The Snow Empress (Sano Ichiro #12) is a 2007 mystery novel written by Laura Joh Rowland, published by St. Martin’s Minotaur. Set in the Genroku era of historical Japan and set as the 12th book in the Sano Ichiro Series. The story follows detective Sano and his team who venture to northern Japan to solve the murder of the governors’ mistress.

Positives:

• Good characters
• Complex story
• Maintains suspense
• Good attention to detail
• Good writing

Negatives:

• Investigation feels wacky at times

Plot:  The story follows detective Sano Ichiro whose son is kidnapped (by a poltical rival) in the city of Edo.  Sano is sent to the province of Hokkaido by order of the Shogun.  He receives information that his son is also in Hokkaido and along with his wife, Reiko, and a rag tag group journey to Hokkaido.  What they discover is a mystery of a murdered mistress that nearly sets off a war between the Japanese and the Ainu (Ezos) people.

The story never resolves the kidnapping of his son nor his position in government being threatened.

The story is basically split into three parts.  The first follows Sano and Reiko’s search for their son (as a part of a palace power struggle), the second follows Sano’s investigation of Tekare’s murder (a mistress of the lord of Hokkaido), and the third is the rising tensions between the Japanese and the Ainu people. These three parts interweave into a complex read, that play off each other really well.  The story goes at a good pace and is definitely a page turner that comes to a surprising resolution. (3 out of 5)

Characters:  The characters are actually pretty memorable, with rich personalities and great interactions.

Sano Ichiro is a samurai detective/government official and Reiko is his wife.  I did like their relationship because both had respect for each other and Sano took in consideration Reiko’s input.  It’s easy to sympathize with these two characters not only because of the situation regarding their kidnapped son, but also just how likable they were. I like how Reiko is as active on the investigation as Sano is, though she has be more cunning and subtle.  Even Sano sense of justice and sense of duty was admirable.

There’s Sano’s retainer Hirata, who studies dim-mak.  I didn’t really know what to think about the character Hirata and the whole ancient mystic martial arts but by the end of the story it warmed up to me.

The other characters are just as interesting, both on the side of the Japanese and the Ainu. (4 out of 5)

Writing:  Thumbs up to Laura Joh Rowland for the writing which I was really impressed with considering this is the first book I’ve read in this series.  Loved the writing when it comes to the presentation of the characters and the description of feudal Japanese culture and setting.  As a mystery Rowland does a great job of creating a suspenseful atmosphere and a mystery that slowly unravels.  The writing is pretty complex, especially the detailing.

I love how well this book is established as a mystery.  Every chapter there are different characters with different motives, different leads leading to different suspects.  The way that Sano and his team are gathering evidence and information and how they come up with their deductions, though some felt like convenience.

I did admit that the Tarere’s possession of Lord Matsumae’s body did throw me for a loop, because the setup feels so realistic.  Still, the story does a good enough job to establish a solid reason for this regarding the Ainu.  Even with Hirata with his mysticism and everything but maybe that’s an ongoing subplot from the other novels.  Even for the feudal times, that was their culture so it’s okay. (3 out of 5)

The Verdict:  In the end, The Snow Empress (Sano Ichiro #12) is a good mystery thriller and the feudal setting is a great setup.  I had few problems with the novel outside of some of conclusions the characters made.  However, I loved the characters (especially Sano and Reiko), the complex storytelling and writing, the wonderful attention to detail of the feudal culture and beliefs. The Snow Empress (Sano Ichiro #12) gets 3 out of 5.