The Samurai's Daughter

Rei Shimura #6

by Sujata Massey

Antiques dealer Rei Shimura is in San Francisco visiting her parents and researching a personal project to trace the story of 100 years of Japanese decorative arts through her own family's history. But Rei's work is interrupted by the arrival of her long-distance boyfriend, lawyer Hugh Glendinning, who is involved in a class action lawsuit on behalf of people forced to engage in slave labor for Japanese companies during World War II. Suddenly, when one of Hugh's clients is murdered, their two projects intertwine. Before long, Rei uncovers troubling facts about her own family's actions during the war. As she starts to unravel the truth and search for a killer, the notions of family ties and loyalty take on an entirely new meaning. Sujata Massey, whom critics consistently praise for her ability to balance murder and mystery with captivating cultural lore, is back with another gripping and provocative tale sure to keep readers charmed from start to finish.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Japan, Crime, Asia, Mystery Thriller, Historical Fiction

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Sujata Massey is the author of historical and mystery fiction set in Asia. She is best known for the Perveen Mistry series published in the United States by Soho Press and in India by Penguin Random House India. In June, 2021, THE BOMBAY PRINCE, third book in the series, releases in the US/Canada and Australia/New Zealand; it will be published by Penguin India later the same month.

THE WIDOWS OF MALABAR HILL, the first Perveen novel, was named a Best Mystery/Thriller of 2018 and also an Amazon Best Mystery/Thriller of 2018. Additionally, the book won the Bruce Alexander Best Historical Mystery Award, the Agatha Award for Best Historical Mystery and the Mary Higgins Clark Award, all in 2019.

The second Perveen novel, THE SATAPUR MOONSTONE, won the Bruce Alexander Best Historical Mystery Award in 2020.

Sujata's other works include THE SLEEPING DICTIONARY (2013) and eleven Rei Shimura mysteries published from 1997-2014. For more about Sujata's books and a full events schedule, subscribe to her newsletter, http://sujatamassey.com/newsletter

Sujata lives in Baltimore, Maryland, with her family and two dogs. In addition to writing, she loves to travel, read, cook, garden and walk.

Reviews

[Kevin Simons · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not a good book. In fact, it is a lousy book. Somewhere hidden among the lazy lapses of fact, tin-eared dialogue, and ludicrous developments in the plot there may have once lain a decent story idea about unhinged Japanese nationalists up to no good in Northern California. No, really, there may have been a chance to write a decent story out of this. But this book is pitiful.

Our heroine, familiar to Sujata Massey’s unfortunate readers, is the half-Japanese, half-American Rei Shimura. She’s sexy! She’s an expert in antiquities! She’s engaged to a Scottish lawyer with big muscles and red hair! How can we not love her? Plus, she lives in Tokyo and was raised in San Francisco, so she has “cool” oozing out of every pore. She's just so ... so ... something. Love her!

Massey takes an idea with some potential – exploited Filipino “comfort workers” filing a class-action lawsuit against a Japanese Megacorp for its role in WWII war crimes – and wrestles it into comic stupidity. Shimura’s fiancé lawyer, Hugh Glendinning, working as a consultant with Law Firm A, latches on to the case in an unlikely and never fully explained joint venture with Law Firm B. Glendinning interviews one former comfort worker. One. He interviews her twice but misplaces his “microcassette” (technology alert!) of one of the two interviews. He does not obtain an affidavit, and the witness dies. (Suspicious death alert! This plot is humming along!) Yet the mere threat of a class action lawsuit is enough to bring Japanese Megacorp to the negotiating table. Sure.

Wait, what? This massive, rich, and powerful organization in Japan is going to negotiate with some knucklehead lawyers from the United States because they have (part of) an interview with one (italics, please) witness? And no affidavit? Apparently Sujata Massey doesn’t understand that a class action lawsuit is one brought on behalf of more than one party (italics again, please). In real life, Megacorp's legal division would double over laughing, then head out for drinks. This is beyond ridiculous.

It gets worse. Ever inquisitive Rei Shimura, who is, after all, the protagonist, smells something rotten with the principal of Law Firm B, who is, after all, bossing around poor Hugh Glendinning. (And that has to hurt.) So Rei breaks into his hotel room, but (bad timing alert!) the lawyer catches her red-handed, right there in his room! Poor Hugh happens to be right there with the other lawyer (coincidence alert!), but he manfully defends “the woman I love” (awwwww alert!) when his aggrieved partner in the ludicrous class action calls for a little law. Rei is jailed for burglary, and Hugh is reduced to bit player in the class action. Wait, they don't can him immediately? No! Because he’s Hugh Glendinning! Sure. I would definitely want to partner with some guy I barely know whose fiancée is breaking into my hotel room. Totally. I would not fire that guy, no way. Especially because he can't speak Japanese, isn't a citizen or member of the bar in either Japan or the United States, and isn't even an associate at Law Firm A. Gotta have him on my team. Indispensable player. Later, intrepid Rei unearths evidence that her suspicions were right all along (aha alert!) and that the scurrilous partner of Law Firm B has been taking bribes from Japanese Megacorp in exchange for soft-pedalling his mountain of evidence (the, uh, one dead witness’s non-sworn statement) and agreeing to a lesser settlement! Less than his tidal wave, er, tsunami of evidence would otherwise wring out of evil Japanese Mega. Because Mega would totally – totally! – seek a settlement rather than double over laughing and head out for drinks.

