The Sano Ichiro mysteries take place during the Tokugawa Shogunate and this time Sano receives a posthumous request from an old enemy to have his death investigated just in case he was murdered. At the same time there's a power struggle to control the weak-willed Shogun and both factions want Sano on their side. Each side naturally takes advantage of the investigation to try and implicate the other and both hold enough power to destroy him and his family if he makes a mistake.As mysteries go, it's not a bad one. Once it got started it moved along quick enough to keep me reading without doing fast forwards. As a warning to those who want such warnings, there is sex in this book, it's not always heterosexual and some it's pretty bad, to put it mildly, so either skip over those sections or skip this book.
Originally I got it, because the cover-art was gorgeous. (Yes, that's a bad habit of mine, judging a book by it's cover.) Then I thought... historical fiction / mystery set in Japan, in 1694... can it get any better than this? Well yes, it can. Read it and you'll know~ ♥
What do You think about The Perfumed Sleeve (2005)?
This was much less historical fiction than it was a mystery novel. And for a mystery novel, I enjoyed it. It *was* set in Japan, 1694, but little is made of the historical backdrop. It was a classic who-dunnit that I would've enjoyed much more without all the sex. It seemed unnecessary & kind of trashy at times. BUT it was a good mystery, I couldn't predict what happened (which is always nice), and the main characters were pretty well fleshed out. I could tell from the outset of reading that this was part of a series -- past events were referenced, but it didn't make it difficult for me to follow the plot of this book.
—Emily
