The Assassin's Touch: A Thriller (Sano Ichiro Novels)

By Laura Joh Rowland

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312319002
• ISBN13: 9780312319007
• Release Date: August 2005
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.1" x 6.4"

Customer Reviews

Favorite series

I have to say the same thing I say with all the books in this series: Fantastic! Well-written, great plots, love the characters, page turners. I can't stop reading them, but am so bummed when I'm done that the stories' over and I have to wait for her next book.

Shogun History

I love this series of stories of intrigue featuring a family as opposed to one individual. One does not have to read the books in the order in which they were written, but they are even more enjoyable if read in order.

The Assassin's Touch

Fantastic Item; Wonderful Condition; Very Heppy; Would do business with again; A+++++

The Assasin's Touch

This book is like all of Sano Ichiro other adventures. He starts out with no help and everyone trying to kill him.Ms Rowland way of writing is great. I have read all ten of her books about Sano Ichiro. The only thing that is bad, is waiting for Ms Rowland to come out with another adventure in his life. To bad they can't make a movie about him?

Gory and exquisite, simultaneously!

Laura Joh Rowland is an exquisite writer, providing wonderful detail of medieval Japan. At the same time that we are learning to appreciate the beauty of the plum blossom, we are also witness to some of the goriest killings in all of literature. I have become addicted to this series--you can tell, when you start buying the hardcovers instead of waiting for the paperbacks. I have trouble just waiting for the next Rowland to come out. This is a great series, suspenseful, exciting and, at the same time, educational. Highly recommend.