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Title: As Painful as Being Slashed with a Samurai's Sword
Review: I picked up this book because the idea of a mystery set in 17th century Japan sounded intriguing but reading it became a dreadful ordeal. Despite the veneer of historical accuracy the language and dialogue used is ridiculously modern. Sano, the novel's samurai detective follows his 'hunches'. Did anyone use the word hunch in 17th century Japan. The book just felt false to me. I felt like I was putting on the cloak of Japan during this period instead of really being immersed in it. A mystery novel like "The Fig Eater's by Jody Shield's truly made me feel like I was existing in the historical period she was writing about. Now if we could get Rowland's plotting together with Shield's feel for history we could get an outstanding mystery novel.
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