The Cloud Pavilion

by Laura Joh Rowland

Book Overview

Publishers Weekly calls Laura Joh Rowland's The Cloud Pavilion "One of the best mysteries of the year." In this next installment of the enthralling series, samurai hero Sano Ichiro must mend old family fissures, and bring a culprit who has disgraced his cousin to justice.

Japan, 1701. A terrified woman is brutally attacked amid a swirling storm of clouds. Meanwhile, at Edo Castle, samurai detective turned chamberlain,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312652550
• ISBN13: 9780312652555
• Release Date: December 2010
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

picky reader

This author and this series is a wonderful read. I now have every book in this series and look forward to each new publication. I enjoy the fact that this is a charicter study as we follow Sano through all the political turns he experiances. The test for me of a good author is does the author take me there? Well this author passes that test and more.

An Intricate Mystery!

Ms. Rowland delivers another wondeful and engrosing mystery set in ancient Japan! I Love how Sano and Reiko are now raising their children - a future investigator for sure! Rowland's stories deliver mystery and history with vibrant descriptions of clothing, food and country - the characters also make this book another wonderfully done mystery and I can't wait for the next one! The culture is vibrantly described througout the book for a really great story that keeps the reader in suspense.

super Japanese historical mystery

In Edo in 1701, though some time has passed, Chamberlain Sano Ichiro reels from what happened last year that dishonored his family (see THE FIRE KIMONO). He knows he is fortunate to still have his position still and his beloved wife Reiko always at his side. Still Sano hurts with the betrayal, but vows to do his job with honor in support of his liege Japan's supreme dictator Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. During a war scenario tournament to occupy the soldiers who have seen no action lately, Sano defeats his masked opponent, former Chamberlain Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, who the shogun has welcomed home from exile, an allegedly changed person. Sano does not trust his adversary further than he can throw him as he believes Yanagisawa and his most loyal son Yoritomo plot mischief. However, Sano has no time to consider what his enemy plans when his estranged uncle Major Kumazawa pleads with his nephew and Reiko to find his missing daughter Chiyo last seen at a nearby temple. Sano locates his cousin who was raped but his uncle wants to conceal the dishonor rather than pursue the culprit. Still with Reiko at his side they follow clues to the deadly criminal element inside of Edo while his fears of Yanagisawa's scheming come to bear against Sano with the shogun angry at him. The latest Sano Japanese historical mystery is a super entry as the readers feels as if we have been transported back in time and place due to the rich background. As with the previous entry, the story line is driven by the cast especially Sano's extended family members who have been estrange for decades and of course his nastiest rival. Fans will appreciate THE CLOUD PAVILION as once again it is family matters that drive the hero and his intrepid wife. Harriet Klausner