Laura Joh Rowland is an American detective/mystery author best known for her series of historical mystery novels featuring protagonist set in feudal Japan, mostly in Edo during the late 17th century. She is also the author of two other historical mystery series, one featuring a fictionalized Charlotte Brontë, as well an ongoing series set in Victorian England around the time of the Jack the Ripper murders. Rowland is the daughter of Chinese American and Korean American immigrants. She grew up in Michigan and was educated at the University of Michigan, where she graduated with a B.S. in Microbiology and a Masters in Public health. She lived in New Orleans, Louisiana until Hurricane Katrina nearly destroyed her house, but now lives in New York City. Sano Ichirō The novels deal with the experiences of Sano Ichirō, a samurai and minor official who, by the end of the first novel, became the trusted chief investigator for the fifth Tokugawa shōgun, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, and by the tenth novel, was promoted to a very high office. Throughout the stories, Sano constantly had to deal with his problems following the code of bushido while serving both justice and his master, the Shogun; and with his wife, , who frequently involves herself in Sano's investigations. Sano experiences great pressure as he is faced with death if he does not fulfill his obligations to the shōgun as well. Rowland takes some literary license with known figures, creating fictionalized versions of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, Emperor Higashiyama in The Samurai's Wife, and Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu. Objective historical details, however, are credibly accurate. List of Sano Ichirō novels Shinjū (, 1994, Random House) Bundori (, 1996, HarperTorch) The Way of the Traitor (,1997, Headline Feature) The Concubine's Tattoo (, December 1998, St. Martin's Press) The Samurai's Wife (, May 2000, St. Martin's Press) Black Lotus (, April 2001, St. Martin's Press) The Pillow Book of Lady Wisteria (, April 2002, St. Martin's Press) The Dragon King's Palace (, April 2003, St. Martin's Press) The Perfumed Sleeve (, April 2004, St. Martin's Minotaur) The Assassin's Touch (, August 2005, St. Martin's Press) The Red Chrysanthemum (, November 2006, St. Martin's Press) The Snow Empress (, October 30, 2007, St. Martin's Minotaur) The Fire Kimono (, November 11, 2008, St. Martin's Minotaur) The Cloud Pavilion (, October 27, 2009, Minotaur Books) The Ronin's Mistress (, September 13, 2011, Minotaur Books) The Incense Game (,