Starred review from July 30, 2007
Parker's fourth Sugawara Akitada mystery (after 2006's Black Arrow
), set in 11th-century Japan, manages to outplot its superb predecessors. When exiled and disgraced Prince Okisada is poisoned on Sado Island, a penal colony, Akitada is recruited by a shadowy pair of high-ranking government officials who devise a risky plan to find the killer. While the local governor's son has been arrested for the murder, suspicions linger that he was framed by high constable Kumo Sanetomo as part of a plot against the emperor. Akitada, disguised as a convict, infiltrates Sado Island and suffers physical abuse from corrupt guards and police as he uncovers indications that the prince may have ingested the fatal blowfish toxin by accident. The fast-moving, surprising plot and colorful writing will enthrall even those unfamiliar with the exotic setting. The Shamus Award Parker won with her first Akitada short story may soon have company.
September 15, 2007
In the fifth Sugawara Akitada mystery, the eleventh-century Japanese civil servant and investigator takes on his toughest case yet. On the Sado Island penal colony, Prince Okisada, the disgraced son of the late emperor, has been murdered. The son of the islands governor has been accused of the crime and is in fact about to stand trial, but the current emperor (Okisadas half-brother) thinks the proceedings are a farce and believes that the true killer is still at large. Akitada is tasked to go to Sado Island andferret out the truth. Once on the island, he uncovers a nasty conspiracy, but can he bring the conspirators to justice when everyone believes he is merely another prisoner? Parker once again shows that she knows how to write a historical thriller that keeps readers on the edge of their seats. While Laura Joh Rowlands Sano Ichiro series is more well known, the Akitada novels, set half a millennium earlier, are rapidly gaining in popularity. Readers interested in Japanese history need to follow both series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)