SHINJU

It is January 1689 in Edo, the city that would one day become Tokyo. The bodies of a beautiful noblewoman and a male commoner, bound together, are dragged from the murky Sumida River: a typical shinju, a ritual double suicide committed by a pair of star-crossed lovers. But when Sano Ichiro, a teacher, samurai, and reluctant police officer, begins a routine investigation, he comes to suspect murder. Disobeying direct orders to close the case discreetly, he pursues elusive answers from the ornate mansions of the highest born daimyos, to the gaudy pleasure quarters of the lowest classes, from a cloistered mountaintop convent to a horrid prison where death is a blessing. He risks his family's good name and his own life to solve a crime that nobody wants solved. As he unravels the twisted story behind the deaths, he stumbles upon a trail of deceit and assassination that threatens the very underpinnings of the shogun's Japan.

In the misty streets and alleys of Edo, Japan's feudal capital, a serial killer lurks. Each victim is rendered up as a severed head, nailed to a plank, offered for public display as a bundori: a war trophy in samurai military tradition. Detective Sano Ichiro, newly promoted to the new position as the shogun's Most Honorable Investigator, tries valiantly to follow Bushido - the Way of the Warrior - as he strives to bring the killer to justice. Will his attempts be foiled by the villainous Chamberlain Yanagisawa? Or will he succeed through the help of the beautiful and mysterious Aoi, a mystic trained in the ninja arts? As it becomes obvious that the killer is one of three powerful men, Sano must reconcile his noble heritage with his duty to the shogun. Will trapping the murderer lead to prestige and glory for Sano . . . or disgrace and forced ritual suicide?

The year is 1690, and the place is Nagasaki - a city where superstition, politics, and greed reign supreme, and a corrupt government which fears foreign invasion like a plague rules with an iron fist. It is here that the mutilated body of Jan Spaen, a prominent Dutch trader and one of the few Westerners in Japan, washes ashore. Sano Ichiro, the shogun's Most Honorable Investigator, finds himself exiled to Nagasaki and immersed in a dangerous search for an elusive killer. Every clue lures him deeper into an investigation that could implicate powerful individuals and plunge Japan into war. Nothing is as it seems, and no one can be trusted. Spies lurk in every corner, waiting to accuse Sano of following the way of the traitor - a crime punishable by death. As East meets West with catastrophic consequences, Sano must find the murderer, for at stake is not only his samurai honor, but his very life.

Samurai detective Sano Ichiro tackles his most challenging case yet when the shogun's favorite concubine, Lady Harume, dies of a poison tattoo on a very private part of her body. While Sano's worst enemy, the corrupt Chamberlain Yanagisawa, plots against him, Sano investigates Lady Harume's lovers, rivals, and troubled history in a quest to identify her killer before political tensions erupt in a bloody purge of potential culprits. An added complication is Sano's arranged marriage to Lady Reiko, who is not the traditional, obedient wife Sano expects, but an intelligent, headstrong, aspiring detective bent on helping him solve the mystery of The Concubine's Tattoo.

While investigating a high-level murder in Miyako, the Imperial Capital, samurai detective Sano Ichiro and his wife Lady Reiko undertake a desperate search for a killer whose method is as terrifying as it is elusive: Only the most powerful warriors possess the secret of kiai, the "spirit cry" that can kill a man with a scream. Surrounded by treachery and mounting danger, Sano and Reiko must find safe passage through the mazes of court intrigue - and the machinations of their enemy, Chamberlain Yanagisawa - before the repercussions of the violence in Miyako can destroy the entire nation.

A fire destroys a cottage within the walled compound of the Black Lotus Temple in Edo. A man, a woman, and a little boy are dead in the ruins. The only witness is a dazed teenaged girl, found at the scene. Detective Sano Ichiro is assigned to investigate the fire. He believes the girl is guilty, but in the course of his quest for justice, he finds himself facing a formidable adversary: Reiko, his beautiful beloved wife (and mother of his young son), who believes the girl is innocent and the truth about the crimes lies within the sinister Black Lotus Sect.

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 the 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 Sano's longtime rival, Edo's Chief Police Commissioner Hoshina, also hinder him 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.