And for this indiscretion … the offending lawyer is removed from the case! Justice, via Rei the intrepid snooper Shimura! Wait, what? The partner of a law firm has been proven to have accepted bribes from the subject of a class action lawsuit and his only punishment is he’s removed from the case? Recall that this class action is a joint venture between two law firms. Such a breach of professional ethics, and the law (italics, please!), would never stay secret and would be grounds for disbarment. There is no way in the world a lawyer would keep his job under these circumstances. But, you know, Sujata Massey’s readers are so thick they would never think that deep, right? They’re just here for a little story, a little flash, a little Japan, a little sex (Hugh Glendinning = dreamboat), and they leave their brains to sterner tasks, like Sudoku, or TeeVee. And that’s how you win Agatha Christie awards for mystery writing. Of course.

It’s all so sloppy it’s embarrassing. In one section Massey writes, of Shimura’s parents’ home in an expensive part of San Francisco, that many of the middle-class families who once lived there had been forced out by “rising property taxes.” Evidently neither Massey nor any of her editors at HarperCollins have ever heard of Proposition 13, the famous (italics, please! What's a guy gotta do around here to get a little rtf?) California law from 1978 that fixed property taxes at 1%. You know, the law that has hamstrung California’s ability to raise funds? The regressive tax structure that has caused California’s budget problems for decades now? That one? No? Carry on. We’re not using our brains when we read your book. And neither are you.

We can forgive so many sins, we readers, but the sins here are so egregious that we draw a line. Now we say no more. Remember Elmore Leonard (good writer alert!) and his rules for writers? No? Neither does Massey, but here’s one rule that’s pretty handy: “Never use an adverb to modify the verb ‘said’ … he admonished gravely. To use an adverb this way (or almost any way) is a mortal sin.” "That’s news to the kids at HarperCollins, Elmore,” he noted sadly. Massey is an adverbial all-star, and the result is painful. One character “deftly” dunks a shrimp in a hotpot with his chopsticks. Wow, feel the mysterious Orient in all its deft glory! Wish I could travel the world like that! Rei is often walking “briskly” for no real reason. She’s just brisk, okay? That’s how she rolls: briskly. At one stage, facing no threats or barriers, she “resolutely” climbs a flight of stairs in her parents’ house. Rei Shimura: resolute in the face of no obstacles! It’s an onslaught of unnecessary adverbs, and it is awful.

You want passive voice? We’ve got it: “A sob broke from me.” Wow, that is bad. This is how award-winning writers do it, really? “A sob broke from me”? How about, “I broke out crying” or “I burst into sobs” or “I sobbed” or “cried out loud”? No? Okay, “A sob broke from me” it is. You want bad dialogue? We’ve got it: “I’ve got to hunker down at work …” Oh, Hugh Glendinning, you silver-tongued (and redhaired!) lawyer, you! I just love your hunkering down. People say that all the time! Hunker away! It’s 1959, after all! You want a totally ridiculous climax to the, er, drama? We’ve got that, too: the killer corners Rei in Rei’s parents’ home, but becomes momentarily “confused” when Rei says she wouldn’t want the killer to leave too many clues by spilling Rei’s blood all over “the carpets and floor.” (Think of the cleaning bill! Massey almost certainly means "rugs" instead of "carpets" there, too, but who cares? We all stopped using our brains for anything more complicated than making our lips move along with words a long, long time ago.) Rei takes advantage of the killer’s confusion to charge past her and out the door to safety. Well, why not? “Don’t make a mess with my blood!” “[I am the killer holding a sword and I am stunned into motionless confusion.]” [Rei escapes. Yay! That means she lives to sleuth again! Sleuthing will be done by her!] As dopey ruses go it's better than "Look over there!" Waaay better. Just ask the editors of HarperCollins.

“The Samurai’s Daughter,” by Sujata Massey. Avoid it today.

[Corinne Morier · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Samurai's Daughter (Suspense) (2/5 stars) DNF

Rei Shimura, in the process of chronicling her family history, discovers that her boyfriend's colleagues are involved in a cover-up involving murder and smuggling.

I really don't know how to describe this one. It's so convoluted and confusing. You know how, in Game of Thrones, it's hard to keep track of which character is who and who's involved with what? It's like this, essentially.

