The Samurai's Daughter (33 page)

Authors: Sujata Massey

BOOK: The Samurai's Daughter

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Books by Sujata Massey:

THE PEARL DIVER

ISBN 0-06-621296-0 (new in hardcover from HarperCollins
Publishers
) Just as Rei Shimura starts to settle down in Washington, D.C., things start to go haywire. First, her cousin vanishes, and then Rei is drafted to help find a Japanese war bride who disappeared thirty years earlier.

THE SAMURAI'S DAUGHTER

ISBN 0-06-059503-5 (paperback)

Rei Shimura enters the world of war reparations and family secrets when her lawyer-boyfriend's plaintiff is murdered and Rei begins to uncover unsavory facts about her own family's actions during WWII.

THE BRIDE'S KIMONO

ISBN 0-06-103115-1 (mass market paperback)

Rei Shimura, acting as courier in the transport of a set of priceless early 19th-century kimonos, embarks upon the adventure of a lifetime, involving stolen artifacts, a wacky tour group of Japanese women, and a very dead body.

THE FLOATING GIRL

ISBN 0-06-109735-7 (mass market paperback)

Moonlighting as an arts writer, Rei Shimura is set to interview a young comic book artist in Tokyo. But the artist has vanished, and his best friend turns up dead in the Sumida River, dressed in the gaudy costume of the super-heroine.

THE FLOWER MASTER

ISBN 0-06-109734-9 (mass market paperback)

Rei Shimura has her hands full with an ikebana class (Japanese art of flower arranging) when one of the teachers is murdered.

ZEN ATTITUDE

ISBN 0-06-104444-X (mass market paperback)

Bad karma comes with a to-die-for chest of drawers as Rei goes from murder suspect to murder target while staying on the grounds of the Zen temple Horinji.

THE SALARYMAN'S WIFE

ISBN 0-06-104443-1 (mass market paperback)

On a visit to an ancient castle town, Rei Shimura is the first to find a high-powered businessman's wife dead in the snow.

Acknowledgments

I am grateful to the many kind and wise people who wrote to me, talked with me, and manipulated my pressure points as I wrote
The Samurai's Daughter.
In various parts of Asia, journalists Dan Bloom and Mark Schreiber, translator Akemi Narita, and author Christopher Belton were always able to find answers to difficult questions. I received a fascinating introduction to the world of Japanese acupuncture from licensed acupuncturist Zoe Brenner in Bethesda, Maryland. Shizumi Manule brought me to the hospitable and elegant Urasenke Tea Society branch in Washington, D.C., where I experienced a beautiful lesson in tea. Mike Tharp, West Coast bureau chief of
U.S. News & World Report,
was a well-spring of information on the issue of war reparations. For help with the grave Buddhist precepts, I thank Drew Leder, professor of philosophy at Loyola College in Baltimore, and for insight into blindness, Aryan Shayegani, an ophthalmologist at Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins. My dear husband, Tony Massey, believed in the project, often relinquishing his leisure hours in order to give me the time to work. My sister, Rekha Banerjee, kindly opened her home to my two-year-old daughter, Pia, and me during a research trip. My mother, Karin Banerjee, kept Pia content so that I could get around San Francisco, and Donhatai Jirasingh kept her happy and entertained at our home. Consuelo Ramirez, cabbie extraordinaire, taught me the ups and downs of
San Francisco's streets. Helen Lee Dellheim shared legal expertise and friendship, as did many writer friends, including Marcia Talley, John Mann, Karen Diegmueller, Janice McLane, and Laura Lippman. My editor, Carolyn Marino, and my agent, Ellen Geiger, sent me on a mission to revise and shape the book into all that it could beâI am grateful for the advice.

While Shimura is a well-known name in Japan, Rei's ancestors and their actions exist only in my imaginationâas does any relationship to the Imperial Family. For fascinating insights and inspiration regarding the historic elements of the novel, I credit Herbert P. Bix's
Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan
, Sterling Seagrave and Peggy Seagrave's
The Yamato Dynasty
, and Rosy Clarke's
Japanese Antique Furniture
.

A beloved friend of mine from the mystery bookselling community, Paige Rose, passed away right as I was finishing my first draft of this book. I had always meant to dedicate a book to Paige, but sadly, didn't do it fast enough. So this book is for Paige, a year too late.

About the Author

S
UJATA
M
ASSEY
was a reporter for the
Baltimore Evening Sun
and has spent several years in Japan teaching English and studying Japanese. She is the author of
The Salaryman's Wife, Zen Attitude, The Flower Master, The Floating Girl
, and
The Bride's Kimono
. Her books have garnered numerous awards, and critics have called her stories captivating, her writing clear-eyed and unique, and her characters complex, appealing, and wryly humorous. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland, with her family.

