The Pillow Book of Lady Wisteria: A Novel: 7 (Sano Ichiro Novels 7)

In The Pillow Book of Lady Wisteria Laura Joh Rowland once again has written a book in which an exotic setting seventeenth-century Japan and a splendid mystery...make for grand entertainment (New York Daily News). . 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 beautiful courtesans. But on a cold winters dawn Sano Ichiro--the shoguns 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 shoguns 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 Sanos 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 his long time rival Edos Chief Police Commissioner Hoshina also hinder Sano in his search for the killer. Sanos 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.