Red Chrysanthemum

She has another winner in my opinion.Ms Rowland and Chamberlin Sano are a great combination.I hope she will continue the series.I can hardly wait when I finish one book for the next one to be published.The Snow Empress is due the end of the month.I am anticipating another great novel from Ms Rowland.I hope that she has something in the works now for a follow up to the Snow Empress.As always her books are spectacular to read and to visualize the environment of 17th century Japan.Red Chrysanthemum was I believe the eleventh book in the Sano series and I hope it is not even close to the end of the series.Ms Rowland,you keep writing them I will keep reading them' that is a promise.Fantastic reading as always with her books.

I've reached what you might think of as a crisis point with this series. I've given Rowland a lot of five star reviews for these books. About 10, I believe. They have continued to fascinate me as mysteries and for their insight into the politics and life of medieval Japan. A time when barbaric cruelty and oppressive social customs combine with exquisite artwork, literature, and craftsmanship. It was a time of great conflict and Rowland seems to have mastered its complexities. Sano Ichiro is a wonderful character. Staying true to his ethical standards he has solved crimes, kept the shogunate from crumbling he gradually rises to one of the most powerful positions in the country. In many ways he is a samurai's samurai -- and a rag's to riches story as well. But most of his successes are due more to his ability to recover from his wife Reiko's mistakes. Up to a point the plot device of the stubborn, well-meaning samurai wife is digestible. But Reiko seems unable to understand that getting involved in the deadly politics of the capital will inevitably put Sano at risk. This habit reaches a peak in Red Chrysanthemum, in which Reiko decides to investigate a missing child on her own and finds herself naked, in the bedroom of the man she was investigating, with the killing dagger clutched in her hand. She is accused of murder and Ichiro's enemies arrange things to that he may very well have to execute her if he is to save face, and the lives of his son and himself. Sano barely manages to get permission from the Shogun to investigate on his own and the race is on. His long time enemy Hoshina sets traps everywhere, and the powerful Lord Matsudaira suspects Ichiro of plotting treason. One can't complain too much about Reiko's lapses, without her Rowlands series would never happen. I just wish she displayed just enough more sense so that the continued use of her as a plot device didn't rankle so much. But outside of this weakness, Rowland as written another complex tale of Japan, once again revealing a society which differs in many ways from our western concept of it. There is a part of me that wishes that this was all real history, and I keep looking in history books hoping to find Sano Ichiro and Yanagisawa, but no such luck. Rowland has once again produced one of the better mysteries of the year.

It is over all too quickly. That's how I feel when I put down another one of Laura Joh Rowland's Sano Ichiro mysteries. I look forward from one book to the next as Sano's adventures and travails unfold. In the Red Chrysanthemum, Reiko gets into a seemingly insolvable situation and Sano's many political enemies join in the fray, trying to destroy the Chamberlain. Through out the book, Sano, Reiko and Hirata are confounded at every turn, yet Rowland skillfully finds inventive and believable solutions for her detective. As always, a page turner that has a tease of perils to come for Sano in the next book.

I have read every book in the Sano Ichiro series and this is one of the best. The author is very good at introducing new plot lines and keeping the series fresh. The ending made me anxious to read the next book in the series.

By 1698 in Edo, Japan, former Special Investigator to the Shogun, Sano Ichiro, has been the chamberlain for three years. However, his rise to power though deserved has left him with many enemies, who would do almost anything to ruin him. In fact his influence adversely impacts his family who are now considered legitimate targets of his adversaries. The latter bothers Ichiro because his beloved wife Reiko is pregnant and should not be harassed. However, Ichiro suddenly faces his greatest power struggle with the hideous death of Lord Mori, whose mutilated corpse was found next to a naked except for blood Reiko. Her explanation rings false even to Ichiro who wants to believe her. While his foes demand his resignation, Ichiro and his best friend, the current Special Investigator to the Shogun, Hirata investigate the homicide though both fear that Reiku's alibi will prove false. Besides the usual terrific look into late seventeenth century Samurai Japan, RED CHRYSANTHEMUM provides a fascinating twist as the principled Ichiro fears that what he will find will force him to choose between his beloved and his honor. His dilemma adds depth to the powerful insightful story line as this is the first time he doubts the veracity of his wife. Fans of the historical mystery series will treasure the eleventh entry in this top notch series that seems to get better as the "years" go by. Harriet Klausner