The Concubine's Tattoo (Sano Ichiro Series #4) »

Set in feudal Japan, this richly imaginative mystery revolves around the death of a powerful shogun's favorite concubine, Harume. Sano, the shogun's sosakan-sama, responsible for investigating such situations, finds his marriage ceremony and honeymoon disrupted by the concubine's death. Delving deep into the complexities of the concubines' world to find the cause of Harume's death, Sano discovers something that could give him the answer -- a tattoo.

New York Times Book Review

Rowland has a painter's eye for the minutiae of court life, as well as a politician's ear for intrigue, so the sleuthing is conducted amid sumptuous scenes of imperial excess and under the watch of imperious villians.