Visit
www.AuthorTracker.com
for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.

P
RAISE
FOR
Sujata Massey and Her Novels

The Samurai's Daughter
M
ARY
H
IGGINS
C
LARK
A
WARD
N
OMINEE

“Massey deftly weaves fascinating historical and cultural detail into a suspenseful plot.”

â
Booklist

“An absorbing cross-cultural puzzle.”

â
Publishers Weekly

“Combining the legal mystery with Japanese history and antiques is a winning stroke for Ms. Massey. Intricately plotted and filled with Asian lore and customs, this charming love story is spiced with courage and danger.”

â
Dallas Morning News

“The characters and details of Japanese culture and history are as appealing as ever, and fans will relish this while awaiting another one.”

â
Library Journal

The Bride's Kimono
A
GATHA
A
WARD
N
OMINEE

“Brimming equally with Japanese cultural lore and Rei's sharp comments on love, money, death, and silk.”

âS. J. R
OZAN
, author of
Winter and Night

“Astute character development and fascinating use of Japanese history.”

â
Booklist

“
The Bride's Kimono
takes the reader on another humor-filled thrill ride with a heroine for the new age, Rei Shimura, the Japanese-American antiques dealer-cum-sleuth who must navigate between two worlds and two loversâand around a corpseâas she solves the mystery of stolen antiquity.”

âS
TEPHEN
H
ORN
,
New York Times
âbestselling author of
In Her Defense

The Floating Girl
E
DITOR'S
C
HOICE,
Booklist
A
GATHA
A
WARD
N
OMINEE

“Sujata Massey is one of the rising stars of the mystery genre.”

â
Denver Post

“Another must-read from an author who has honed the skill of captivating and educating her readers at the same time.”

â
Booklist

“Novelist and former
Baltimore Evening Sun
reporter Sujata Massey takes readers on a thoughtful tour of contemporary Japanese youth culture in the accomplished murder mysteryâ¦. Deftly sketching everyday life in parts of Tokyo rarely seen by tourists, Massey tells a series of overlapping stories about identity, the popular media, and the hilarious frenzy of contemporary comic book culture.”

â
Publishers Weekly

The Flower Master
M
ACAVITY
A
WARD
W
INNER

“
The Flower Master
is Sujata Massey at her masterful best.”

âL
ISA
S
COTTOLINE

“Massey not only fleshes out each of [the] subplots but weaves them together to illuminate conflicts of old and new in Japanese manners, morals, family, and love.”

â
Kirkus Reviews
(starred review)

“Her best yet. Intricate plotting and writing as beautiful as the ikebana described herein.”

âL
AURA
L
IPPMAN
, author of
Every Secret Thing

“A totally captivating experienceâ¦. A unique plot, exceptional protagonist, and some subtle cultural lessons are as beautifully arranged as a vase of cherry blossoms.”

â
Booklist

“What Sujata Massey excels in, as evident from two previous Rei Shimura thrillers, is the arranging of plot details, interwoven with sprays of scene and freshly cut dialogue.”

â
Baltimore Sun

Zen Attitude
A
NTHONY AND
E
DGAR
A
WARD
N
OMINEE

“A gifted storyteller who delivers strong characters, a tight plot, and an inside view of Japan and its culture.”

â
USA Today

“A very entertaining mystery.”

â
Publishers Weekly

The Salaryman's Wife
A
GATHA
A
WARD
W
INNER

“Sly, sexy, and deftly done,
Wife
is one to bring home.”

â
People
Page-Turner of the Week

“Massey gives us a clear-eyed look at Japanese daily life. An impressive first novel.”

â
Baltimore Sun

Other Books by Sujata Massey

The Bride's Kimono

The Floating Girl

The Flower Master

Zen Attitude

The Salaryman's Wife

Coming Soon

The Pearl Diver

Credits

Cover design by Peter Martin

Cover photograph by Creatas

Copyright

This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are products of the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

THE SAMURAI'S DAUGHTER
. Copyright Â© 2003 by Sujata Massey. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

First Perennial edition published 2004.

The Library of Congress has catalogued the hardcover edition as follows:

Massey, Sujata.

The samurai's daughter / Sujata Massey.â1st ed.

p. cm.

ISBN 0-06-621290-1

1. Shimura, Rei (Fictitious character)âFiction. 2. Women detectivesâCaliforniaâSan FranciscoâFiction. 3. San Francisco (Calif.)âFiction. 4. AmericansâJapanâFiction. 5. Japanese AmericansâFiction. 6. Antique dealersâFiction. 7. Tokyo (Japan)âFiction. I. Title.

PS3563.A79965 S26 2003

813'.54âdc21

2002068893

ISBN 0-06-059503-5 (pbk.)

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