The Good Parts

Accuracy, for the most part. I'm not a suspense person, but the fact this was set in San Francisco (my hometown) and also featured Japan was a huge selling point for me and I decided to give it a try.

The characters: Most of the characters, including Hugh, Manami, and Eric, are unique and interesting enough to care about what's happening to them.

The romance: The romance between Hugh and Rei was believable for the most part (though I also think there were some irritating bits about it). I wasn't fangirling about them and squeeing when they kissed or when Hugh (spoiler) proposed to Rei, but unlike my previous DNF, the relationship didn't piss me off, at least, and both of our romantic leads treated each other with respect and have a believable romantic arc (again, for the most part--see my notes down below)

The Bad Parts

The pacing. Oh my god the pacing. This book is marked on the front as "a novel of suspense" but that's just hurting it so bad because there was no suspense to be found anywhere. The first four chapters have zero plot whatsoever. The only plot before chapter five is the drama (nonexistent) between Rei and Hugh. They apparently broke up multiple times in the past, but then when they get back together in chapter two, it's like "We had multiple breakups? Don't be silly! We get along like giggling high school kids!" Even though when Hugh proposes, Rei's like "This is the fourth time you've asked me to marry you." They apparently had a lot of disagreements in the past, but we're not allowed to see what those disagreements were and they act so much in love that the "we've broken up multiple times in the past" bit made approximately zero sense as to why it had to be a thing; they could have just been like "Yeah, LDR isn't really something we could handle, so since I want to live in Japan and you're moving back to Scotland, let's just have a good old fashioned platonic relationship." At least that way it would have pissed me off less. The author kept trying to stir up unnecessary drama between them, I guess to try and build believability for their past fights, but it just felt like I was reading a soap drama of some sort rather than a deep, complex relationship. It's also worth noting that the barcode on the back has a label that says "Mystery," but the "suspense" bit on the front is like "Which genre are you? Make a decision!" Personally, I would have classified this as a mystery book and dropped any bit of trying to sell it as a "suspenseful" story, because it's really not.

The mystery

While an interesting premise, the mystery in this book is just way too convoluted and is too hard to follow. Early on the book, someone breaks into Rei's parents' house, and that's also right about the time that Manami, a postdoctorate student renting a bedroom in the house, starts acting very suspicious. Which is like "Oh, maybe Manami is involved in this somehow!" But rather than making her a proper red herring, only about one page later, she gets cleared of literally all suspicion. Later on in the book, she goes missing and Rei tracks her down, and though I will admit I DNFed it and therefore didn't see what eventually happened with her, I can pretty much guess that nothing did actually happen and the author just stuck her in there to contrast between traditional Japanese values and the American lifestyle of Rei's parents (which was already pretty much covered by Rei herself)

Rei

I wasn't the hugest fan of her. She definitely had more agency than Bella Swan and I would rate her as only slightly less intelligent than Hermione Granger, and she definitely had agency, but I just couldn't bring myself to like her. She was just too different from me. She was into traditional things, like using actual fish bonito to make miso soup (which, is also worth mentioning, later on in the book, she's worried about finding a "true vegetarian soup" even though udon noodle soup is made with bonito and soy sauce, no chicken or pork or anything. She complains that she has to go to a specific pub to get vegetarian noodles but if she eats fish, why does it have to be that specific pub that is the only one in the entire city that serves a "true vegetarian soup"?) and worried about following traditional Buddhist morals (like when she lies, she's like "Will I still get to go to Buddhist heaven?")

The Japanese mistakes

Yet again, we've got a book set in Japan that has mistakes. 95%-ish of the Japanese stuff in this book is pretty accurate, but there were still things that made zero sense. Along with more than a few SPaG typos (like quotation marks where there shouldn't be, or a single quotation mark instead of a double one), there were still some errors.

Like when Manami wishes Hugh a good trip and says "Ii tabi wo," even though in this case, it would be "Yoi tabi wo." Or when Rei sees a guy with "curly hair and pockmarked skin from acne or chickenpox" and immediately assumes he's a yakuza because of his "curly hair and pockmarked skin." Normal curly hair is not a mark of the yakuza, so I don't know where she's getting her information. Then I looked it up and she was talking about panchipa-ma, or "punch perm," a style of perm that gangsters use. Though since that could easily be confused with just normal curly hair born through genetics, why didn't she actually specify that it was permed rather than just curly? And the pockmarked skin makes no sense--there's nothing in Japanese culture that says pockmarked skin is the mark of a yakuza. Especially since she assumes it's from acne or chickenpox, two things that people don't wish to have and that non-yakuza people can get, too.

As I read, I kept finding little mistakes just like these, not enough to make me stop reading on their own, but each one made me a little more wary of the next. By the time I hit chapter eighteen, I was like "Okay, I've found like, ten ish mistakes in this book. If I find one more, I'm just calling it a DNF."

I managed to read another ten-ish chapters after that without finding a mistake, until Rei walks into a hotel room where our potential antagonist has been staying and notes that he's put a 100-yen coin on the pillow, the customary way to tip maids in Japan.

