Shinju

Name: Shinju
Rating: 3.92 (4588 reviews)

by Laura Joh Rowland

Book 1 in the Sano Ichiro Novels series.

Buy the book from:

Amazon World of Books

3.9

Edo, 1689. Newly appointed magistrate Sano Ichiro is ordered to accept the apparent ritual double suicide of Yukiko, the daughter of a wealthy family, and Noriyoshi, a low-born artist. The official explanation is forbidden love, but inconsistencies at the scene persuade Sano that both victims were murdered.

Ignoring warnings from his superiors, Sano follows the case through merchant houses, pleasure quarters, prisons and religious communities. His insistence on evidence places his family’s standing and his own life at risk, because the truth reaches into circles protected by rank. The investigation establishes the conflict that will define his career: duty to the shogunate against the demands of justice.