill-by-glance BS. Overheated prose. Overall - great concept - unexpectedly lame execution.
Rating:
Summary: Another Great Read
Review: This is another page turner of the first order. Laura Joh Rowland continues to write a complex plot, while she develops the central characters we have met previously in her last three mysteries. I throughly enjoyed this book and believe that Ms. Rowland continues to give her reader a view of fuedal Japan, together with a story line which is both captivating and exciting. I await her next book with baited breath. I recommend this book, as well as her last three Samurai mysteries without any reservation.
Rating: 
Summary: It's getting to be too much!
Review: This is the fifth or sixth Sano Ichiro book that I read. The only reason that I keep coming back is the futile hope that perhaps the next one will be different. But it is not. The characters in these books have a one-dimensional comic book quality that does not change or mature with age. The antagonism between Sano and the Chamberlain gets to be boring after so many absurd confrontations. The evolution of plot and detective work is always pathetically arbitrary. The only saving grace is what to the reader appears as an interesting view and description of 17th century Japan.
Rating:
Summary: It's getting to be too much!
Review: This is the fifth or sixth Sano Ichiro book that I read. The only reason that I keep coming back is the futile hope that perhaps the next one will be different. But it is not. The characters in these books have a one-dimensional comic book quality that does not change or mature with age. The antagonism between Sano and the Chamberlain gets to be boring after so many absurd confrontations. The evolution of plot and detective work is always pathetically arbitrary. The only saving grace is what to the reader appears as an interesting view and description of 17th century Japan.
Rating:
Summary: The Samurai's Wife
Review: This was one of the finest books I have read on ancient Japan. The author totally understands the rankings of people in relationship to their social class position in old Japan. I personally lived in Japan for 17 years and studied ancinet Japanese history. This book makes you feel as if you are living in the times of the story timeframe.
Rating:
Summary: The Samurai's Wife
Review: This was one of the finest books I have read on ancient Japan. The author totally understands the rankings of people in relationship to their social class position in old Japan. I personally lived in Japan for 17 years and studied ancinet Japanese history. This book makes you feel as if you are living in the times of the story timeframe.
Rating:
Summary: Even better!
Review: When I read Shinju, the first book in this series, I thought I was reading a very good account of life in feudal Japan. So I continued the series. My library didn't carry The Concubine's Tattoo and the Way of the Traitor, so I skipped from Bundori to this book. Laura Joh Rowland has taken something good and made it even better. Always, Sano Ichiro is plagued by issues with his honor and loyalty to Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. His rival, Chamberlain Yanagisawa is still trying to destroy him. He has another life and death mission to finish. And now he has a fiery, headstrong wife, Reiko-chan, at his side. Things don't look good for Sano Ichiro. Heian Kyo, now known as Kyoto, or merely Miyaki, is a world stuck in the past. Hundreds of years previously, the Japanese Emperors ruled Japan from this spot. Since then, the capital has moved to Kamakura, and now Edo (now Tokyo). It is a world living on a pension from the bakufu (government). It is a world suspended in the relics and traditions of the past. It is a place where a dastardly murder has occurred. The Samurai's Wife is a high-flying adventure through ancient Japan. I suggest you get this book. You'll never put it down.
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