Customer Reviews

The Masuda Affair (A Sugawara Akitada Mystery)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have read the entire Akitada series and just finished reading The Masuda Affair. I didn't think it was possible to like Akitada more, yet the author has found a way to make him more human/flawed and yet more enjoyable as the protagonist than ever. In my opinion (and in my experience, at least as a person of Japanese descent), he struggles as a Japanese and as a male to express his deep feelings of grief, sorrow and loneliness. Some of his expressions are misunderstood or are taken in the wrong way by others. He continually struggles in his career to be respectable and successful. Surrounding him are his loyal retainers Tora, Gemba and Seimei. While trouble follows Akitada everywhere and past villains return to torment him, he finds his way with intellect and fine detective work to solve several murders and determine who is at fault.

If you haven't read the previous books in this series, I encourage you to find and read them! The author has another novel for this series waiting in the wings and I look forward to reading the next installment.

I love mystery series and the Sugawara Akitada series is by far my favorite. All the books in this series are page turners. I could not put down The Masuda Affair--it was a great read. I'm anxiously waiting for the next book in the series.

This series continues to offer excellent stories, sense of time and place and especially, character development.
I look forward to more adventures in the next book .

There are many historical mystery series out these days and a lot of them are very strong, but I don't think any of them quite capture the enjoyment of reading I.J. Parker's 'Sugawara Akitada' series. These books are not only very accessible for a historical series, the characters are memorable and fully developed and continue to develop as the series goes. There's historical detail aplenty but it never bogs down or gets in the way of the great stories and characters (you don't have to know anything about Japan or it's history to enjoy these books).

'The Masuda Affair' is the 7th entry in the 'Akitada' series, set in 11th century Japan during the Heian period. Sugawara Akitada is a minor official in the Ministry of Justice in Japan's capital. He's from a noble family which has since fallen on hard times and Akitada is living in his family's dimminshed estate and is estranged from his wife, Tamako. Akitada and Tamako are still feeling the loss of their son who died of smallpox and after meeting an abandoned child who reminds them of the one they lost, Akitada gets entangled in a plot involving the tituler Masuda family. Also involved in this conflict is Tora, Akitada's long-time friend who's new bride is being pursued by a powerful man. The story mixes this series usual plot-twists, action and historical intrigue while continuing to develop the characters and their lives in believable and exciting directions.

As I've mentioned before, a lot of the joy of these books is in the characterizations of it's main protagonists. Akitada isn't just a progressive-minded hero living in a repressed and ignorant culture. His sharp-minded and inquisitive approach to situations land him in trouble, not only with his superiors but his relationships with his friends and family. He's an imperfect and very human character, even with his high morals and sense of honor. Tora, Akitada's friend and servant (and where a lot of the action and sex comes from) is a more warm-hearted and good-humored contrast to Sugawara's sometimes cold logic.

While each of I.J. Parker's Sugawara Akitada books can be read stand alone (and each has it's own unique story to tell) I still recommend starting at the beginning and working your way through them chronologically: THE DRAGON SCROLL, RASHOMON GATE, BLACK ARROW, ISLAND OF EXILES, THE HELL SCREEN, THE CONVICT'S SWORD, THE MASUDA AFFAIR, and recently THE FIRES OF THE GODS. This really is one of the best historical-series around, mystery or otherwise with not a single weak entry. If you like good stories with well-developed characters and a sense of mystery and adventure (with rich but not overbearing historical detail) then you should give these books a shot.

Like the other Sugawara books I. J. Parker keeps the hero interesting in many ways. A crime mystery series that continues to deliver. This book is best when read as part of the series but does work on its own.

When I received this book I was floored when I opened it. The text is in a huge point size- reminds me of the books you read in 1st grade. There was no indication that this was a large print book and I can only surmise that the publisher tried to extend a short story into a full length book.
I haven't read the book as the type is so distracting and I don't think I will...

Started the Sugawara series thanks to a friend who brought THE HELL SCREEN with her when she visited me in Japan. I was hooked by the settings & cultural descriptions, which were very relevant and accurate and visible in modern Japan, and even more so by the characters & story-telling! I am impatiently waiting for more Akitada Sugawara novels!

I was looking at the description of this new book to buy it in case I cannot get my hands on it from a library, when I saw what I first thought were negative reviews, and I reacted without thinking. This is such a good series. As literature, maybe not the best, although the writing is good and there is much consideration of life, philosophy and art in them. The characters seem well drawn and complete, and the tension is always tight. The only flaw I can find is the continuous emphasis on the terrible life of poverty most of the Japanese seemed to have to bear in that age and the greed and insensitivity of most of the upper classes. Yet the descriptions are simply wonderful and so real it feels like taking some time on the Hollideck of the Star Ship Enterprise. The plots are all good, believable, and yet surprising in the end. Furthermore, there turn out to be more than one hero, although they all more or less exist only because of the protection of Sugawara Aketada who is never presented as perfect but whose own foot slips now and again. If you like mysteries in which the detective has to find the answers to questions without the use of cell phones, lab tests and complicated technology, using only his wits, and if you like to slip into another time and place, especially if you like the spell of Japan, you will love this series. Please read them in order, but give them a try.

I have read all of the books the series, and each book gets better and better. The character development is very extensive and it builds with each new installment of the series. I could go on and on about the book but I need to start reading the next one! Thank you I.J.!

This is my favorite of the Sugawara Akitada mysteries--they're all excellent historical mysteries, well written and suspenseful, but this one is a genuinely moving novel. Estranged from his wife, after losing his only child to smallpox, Akitada finds an abandoned child along the road....