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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"What sort of mind could call up such scenes of horror?", February 21, 2004
In a dramatic opening scene, a woman and an unconscious man wait in the darkness of a monastery cell for the woman's lover, who arrives bearing the body of a another young woman. Annoyed when her lover shows signs of weakness and has qualms about beheading the corpse, the woman begins the gory process herself. The reader quickly becomes caught up in the action as a former official in the Justice Department, also spending the night at the same monastery, begins an investigation into the murder. Clever deduction, additional gory murders, threats to the life of the investigator, and his single-minded dedication to unmasking the murderers, while combatting professional jealousies among his peers, make this an exciting addition to the traditional murder mystery genre. Only the structure of the novel is traditional, however, for this murder takes place in eleventh century Japan, and the detective is Lord Akitada Sugawara. Seen primarily as a family man, he is fully drawn, a man with foibles and failings, in addition to high ideals of honor. As Akitada investigates the murder, the author subtly develops the intellectual climate of the times: the use of hell screens in Buddhist monasteries to instill the fear of death, the value placed on antiquities and the scholarly life, and the integration of art (calligraphy, painting, elaborate embroidering, and flute-playing) into the lives of the characters. Customs, including the payment of dowries, the leaving of paper messages at local shrines, the social separations between classes, funeral and mourning customs, and the obligations of the aristocracy to the court, combine gracefully with period details, even including the kind of straw raincoat and headcovering worn by travelers, and the number of finely made, colorful silk gowns worn under a woman's kimono. Intelligent and impelled to action more by his passions than by his sense of duty, Akitada comes alive, while his "helpers"--Tora, a former soldier, and Genba, a former wrestler--add liveliness, spark, and comic relief to the novel. Tora falls in love with an acrobat/actress, and Genba falls for the immense owner of an athletic training hall, a wonderful character named Miss Plumblossom, who is an expert in stick-fighting. The author's ability to reveal emotion through gestures (a hand on a servant's shoulder and the servant touching the fingers in return) is matched by her ability to describe scenes of humor, love, and torment. In short, she recreates life in its beauty and sorrow as lived by characters with whom the reader will feel a kinship, despite the unusual setting in another country over a millennium ago. Mary Whipple
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent mystery, February 28, 2004
I.J. Parker's "Rashomon Gate" was a solid, multilayered mystery that strays away from the typical twentieth-century American/British settings. The attention to detail, humor and horror intertwine to make her second book "The Hell Screen: A Mystery of Ancient Japan" even more likable than the first. Sugawara Akitada is returning to Heian Kyo (Kyoto) after a time as a provisional governer far from home. He rides ahead of his beloved wife and young son, since his mother is dying and he wants to get there before she does die. When he spends the night at a Buddhist monastery along the way, he hears a scream in the middle of the night -- and when he returns to Heian Kyo, he learns that a woman was murdered by her brother-in-law that night. To make things even worse, his sister Akiko's new husband is accused of stealing imperial treasures. Looking for the stolen objects leads him back to the murdered woman, and a disturbing secret about his own family: His other sister, Yoshiko, is in love with the man who seems to have murdered his sister-in-law. Perhaps most horrifyingly, he will learn the grisly secret behind the monastery's graphic depiction of torture, the "hell screen." The basics of your average murder mystery are here: A lot of clues, coverups, clever tricks, red herrings, a persistent detective and a disgruntled cop. The setting is unusual in itself, since most mysteries don't dip into Heian-era Japan, which is shown in rich detail in "Hell Screen." Parker has clearly done her research. She doesn't overwhelm you with too many details of her research, just letting it flow. Parker also shows her ability to manage subplots: Akitada is distracted by his mother's rage toward him, and a startling secret about his parentage. We also get to see more of Genba and Tora, a pair of ex-ruffians who work for Akitada. There's also more humor in this book than in "Rashomon Gate," as if Parker has loosened up. (Exhibit A: The imposing, obese acrobat, Miss Plumblossom, and what she does to poor Tora) As in the first book, there are multiple crimes with multiple guilty parties -- theft, cold-blooded financial murder, and even a serial killer. Akitada is a good detective. He's smart and has a logical mind, while still being flawed; his carelessness almost gets him killed at one point. Tora and Genba serve as good backups, and police superintendent Kobe is still stubborn and unwilling to take Akitada's help. Additionally, Akitada's sister Yoshiko -- a minor character in the first book -- gets to go front and center when she tries to stand by her imprisoned lover. Mystery fans will enjoy Parker's second mystery set in Heian-era Japan, and the likable hero and characters she's crafted for it. "Hell Screen: A Mystery of Ancient Japan" is a solid sequel, and highly recommended.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ms. James does it again!, August 27, 2004
At a temple outside Heian Kyo, the wife of a wealthy antique dealer is found, brutally murdered, in the room of her brother-in-law, who is immediately arrested for murder. He claims he did not do it, but he has no remembrance of the evening at all.
Akitada is just returning to Heian Kyo from several years as a provincial governor, and present the temple on the night of the murder. He hears a woman scream that evening, but it is not until several days later that he learns of the crime. Despite Inspector Kobe's reluctance, Akitada turns his deductive skills to the case, while also trying to remove his own brother-in-law out of a bit of a potentially ruining situation.
Meanwhile, Akitada's servant, the womanizing Tora, decides to prove his deductive prowess, and find "the slasher" that is mutilating women in the Pleasure Quarters. He has seen the slasher's work and is determined to stop him.
As with the first Akitada novel, there is a lot going on. But, Ms. Parker pulls it off with style and intelligence. The descriptions of eleventh-century Japan are detailed, and yet casual so that the reader doesn't feel that history is being pushed down the throat. Akitada and his friends and family are convincingly real and the plot is credible.
On the whole, this five star mystery is a worthy successor to (also five star) Rashomon Gate and Ms. Parker keeps rising in my esteem as a gifted author.
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