No. Japan is a no-tipping country. Even in high-end hotels when you tip, you put the money in an envelope and leave the envelope in the room, not just all on its own. And 100 yen is way too small of a tip for anyone (100 yen is approximately $1 USD) Even in America, where tipping is expected, that tip would get you laughed out the door. This is something that you would know, not if you had studied Japanese for years and years like me or would only know if you'd lived for a long time in Japan, but rather if you had any sort of interest about Japan and done any sort of research as to how to visit as a tourist. Hell, even sites like Buzzfeed have mentioned how Japan is a no-tipping country, and it's not a far leap to Google "should I tip in Japan?" to find out about the rare occasions when you should offer a "kokorozuke" when staying at a high-end ryokan, presented in an envelope to the staff when you first check in to say "thank you in advance for letting me stay here" and maybe to reimburse them just in case you have small children that will kick a hole in a paper screen or something.

It was at that point that I was just like "I'm done. DNF."

Summary

An interesting premise, but the pacing needed work, I couldn't connect to the protagonist, I couldn't keep track of the facts of the case (the first 4-5 chapters were incredibly slow, but then after that it was like each new chapter was like "Here's 100 different new facts about this and 5 new people you need to remember!" and I wish the author had started the story right at the mystery being unveiled, which would have given her extra legroom at the end to allow the reader to breathe a bit more.), and the Japanese errors eventually wore me down to the point when I was just like "I can't do this anymore." If you want a book with a similar premise and plot but that is easier to follow with no mistakes and a likeable protagonist, I'd recommend the Sano Ichiro series of novels by Laura Joh Rowland instead.

P.S. In this review, I mentioned a lot of missing backstory, etc. This book committed one of my least favorite pet peeves; being part of a series but not saying so on the cover that it was "#6." I picked this one up randomly when I was browsing at the library and had every reason to believe it was a standalone. I can only assume that the missing backstory of Rei and Hugh's relationship, etc. is covered in previous books in this series, but I did rate it and will rate it as a standalone because by all appearances, it acts as a standalone novel by its presentation. In addition, it not saying it's a part of a series is another no-no in my book, because you will inveitably have readers like me who will pick it up without knowing anything about it previously and will therefore judge it as a standalone. Compared to if it had said "The Rei Shimura Series #6" somewhere on the cover, I would have judged it very differently in terms of missing backstory, etc.

[Shomeret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some might consider Rei Shimura foolish in this book, but I thought her courageous and unselfish. This is the third book I have read in this series, and I am impressed by her behavior for the first time. I also liked the way this book dealt with various issues in Japanese history.
I am definitely going to want to read more Rei Shimura books.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a nation, Germany atoned and made reparations for Hitler's genocide of the Jews: not so Japan. Emperor Hirohito, in whose name the Rape of Nanking was committed, never acknowledged it, and for years, the Japanese government denied the issue ofslave labor, particularly the "comfort women." 2015 saw a bit of a thaw on the subject, but it is far from resolved. And this is the background of the sixth Rei Shimura novel. Heavy stuff, but compelling.

[Pam · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unlikable main character and slow moving story where the mystery seems like an afterthought.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Think Nancy Drew in Japan...a really light entertain "detective" story, great book to pick up if you just want something that you can read for pleasure without thinking too much.

[Jeff Wong · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun, easy read that has a lot of twists and turns but could be more tightly written as some of the twists and turns are wholly unlikely and inadequately resolved. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the description of the locations in San Francison and in Tokyo and other parts of Japan, places about which I am familiar, and found them very accurate and well depicted.

[Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this because I was in the mood for a thriller/mystery and had this book, which I thought would also afford an opportunity to learn more about contemporary Japanese culture colored by an understanding of Japanese history. I was very disappointed and almost abandoned this several times deciding to finish it just for the sake of finishing it. I found there to be both large plotting, pacing (very slow), and character development issues and smaller anachronistic problems.

In terms of plotting, the premise is flimsy to begin with while other reviewers have questioned the likelihood of a Japanese multi-national corporation opening negotiations to settle a class action lawsuit on the basis of 1.5 plaintiffs and the chances of the lawsuit being led in Japan by a Scottish lawyer who doesn’t speak Japanese and isn’t a member of the Japanese bar. I also didn’t find Rae and Hugh to be a believable couple. I was surprised that this is the sixth book in the series since it didn’t seem to be the product of a writer who has written five other books, much less five other books featuring these characters. Perhaps the intent is to read them in sequence only, but if that’s the case, the book should clearly state that it’s book six in the series.

I learned a little bit about Samurai culture and traditional Japanese furniture, but the author’s dependence on clichés and stereotypes lead me to question the veracity of what I learned. Finally, for a book published in 2003 and ostensibly set contemporaneously, I found many anachronisms. For example, the characters seem to regard cell phones as a novelty where my recollection is that they were as commonplace sixteen years ago as they are now. There’s also an over-reliance on faxing, which seems ludicrous when email should have been available. Obviously these weren’t a big problem, but were kind of annoying.

