The Concubine's Tattoo: Summary and book reviews of The Concubine's Tattoo by Laura Joh Rowland, plus links to an excerpt from The Concubine's Tattoo and a biography of Laura Joh Rowland.
The Concubine's Tattoo
by Laura Joh Rowland
Hardcover: Dec 1998,
336 pages.
Paperback: Apr 2000,
384 pages.
Twenty months spent as the shogun's sosakan-sama--most honorable investigator of events, situations, and people - has left Sano Ichiro weary. He looks forward to the comforts that his arranged marriage promises: a private life with a sweet, submissive wife and a month's holiday to celebrate their union. However, the death of the shogun's favorite concubine interrupts the couple's wedding ceremony and shatters any hopes the samurai detective had about enjoying a little peace with his new wife.
After Sano traces the cause of Lady Harume's death to a self-inflicted tattoo, he must travel into the cloistered, forbidden world of the shogun's women to untangle the complicated web of Harume's lovers, rivals, and troubled past, and identify her killer.
To make matters worse, Reiko, his beautiful young bride, reveals herself to be not a traditional, obedient wife, but instead, a headstrong, intelligent, aspiring detective bent on helping Sano with his new case. Sano is horrified at her unladylike behavior, and the resulting sparks make their budding love as exciting as they mystery surrounding Lady Harume's death.
Amid the heightened tensions and political machinations of feudal Japan. Sano faces a daunting complex investigation.
Washington Post Book World
Rowland is a sturdy, persuasive storyteller, and well worth keeping an eye on.
Washington Post Book World
Rowland is a sturdy, persuasive storyteller, and well worth keeping an eye on.
Publishers Weekly
The book suffers, as Rowland's previous novels have, from a common hazard of historical mysteries: the pace is weighed down by the very details with which the author so painstakingly bedecks her narrative. Even so, Rowland's understanding of the society she depicts shines through, and she succeeds in presenting Sano as an intriguing combination of wiliness and decency, making this a good bet for fans of historicals as well as of mysteries past.
Kirkus Reviews
This impressive novel features a plot that's perfectly adapted to its historical background Sano's growing fear of humiliation and dishonor comes across more keenly than any other contemporary setting would allow.
Library Journal
A fascinating, well-researched, and action-filled costume adventure, perhaps even better than Rowland's The Way of the Traitor.
Booklist - Nancy Pearl
Despite a few instances of overwrought prose, Rowland offers fascinating glimpses into the culture of medieval Japan, especially into the thankless lives of women. A good choice for fans of historical mysteries.
Recent Reader Reviews
Rated of 5
by Madonna Nugent
I really enjoyed this book. I lived for a few years in Japan, so it was interesting to know all the places and temples of which the author wrote. There's plenty of Japanese history and culture to keep you transfixed as you read about the murdered... Read More
A world-wide sensation, this first book of The Otori Trilogy is a brilliantly imagined, wholly seductive tale of war, passion, and intrigue, evoking the spirit of medieval Japan.
An alluring tour de force: a brilliant debut novel told with seamless authenticity and exquisite lyricism as the true confessions of one of Japan's most celebrated geisha.
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Publishers Weekly
of 5
by Madonna Nugent
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