"A fascinating storyline"
In a classy Yoshiwara brothel, someone murders the
shogun's heir, Lord Matsudaira Mitsuyoshi in the boudoir of
Lady Wisteria, who has since vanished. Anyone with
ambition or even remote connections in Edo decides to solve
the homicide in order to gain favor with the shogun.
Though still recuperating from his harrowing previous case,
the shogun's Most Honorable Investigator of Events,
Situations and People Samurai Sano Ichiro knows he must
investigate because of the importance of the victim. The antics of police Commissioner Hoshida, lover of the
second-highest shogunate official and Sano's enemy,
pressures Sano to quickly solve the murder. Still, Sano
rejects the pat solution as too convenient and believes the
evidence suggests a myriad of suspects with motives and
opportunity to kill the shogun's dashing cousin.
Reluctantly, especially after her involvement in his
previous case, Sano turns to his wife Reiko for help in
separating the facts from misinformation and disinformation. THE PILLOW BOOK OF LADY WISTERIA is a fabulous
seventeenth century Japanese who-done-it that will
spellbind readers with its insightfully vivid descriptions
of the Shogun era in historical Edo (Tokyo). The lead
couple remains a wonderfully charming duo who escorts the
audience on a sightseeing trip inside a unique police
procedural as only this series does. Laura Joh Rowland
provides another winning tale by tastefully and cleverly
incorporating it into the powerful plot. The pleasure
palaces of Yoshiwara though might require a bit of a
warning label. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted March 14, 2002
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Chicago private eye Mal Foley was a lawyer once. Then he
disobeyed a court order requiring him to reveal a client's
role in a shootout that left three people dead, one of them
a cop, and his law license was revoked. Now years removed
from that fateful day, Mal is filing a petition to get his
license reinstated. It quickly becomes a problem, however,
as Mal is expected to "express remorse for his misconduct"
in order to satisfy the court, something he steadfastly
refuses to do. In fact, he would withdraw the petition -- if people would
only stop trying to frighten him into doing just that.
Anonymous notes turn into death threats, then into savage
beatings, and finally into murder. It seems no one wants
Mal's petition to lead to a hearing, where testimony might
reveal what really led to the shooting so many years ago. The person with the most to lose should the truth come out
seems to be Jimmy Coletta, a second cop shot that night.
Coletta survived, but has spent his life since in a
wheelchair. Whatever part he played in the shootout, he
seems a good man now, spending his life helping minority
kids who have disabilities. Mal doesn't want to bring Jimmy
down, but soon an innocent man's life depends on Mal
pressing ahead with his petition, no matter who gets
destroyed in the process. Set in Chicago, No Show of
Remorse is a startling novel about crime, corruption, and
their devastating consequences.
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