Overall, I found the book to be a letdown and can’t think of any redeeming qualities that would lead me to recommend it to anyone.

[Helena · Rating 4 out of 5]

This mystery series by Sujata Massey is fast paced, informative and interesting enough that one anticipates sitting down to read another chapter or two. Perfect for a daily commuter's ride or waiting for appointments as well as pleasurable, relaxed reading.

I've traveled to Japan a few times for several week's stay each time but didn't know much about contemporary culture, and wish this series had been around back then. The main character, Rei Shimura, is believable, intelligent and interesting. This isn't a deep, complicated mystery, but it's a good, fast read with contemporary cultural insight sot both western and eastern cultures, and will keep your attention.

The only negative is the frequent mention of brand name products, sometimes sounding too much like commercial endorsements for my comfort.

Do authors insert brand names and products into their writing as a method for showcasing their own level of personal taste and discernment? In the Rei Shimura series, this frequent name dropping is a little much. Do authors recieve benefits or payments for writing commercials into their novels?

[Kerry & naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Samurai’s Daughter is Sujata Massey’s sixth Rei Shimura mystery. Throughout the series, Rei is a half-Japanese American citizen living in Tokyo, Japan, trying to support herself as an antiques dealer. Rei has an on-again-off-again relationship with a Scots lawyer, Hugh Glendinning, who had reappeared in Rei’s life during the fifth novel, The Bride’s Kimono. Rei, like various fictional characters, has an amazing capacity for stumbling onto crime scenes and then pursuing leads to satisfy her own curiosity.

The Plot

Rei returned with her parents at the end of The Bride’s Kimono to the family home in San Francisco for a much-needed vacation over the holidays. During the month between the close of the last book and the opening of The Samurai’s Daughter, Rei has started working on a history of the Shimura family, cataloging the items that had been passed down to her father as the oldest son. Hugh Glendinning arrives right before Christmas to get to know Rei’s parents just when Rei and her father’s relationship has become strained due to her poking around rattling skeletons and the addition of a houseguest, Manami, a Japanese exchange student in the pathology program of the university where Rei’s father works as a psychiatrist.

Hugh, meanwhile, is working on a class action suit to sue Japanese conglomerates and gather depositions from witnesses who were forced into slave labor for Japanese companies during World War II or sent to brothels as “comfort women,” or prostitutes, for Japanese soldiers. Rei accompanies Hugh to take one of the witnesses some food and a teakettle, a witness that later winds up dead, apparently from natural causes. Rei has other suspicions, especially when, after returning to Tokyo, another of Hugh’s witnesses is attacked and goes into a coma.

Elements of Style

The Samurai’s Daughter is Massey’s most overtly political novel to date. Although Massey has dealt with the subtleties of racism and xenocentrism in Japanese culture in previous novels, The Samurai’s Daughter is a clear indictment of the Japanese government for its failure to not only pay reparations for the enslavement of Korean, Filippino, and other Asian minorities as hard laborers for Japanese companies and empressing women into prostitution, but also Japan’s failure to acknowledge their responsibility for these atrocious human rights violations. As a capstone, Massey also brings in the Japanese government’s denial that the Nanking massacre even happened.

If I had not lived in Japan myself and gone through experiences that parallel Rei’s, such as counter-culture shock and counter-counter-culture shock, I might not have gotten as much out of this novel as I did. When I first went to Japan as an exchange student, I underwent culture shock but emerged from it with a love for Japan and all things Japanese, as well as a deepened sense of appreciation and patriotism for the United States, my home country. My initial culture shock was miniscule compared to the counter-culture shock of returning to the United States after a year away, an experience that made me in many respects very cynical about American society and idealistic about Japanese culture. Rei undergoes a similar experience in The Bride’s Kimono, when she first returns to the United States after living in Japan for five years. I returned to Japan several years later; the second time, Japanese culture seemed much more transparent to me, and I was more aware of the problems in their society (and my own). And, as a result of seeing ugly American abroad syndrome writ large in the military population of Okinawa, I once again left Japan for the United States, a lot more enlightened about two cultures and about human beings, loving both cultures a little less, having viewed both of them more clearly.

During Rei’s return to Japan and her delving into her family history, she learns things about her family that may have affected World War II and 20th century Japanese imperialism. (I would also argue that Japan practiced political imperialism for the first half of the 20th century; since then, Japan has practiced economic imperialism.) Because of Hugh’s class action suit, the information she uncovers about her ancestors, and being able to see more clearly some of the (not necessarily innocuous) motivations behind Japanese culture, Rei loses some of her tendency to idealize Japan. Her very behavior, the short temper, striking at people closest to her, bound up with everything else, indicate that Rei is undergoing the frustrations of counter-counter-culture shock.

