Laura Joh Rowland

The Snow Empress showcases author Laura Joh Rowland's deep understanding of 17th-century Japan and her impeccable gift of storytelling. This thrilling novel finds samurai detective Sano IchirO working to gain freedom for his son by investigating the murder of a lord's beloved mistress.

Hired by wealthy banker, Sir Gerald Mariner, to find his missing son, photographer and private eye Sarah Bain must figure out if the kidnapping is a cover-up for murder, especially when the case intertwines with her search for her father who disappeared 20 years earlier.

London, November 1890. Crime scene photographer Sarah Bain Barrett faces a perfect storm of events. She and her husband Detective Sergeant Barrett are riding on a train that crashes. While rescuing other passengers, they find a woman who's been strangled to death. Their search for her identity and her killer lead them to Cremorne Gardens, a seedy riverside pleasure park that's a combination carnival, theater, freak show, and museum of oddities. It's...

When the shogun's carefully regulated court is thrown into chaos by a massive earthquake in 1703 Japan, Sano Ichiro investigates the poisoning murders of a nobleman's daughters to prevent the regime's takeover.

In 1690 Nagasaki, the body of a Dutch trader washes up on the coast where foreign "barbarians" are lodged and guarded. Japan's preeminent detective-samurai, Sano Ichiro, risks his honor and his life to find the killer.

"Japan, 1709. The shogun is old and ailing. Amid the ever-treacherous intrigue in the court, Sano Ichirō has been demoted from chamberlain to a lowly patrol guard. His relationship with his wife Reiko is in tatters, and a bizarre new alliance between his two enemies Yanagisawa and Ienobu has left him bewildered and wary. Yet, Sano's dedication to the way of the warrior--the samurai code of honor--is undiminished. Then a harrowing, almost inconceivable...