The Assassin's Touch (Sano Ichiro Series #10) by Laura Joh Rowland

From the Publisher

May 1695. During a horse race at Edo Castle the chief of the shogun’s intelligence service, Ejima Senzaemon, drops dead as his horse gallops across the finish line—the fourth in a recent series of sudden deaths of high-ranking officials. Sano Ichiro is ordered to investigate, despite his recent promotion to chamberlain and his new duties as the shogun’s second-in-command.

Meanwhile, Sano’s wife, Reiko, is invited to attend the trial of Yugao, a beautiful young woman accused of stabbing her parents and sister to death. The woman has confessed, but the magistrate believes there is more to this case than meets the eye. He delays his verdict and asks Reiko to prove Yugao’s guilt or innocence.

As their investigations continue, both Sano and Reiko come to realize that the man he is trying to hunt and the woman she is desperate to save are somehow connected. A single fingerprint on Ejima’s temple puts Sano on the trail of an underground movement to overthrow the regime, and in the path of an assassin with a deadly touch.

Publishers Weekly

At the start of Rowland's assured 10th historical set in 17th-century Japan (after 2004's The Perfumed Sleeve), Sano Ichiro, now the shogun's chamberlain and second-in-command, returns to his previous role of criminal investigator after the country's top spy, Ejima Senzaemon, drops dead on his mount during a horse race. Sano quickly finds that Senzaemon was just the latest senior official to die without warning. With the assistance of Hirata, his longtime assistant, the chamberlain uses his highly irregular sources to get on the trail of a martial-arts master using the legendary dim-mak, or touch of death. As always, the potential political ramifications of the crimes, which threaten the regime's precarious hold on power, add urgency to the inquiries, and failure risks not only Sano's status but his family's lives as well. While the significance of the subplot featuring Sano's wife, Reiko, may strike some as coincidental, the compelling story line, evocative detail and suspense should engage newcomers and satisfy longtime fans alike. At a point when many series show signs of wear, Rowland's characters remain fresh. Agent, Pamela Ahearn. (Aug. 8) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

In the late-17th century, a Japanese husband and wife undertake separate probes of two murders. Outside the Edo Castle, a thoroughbred race turns tragic when one of the mounted samurai suffers a sudden unexpected pain and falls to the track to be trampled. It seems like an accident, but Sano Ichiro, in his tenth recorded case (The Perfumed Sleeve, 2004, etc.), discovers that the warrior, Ejima Senzaemon, was killed by dim-mak, an expert touch that causes its victim to bleed fatally from the head. A hard stroke kills instantly, but this one, coroner Ito explains to Sano, was deliberately gentle so as to trigger a later death. As chief of the metsuke, the Japanese national intelligence service, Ejima had many enemies. Though Sano has risen to the position of second-in-command to the shogun, discretion demands he conduct this case personally. Meanwhile, his wife Reiko is undertaking an equally sensitive investigation. A young woman named Yugao has been arrested for the brutal murder of her parents and sister, a charge she does nothing to deny. Because Yugao's family are hinin, Japan's lowest social caste, justice is a low priority. Reiko's father, Magistrate Ueda, thinks his daughter can reach the girl. Reiko seems to be succeeding until Yugao escapes prison during a fire, unknowingly placing herself in greater danger. A pair of conventional mysteries elegantly told and interspersed with delicious bits of history. Agent: Pam Ahearn/Ahearn Agency

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