Nitpicks

Although I loved the story as it unfolded and even the mystery elements were not completely predictable, I have to wonder if Massey’s editor even bothered to proofread the manuscript. I expect every book I pick up to have three typos; more than that annoys me. This novel had at least five typos: unclosed or unopened quotes, extra words that should have been deleted, misspellings, inappropriate word choice. Additionally, not all of the action in the novel flowed; it was rather jarring when a scene started in the kitchen and suddenly we’re in the dining room with no idea how we got there. This happened more than once and could have been easily fixed by one-sentence transitions in several instances. I don’t blame the author so much as I do the editor for failing to catch the mistakes—I’ve seen similar things slip past editors of experienced and frequently published authors, as though they assume the authors are no longer fallible.

Overall

I am quite pleased that Massey decided to infuse The Samurai’s Daughter with a political viewpoint that works well mediated through Rei’s counter- and counter-counter-culture shock. I am curious to know if other readers who have not lived in Japan picked up the same nuances as I did, and I hope that, after reading this review and the book, more readers who have not traveled abroad themselves will be attuned to the subtleties of moving in and out of different cultures.

[Chris Madsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book came to me by way of a Little Free Library in my neighborhood. We apparently have 11 of these, on the front lawns of people's homes, with free books to read and exchange. I've only visited three of them, but have already stumbled across new works I'd never have discovered in my library.

This one intrigued me because I'd never heard of it, yet the author is an award-winning writer. My sister enjoyed Japan when she visited, so I thought I'd take a chance on something totally unknown to me.

Sujata Massey is a good writer. I found her initial dialogue a little stilted, but thought maybe that was a cultural arrogance on my part, so I continued to read. I'm glad I did. This is a lively book, as much for the risks Rei (the protagonist) takes as for her insights into the differences of culture (sometimes dependent on location) and her struggles with Buddhism. I really enjoyed tagging along as Rei traveled from San Francisco to Tokyo and back, encountering dangers all around. I look forward to catching up on her earlier book, "The Bride's Kimono."

[Margie Swanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the 6th in a series by Sujata Massey featuring an American-Japanese woman who is an antique dealer who finds herself in several mysteries. Her Scottish fiance is lawyer working on a suit to give retribution to "comfort women" who were kidnapped by the Japanese army during WWII. The new and old beliefs in Japan come into conflict. Even though this was the 6th is a series I felt curious about what came before but it didn't detract from enjoying this story.

[brianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A big ol' meh for this one. I did enjoy how, being "regular people" playing detective there were consequences for their believable fuckups. the writing was OK, but overall definitely not my favorite. the title still doesn't really make sense to me. And the inevitable "twist" was pretty much stupid as hell.

[Faith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Easy read but not a compelling mystery and lacking in character development. I tried this because I really enjoyed The Sleeping Dictionary by Massey. Will probably not look for other books in the Rei Shimura series.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book tells an interesting story about Japanese history, antiques, and what happens to a young Japanese American woman antiques dealer and her Scottish fiance lawyer when their business interests intersect and both past and present wrongdoing and corruption are revealed.

[Lilith1323 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars!

[Ximena Mcintosh · Rating 1 out of 5]

Could not finish. Painful to read in every way.

[Katheyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Samurai’s Daughter”, the sixth installment in the “Rei Shimura” series, follows Rei while researching the story of decorative Japanese arts in San Francisco, as a personal project. Rei combines a visit to her parental house with her project, using her family own historical knowledge in her research. But when her once-again boyfriend Hugh Glendenning steps into the picture, the project changes dramatically. Hugh is working on a class action lawsuit against Japanese companies who enrolled people to work in their war industry, in which was short of slavery during World War II times. Rei’s historical project and Hugh’s lawsuit flow together, as one of Hugh’s clients in murdered. This is a very interesting book, which unearth a dark chapter of history, and does so respectfully and still managing to meet the sleuth mystery character of the series.

Sujata Massey’s “Rei Shimura” is a mystery series featuring the eponymous character, an American Japanese woman in her late twenties (at the start of the series) who relocates to Tokyo to reembrace her Japanese roots and start an antiquities business. The books mix classical sleuth mystery, with Japanese cultural observation and biographical bits, into a nice, easy to read and fully enjoyable series. Some mysteries remind the classical clean mysteries of old, while other (especially on the later books) deal with very serious historical events, but in each case the stories remain easy-to-read mysteries with Japanese flavour. While an in-depth study into Japanese culture, should not be expected, the books offer a very credible insight into Japanese everyday life, from the point of view of American foreigner with the added bonus of having a real Japanese heritage, that allows her to blend in and navigate the country with credible ease. Every book in the series can be read as a stand-alone from the mystery point of view, as the arc-story only pertains to Rei Shimura chronological development.

