A samurai is thrust into a world of secrets when a nobleman is murdered in a courtesan's bed in this mystery set in feudal Japan, from the author of Black Lotus.

"The mystery is sharp and suspenseful, but, as usual, it's the beautifully re-created feudal Japan -- rich in detail but never overloaded with it -- that captures our imagination. This series just keeps getting better and better." -- Booklist

Sano Ichiro, Most Honorable Investigator of Events, Situations, and People, awakens from a turbulent dream into a real-life nightmare. Lord Matsudaira Mitsuyoshi, the shogun's cousin and heir, has been murdered after a night of debauchery in the city's pleasure quarter...

The matter requires Sano's personal attention-more personal than Sano at first imagines. For he soon discovers that Mitsuyoshi's companion for the evening was none other than the alluring Lady Wisteria, a woman whom Sano himself once knew intimately before he was married to his beloved wife, Reiko. But the memory of Wisteria still stirs him, and it is with both dismay and relief that he learns she has vanished along with her pillow book, a diary that may contain valuable clues. The circumstances trouble him, as does the possibility that he and Wisteria might meet again with dangerous consequences...

"Another satisfying visit to 17th-century Japan from the author of The Samurai's Wife." -- Library Journal

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• Print Length: 368 Pages
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