The Ninja's Daughter - Susan Spann

   2016; 240 pages.  Book 4 (out of 8) in the series “A Shinobi Mystery”.  New Author? : No.  Genres: Historical Mystery; Historical Fiction.  Overall Rating : 8*/10.

 

    “Last night I killed a girl and left her body by the river.”

 

    When someone pounds on your door before the sun comes up, and utters those words, you know it’s going to be a long day.  And when the visitor’s next words are, “I don’t want to die for a crime I didn’t commit,” you know it’s going to be a bad day as well.

 

    But Father Mateo is gracious and invites the man in for tea, and against his better judgment, Hiro Hattori, the priest’s ninja bodyguard, is forced to stand aside.  As the visitor, a young man named Jiro, tells his tale—at least as much as he remembers of it—both priest and ninja realize that someone ought to investigate the death.

 

    Unfortunately, Magistrate Ishimaki, the judge who oversees justice for the entire district of Kyoto, is about to declare the case already closed, that a murder never even happened, and looking into the matter by anyone is forbidden.

    Under penalty of death.

 

What’s To Like...

    The Ninja’s Daughter is another fine tale in Susan Spann’s captivating “Shinobi Mystery” series, which is set in mid-16^th-century Japan, where samurais and ninjas are plentiful and Western foreigners are rare.  This is the third book I’ve read from it, and I thoroughly enjoy being immersed in this medieval Japanese world.

 

    It’s going to be quite the challenge for Hiro and Mateo to get to the bottom of this seemingly straightforward case.  Yes, there is a corpse, a “teahouse entertainer” named Emi, and yes, she appears to have been strangled.  But Jiro is no help; he says he was passed out drunk when the murder occurred, and Ishimaki has delegated his assistant, Yoriki Hosokawa, with the authority to execute anyone who dares to look into the matter.

 

    I loved the interplay between Hiro and Father Mateo as they try to piece together what happened while at the same time evading Yoriki’s prying eyes.  Both protagonists form their own opinion as to who did it, and why, and they change their minds a couple of times as they gather more information.  But somehow neither ever agrees with the other as to whodunit.

 

    I continue to be fascinated with the historical aspect of this series.  Japan in 1565 has a strict caste system.  If you’re a ruler or a samurai, you can kill almost anyone you want for little or no reason.  If you’re not in that social stratum, you can be executed for anything less than total subservience and truth-telling to those powers that be.

 

    I enjoyed the frequent use of Japanese vocabulary in the story.  The author usually takes the time in the text to tell you what the words mean, and when she doesn’t, you can always find the translations in the “Glossary of Japanese Terms” section in the back.

 

    The ending is good. Emi’s murderer is revealed, as well as the reason behind the crime.  Things close with a bit of secondary karma being exacted.  There’s also a “bigger picture” storyline involving Father Mateo and Hiro being forced to flee Kyoto.  The story ends with them on their way to dwell in a new city, presumably where the next book will be set.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.5/5 based on 107 ratings and 60 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.12/5 based on 291 ratings and 72 reviews

 

Excerpts...

    “It appears the girl was an actor’s daughter, not a teahouse entertainer.”

    “An outcaste?” Luis said.  “You know, they have a word for that.  It translates, ‘pile of —‘ ”

    “Thank you, I’ve heard it.”  Father Mateo cut Luis off before he could speak the offensive word.

    “That’s not the proper term anyway,” Hiro said.  “For actors, we use—”

    “Don’t encourage him,” Father Mateo said.  (pg. 45)

 

    Hiro turned to Father Mateo.  “At least that ends the argument about where to go when we leave Kyoto.”

    Father Mateo frowned.  “There was an argument?”

    Hiro resumed his course toward the river.

    Father Mateo hurried to catch up.  “Hattori Hanzo may lead the Iga ryu, but he has no authority over me.”

    “Only a dead man refuses an order from Hanzo,” Hiro said.  “Some refuse because they are dead, and the rest are dead because they refused.  Which one are you?”  (pg. 205)

 

“The blade of grass that stands the tallest is the first to be cut down.”  (pg. 112)

    There’s not much to nitpick about in The Ninja’s Daughter.  There’s zero cussing, and I’m always impressed with any author who can write a captivating full-length novel without needing to use swear words.

 

    Some reviewers seemed to think the historical fiction aspect overshadowed the mystery-solving.  They have a point, but since I’m a history buff who knows next to nothing about Japan in the 1500s, I was okay with that.  Other reviewers didn’t like the rigidly arbitrary and unfair caste system presented here.  Yeah, it does suck, but I suspect it’s an accurate portrayal of Japan at that time.

 

    Overall, I found The Ninja’s Daughter to be a quick, easy read.  The chapters are James Patterson-ly short (56 of them for 240 pages), but that just means you always have a convenient place to stop for the night.  I’m a big fan of the Murder-Mystery genre, and love it even more when the author also takes me to another historical time and place.  When witty dialogue is added to the text, and the whodunit keeps me guessing (full disclosure: I guessed wrong.), I’m just all that more entertained.

 

    8 Stars.  I started reading this series because my local library carried two of the books, Blade of the Samurai, (Book 2) and Flask of the Drunken Master (Book 3).  Those are reviewed here and here.  I have since acquired the rest of the series, and look forward to reading more about the adventures of the recently-displaced duo of Father Mateo and Hiro Hattori in the near future.