Massey, a London born, who has herself a mixed Indian-German heritage and has expended (due to her own husband work) several year in Japan, excels by interweave her own biographical data with fictional bit into one of the most original and interesting series in the genre. Rei Shimura’s character development and her reflections on the country evolve organically with the experiences in the country. Sujata Massey succeeds in showing the changes in Rei’s personality and reflections to the environment. A must-read for all fans of female slaughtering and/or ‘light’ Japanese culture.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this Author, and I have four books by Ms. Massey, and just ordered three more. The books on Rei Shimura I am reading totally out of context, and trying to figure out, Hugh, where is Hugh, what happened to Hugh? I hope in one of the books that is on the way, I will find out, what happened to Hugh. Also I started two books in the same week as I misplaced this one and started on Floating Girl, which confused me, as Hugh was missing, and there is now a new love interest in Rei's life! So I had to put aside Floating Girl, until this book appeared again!

Story, Rei is back home in San Francisco with her parents, she has been living in Japan (obviously I have missed a couple of books, so will have to look for them). Rei has an American born mother and a Japanese father. She has been raised speaking Japanese, however, unfortunately Rei does not read it so good. She loves to live in Japan, and interact with her Japanese family. She has been working in Japan for some years as an antique dealer. She has fallen madly in love with Hugh, here comes Hugh, he is a Scottish lad, who appears, is also madly in love with her. Hugh is a lawyer, and he is on his way to her home, to stay over Christmas with her family. Dad is not so thrilled about his daughters choice, but..what dad is!!

Rei is really excited about her latest project learning about the families Samurai Sword, and also how her Grandfather had been a teacher to his Imperial Highness the Emperor of Japan. On her return to Japan, Rei finds she might not agree with grandfathers political views. Her parents have also taken in to their home a Japanese student, who may not be who she pretends to be!

Rei finds herself mixed up in a murder, also her house is burgled, and many other bad things continue to happen, while she is in the USA and Japan.

Hugh and his new fiancé, find they can get in a lot of trouble, will Rei get kicked out of Japan? If so, will she ever be able to return? And Hugh what about Hugh, will he love her forever?

Who did kill the Filipino lady, who tried to bump off the blind man, who is getting kickbacks for not bringing a huge court case out in the open? Read and enjoy, all may not be what it seams to be.

[Sanna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tämä kirja on ihan liian ylipitkä ja paikoittain puuduttavaa luettavaa. En kokenut että kirjan mahtipontinen (ja mahtava!) nimi sopivat itse tarinaan. Rei koki olevansa samurai kaikkien sekoilujensa keskellä? Tai hänen isänsä on samurai koska seinällä roikkuu miekka? Mitä minulta jäi tajuamatta?
Tässä Rein seikkailussa juonenkäänteet ovat liiankin uskomattomia, ja touhu menee aikamoiseksi sekamelskaksi. Rei käyttäytyy itsekkäämmin kuin ennen, vaikkakin oikeuttaa tekonsa lohduttajanaisten ja ystävänsä kunnioituksella. Rein karkotus Japanista oli yllättävää, koska aiemmin Rei on selvinnyt kaikista pinteistään ihan vain olemalla oma hurmaava itsensä. Tavallaan surullista, mutta toisaalta se oli kiehtovaa, itse ajattelin että seuraavassa teoksessa päästäänkin sitten seuraamaan heidän elämäänsä Amerikassa.
Tarinan "vihollinen" oli surkea. Jos asiaa olisi tuotu enemmän esiin, ja kyseinen hahmo saanut suuremman osan kirjasta, sen olisi ehkä voinutkin uskoa. Mutta kyseinen henkilö sai hädintuskin yhden kappaleen verran tilaa itselleen...
Rei nauttii täysin rinnoin rikkauksista joita hänen perheensä ja miehensä tuovat mukanaan, vaikka itse sanoo mitä sanoo. Tekopyhää.

En oikein keksi tästä sanottavaa. Historiallinen taustatietoa oli surullista, ahdistavaa, raivostuttavaakin mutta tärkeää tietää. Enkä epäile hetkeäkään etteikö se olisi totta, ja myös tänä päivänä tapahtuvaa.

[Miranda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I left this book how I started it - full of want. I wanted to like the characters more than I actually did. I wanted to become enthralled by the plot more than I was, and I wanted to be dazzled by the twists and turns of a good mystery book.

In reality, I felt meh about it all. The main character, Reí, tried really hard to be... something. Yearning for Tokyo while stuck in San Francisco, she come across as flat and fairly unlikeable for much of the book. Solving mysteries in Tokyo while yearning for a better world for the freed war slaves should make you love Reí. But it doesn’t. When she does decide to investigate, it feels pushy and unrealistic.

She spends so much of her time explaining to readers the importance of adhering to her Japanese principles, but drops them the minute they become slightly inconvenient (admitting to the audience, of course, that this makes her feel guilty.)

