Laura Joh Rowland

A fortress in the sky... Japan, 1701. A woman is brutally attacked within a bamboo prison as clouds swirl around her head. Meanwhile, at Edo Castle, samurai detective turned chamberlain Sano Ichiro is suspicious of his old rival, Yanagisawa, who has been oddly cooperative since his return from exile. But just as …

The Snow Empress is a 2007 mystery novel written by Laura Joh Rowland, set in the Genroku of historical Japan It is the 12th book in the Sano Ichiro series. It combines a murder mystery with a portrayal of the strained, and often xenophobic relations between the Japanese rulers and the aboriginal inhabitants of …