Lazy Taro gets his comeuppance when his wise mother uses his trick to avoid work to her own advantage.
Masuda Affair (Sugawara Akitada #7)
A Sugawara Akitada Mystery of Ancient Japan – Eleventh-century Japan. Government official Sugawara Akitada finds a small mute boy on a deserted road. Akitada, still grieving for his own small son, determines to find the boy’s parents. Meanwhile, Akitada’s faithful servant Tora has troubles of his own: he has lost his new bride to a powerful man who pursues beautiful women and will stop at nothing to possess them. The trails of these two seemingly unrelated cases lead Akitada and Tora to the entertainers and prostitutes of the amusement quarter, and murder follows in their footsteps . . .
Hell Screen (Sugawara Akitada #5)
Eleventh-century Japan: After a difficult but successful assignment as provisional governor of Eichigo, Akitada Sugawara is finally allowed to return to Heian Kyo. But instead of a triumphant homecoming accompanied by his beautiful wife and young son, Akitada must ride ahead of his entourage to the sickbed of his dying mother. Fading light and a steady downpour interrupt his journey, forcing him to take refuge in a temple where a brilliantly illustrated hell screen and a piercing cry disturb his restless sleep.
Upon his arrival, Akitada finds his mother, sick and bitter, cursing his return, while his youngest sister, Yoshiko, forsakes her own happiness to serve as the old woman’s nurse and maid. Only his sister Akiko seems fortunate—married to a wealthy nobleman, Toshikage, and expecting their first child. But appearances prove to be deceptive, for it is not long before Akitada is asked to help clear his brother-in-law’s name. In the course of his investigation Akitada learns that his night at the temple was disturbed by more than a terrible scream. A woman has been murdered, and because of his reputation for detective work, Akitada must solve another mystery. Personal and professional interests begin to merge as Akitada becomes ensnared in a tangled web of deceit and malevolence that will, in the end, strike very close to home.
Fires of the Gods (Sugawara Akitada #8)
A Sugawara Akitada Novel – Eleventh-century Japan. Sugawara Akitada’s ailing wife is expecting a child, and when he loses his job and tries to confront the nobleman who is responsible for his dismissal, he ends up suspected of his murder. With no income and a growing family to support, Akitada desperately plunges into the investigation of this crime, aided by his faithful servant Tora, inadvertently placing not only his own life, but also the lives of his wife and child, in grave danger . . .
Emperor’s Woman (Sugawara Akitada #10)
She was intended to be the emperor’s concubine, but she died at the bottom of a cliff near Prince Atsuhira’s private villa. The palace covered up the scandal. Months later, Akitada is drawn into the case when his best friend is accused of plotting against the emperor. Atsuhira, his alleged co-conspirator, refuses to defend himself. The mystery of the lady’s death unravels slowly, bringing danger to Akitada, whose household is already threatened by an ill-fated relationship between Genba and a prostitute which leads to his arrest for the brothel keeper’s murder.
Dragon Scroll (Sugawara Akitada #1)
In an adventure filled with highway bandits, unscrupulous politicians, and renegade monks, The Dragon Scroll introduces readers to the lively world of eleventh-century Japan and an irrepressible hero—Sugawara Akitada. On his first official assignment, Akitada—an impoverished nobleman and earnest young government clerk in the Ministry of Justice—is sent from the capital city on a nearly impossible mission to the distant province of Kazusa to discover why tax convoys are disappearing. In the politically murky world of the Japanese court, he has been set up to fail. Against the odds, the ever-resourceful Akitada, his elderly servant Seimei, and his impudent bodyguard Tora are determined to fulfill their mission and discover the truth in a town of dangerous secrets.
Crane Pavilion (Sugawara Akitada #12)
After the loss of his wife and newborn son, Akitada returns home, ostensibly to care for his motherless children, but really to withdraw from the world into his grief. When his friends and family join in an effort to draw him out of his seclusion by tempting him with a mystery, he responds halfheartedly until he becomes intrigued by the young woman’s alleged suicide and the slipshod way in which the police investigated. But more serious problems arise: he faces dismissal and punishment for having left his last post without permission. Then Tora and Saburo are arrested for the murder of a gambler. Their dilemma forces Akitada to delve into the world of a gangster boss who controls gambling and prostitution, and this time Akitada will not escape.
Praise for the Akitada series:
“Elegant and entertaining . . . Parker has created a wonderful protagonist in Akitada. She puts us at ease in a Japan of one thousand years ago.” The Boston Globe
Convict’s Sword (Sugawara Akitada #6)
The latest in the “terrifically imaginative” (The Wall Street Journal) Akitada mystery series brings eleventh-century Japan to life
I. J. Parker’s phenomenal Akitada mystery series has been gaining fans with each new novel. The latest, The Convict’s Sword, is the most fully realized installment to date, weaving history, drama, mystery, romance, and adventure into a story of passion and redemption. Lord Sugawara Akitada, the senior secretary in the Ministry of Justice, must find the mysterious killer of a man condemned to live in exile for a crime he did not commit. Meanwhile, Akitada’s retainer, Tora, investigates the sudden death of a blind street singer, whose past life is a bigger mystery than anyone thought. Told in Parker’s clever, vivid prose, The Convict’s Sword is a must-read for those who love well-written mysteries in an exotic setting.
Rashomon Gate (Sugawara Akitada #2)
From the author of The Dragon Scroll comes an ingenious new novel of murder and malfeasance in ancient Japan, featuring the detective Sugawara Akitada. The son of reduced nobility forced to toil in the Ministry of Justice, Akitada is relieved when an old friend, Professor Hirata, asks him to investigate a friend’s blackmail. Taking a post at the Imperial University, he is soon sidetracked from his primary case by the murder of a young girl and the mysterious disappearance of an old man—a disappearance that the Emperor himself declares a miracle. Rashomon Gate is a mystery of magnificent complexity and historical detail that will leave readers yearning for more.
Death on an Autumn River (Sugawara Akitada #9)
On a river journey to Naniwa to unmask officials selling information to pirates, Akitada witnesses the recovery of a body. The image of the drowned child prostitute follows him as his own problems and disasters multiply. Someone is sabotaging his investigation. His young clerk disappears, Akitada is attacked by two thugs, and armed men brutalize his family in the capital. When Tora joins his master, they both fall into the hands of the pirates and must fight a battle to the death to escape. But ultimately it is the tragic story of the dead girl that will haunt Akitada most.
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