In theory, the idea of this mystery felt promising. In execution, I, the reader, wanted it to be so much more than it was.

[Viva · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a fan of the Rei Shimura series, though much more for Rei's personal life dramas than for the mysteries. And when she's in Japan, I also enjoy reading about Japanese culture, lifestyle and the setting. The mystery part of the books come a far second as I don't feel the author has much of a knack for writing a tight, suspenseful mystery or spy caper.

Spoiler paragraph: In this book. Hugh (Rei's beau) has been put on a class action case where the plaintiffs (WW2 comfort women) are seeking compensation or reparations from Japanese conglomerates. This leads to Rei going to Japan for a on-the-ground interview.

Like many of Rei's books, this book has a larger historical context, in this case a serious one which deals with one of Japan's WW2 war crimes. Overall, I'm very impressed with the author's knowledge of many things Japanese.

[Meg Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok, part of my dissatisfaction with this book is my own fault - picked up a copy at a used bookstore and didn't realize that it was #6 in a series. So maybe I missed some of the character development/family relationship explanations that happened in earlier books. Really though, I found Rei and her attitude more than a bit insufferable. And reading some other reviews, I see that I'm not alone in thinking that the story had potential but became convoluted and ridiculous. I also thought some of the side characters, in particular Eric Gan and Rei's dad, were kind of jerks. I've read some of Massey's more recent work and I think she does improve as a writer but I won't be going back to this series.

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly easy read, I was engaged enough to keep going, despite not particularly liking the character of Rei at the start. However, I did want to see where the story went, so by the end I was invested. It was a decent enough thriller, I liked the setting of San Francisco and Tokyo, both of which I thought were well written, having spent time in both places. It was typical of the genre with red herrings and a large cast of characters, all of whom were connected in some way. I didn't realise this was part of a series, although I thought a couple of times whilst reading that it might have been! I would probably read others in the series if I found them at the library.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I live in Tokyo as an American so devour all sorts of interesting and entertaining reads about the country and its culture and art. I love traditional Japanese furniture styles and the many interesting cultural and artistic venues. Very familiar settings and great cross-cultural insights. Love sassy Rei, her friends and San Fran + Yokohama family... I read the book in a few sittings. A tame, easy breezy whodunnit set mostly in San Francisco with a diverse, colorful cast of Japanese and local characters that was super fun to read. Enjoying the angle of the comfort women very much (important issue!) Boyfriend Hugh back in the mix. Left me wanting more! I have consumed several in the series!

[Saadia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I discovered this author just a couple of months ago. I was intrigued by her well built mystery-crime thriller writing skills as well as the masterful minutiae of the historical and cultural background. What a tour-de-force!
This story is a modern day thriller set in Japan and in San Francisco, USA. She deftly twines the antique lover’s interests with the fiancé’s multi-national legal pursuits. Interesting character development. Difficult to figure out the actual villain or villains. I love this author’s writing but I think the labyrinthine cultural descriptions might deter those looking for lighter weight entertainment.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, so, real talk. I picked up this series because I'd enjoyed a later series written by this author. I think part of my experience is seeing a more naive author at work. On the one hand, I do know that some of the bumpiness gets sorted, to some degree, and on the other there are places where you see author immaturity at work. I'm thinking primarily of some of the capricious behavior, and inconsistent dramatic reactions - they aren't well driven by the construct of the book, but, are needed to keep up the energy and tension. But, I think we are starting to see a little of that settle out - a little more consistency.
Anyway, I like where we are headed here.

[JoeG · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though I was looking forward to watching Ms. Massey's writing mature as more books were written, I am disappointed. It's not that this book was poorly written, but her characters and especially her use of dialogue has not improved from the first book. Also, a pet peeve of mine: the entire list of complications (and there were many) were either suddenly solved in the last chapter or two or left on the line. This hyper-ending came after many pages of unnecessary and 'high-schoolish' prose centered on her relationship with her fiancé.
I bought six of her books at one time, and have read three of them. I think it'll be a while before I finish the other three.

[Libby · Rating 3 out of 5]

A different take on mystery with a Japanese American woman who is engaged to a Scottish lawyer. Her family history involves the Nationalism that brought Japan to the place during the 20th Century where they sought world dominance, under Emperor Hirohito. There must still be descendants who believe that Hirohito was the Sun God. A class action suit seeking reparations for “comfort women”. Lots of details about Japanese culture and food were interesting. The real culprit who murdered the Phillippino woman was a surprise.

[Stephanie Lindorff · Rating 2 out of 5]

The central story is an important subject and I'm glad I had a chance to learn more about enslavement of Asian people leading up to and during WWII.

Unfortunately, the writing is below the author's usual standard and her protagonist is annoying. If this had been my first Rei Shimura book it would have also been my last.

For someone who claims to honor Japanese culture and resonate more strongly to that half of her mixed heritage, Rei is unbelievably rude and arrogant.