Another July title for #allthebookreviews complete!
A murder mystery set in 1500’s Feudal Japan – BETRAYAL AT IGA by Susan Spann (releasing July 11th, 2017)
My Thoughts: 4/5 stars!
BETRAYAL AT IGA by Susan Spann is book five in the Shinobi Mystery series, but it read very well as a standalone. I was surprisingly sucked into this murder mystery set in feudal Japan (1500’s). It was an incredibly fast read (at just under 300 pages) and I feel like I learned a lot about the Japanese culture in this time period.
We follow Master ninja Hiro Hattori and Portuguese Jesuit Father Mateo in the Iga province. When an ambassador of a rival province, the Koga, is assassinated at dinner before peace negotiations, Hiro and Father Mateo must find the killer. They’re racing against the clock to stop the murderer before the inevitable war between the Iga and Koga provinces.
This murder mystery becomes complicated when all of the potential suspects are highly respected ninjas and trained assassins – including the commander of the Iga. Hiro’s family become intertwined in their search for the killer when he strikes again – will he have to choose between his family and his honor to serve them?
Spann did an incredible job with this novel. I can only imagine how the other four novels were before this. She is so true to the culture and the time period. The book even has a glossary of terms in the back so that you can learn what the terms mean. I also enjoyed her writing style. You wouldn’t think that suspenseful murder mystery and feudal Japan would mix well, but she effortlessly weaves them together for a page turning read. With the short chapters, I found myself flying through this one!
I give this one 4/5 stars and I’ll be looking for the other Shinobi Mystery novels.
Thanks to Prometheus Books for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!
Check back next week to see Chandra’s and my collective thoughts on this one!
–Jess
Jessicamap Reviews 