So many books, so little time

This tale has two settings….

During the age of the Black Death, we meet Jewish physician Alejandro Canches; Europe is devastated by the plague, and few have guessed the cause or how to avoid it. In the near future, we meet Dr. Janie Crowe, who lives with her small extended family group in isolation; a bio terror attack has laid waste to the whole world. Separated by six hundred years, neither doctor knows who can be trusted and who might be an enemy.

While he travels through plague ridden Europe in the 14^th Century, Alejandro Canches tries to wrest his adopted daughter from the clutches of her real father, King Edward of England. In the 21^st Century, Janie Crowe possesses the original journal written by Canches, and treasures it not only as one of only a few remaining books, but also as scientific information that may aid her at some point in her work to fight this new global epidemic. Both doctors try to protect themselves and their families, while attempting to maintain their professional ethics. Ultimately, Crowe must fight for the life of her son, who is not only “the future” but who is also her deepest, darkest, secret. There are more connections running between these two eras than a journal, (but to talk about them would be an end spoiler).

The book reads as one chapter from one era, then the next chapter the other era. This style keeps it very clear where you are, and you always want to finish one chapter to find out what is going to happen where you left off in the previous chapter. In other words, this is a real page turner. The tale of the 14^th Century, however, is the much stronger, more descriptive story, and slightly overshadows the 21^st Century. There were a few points where my disbelief was suspended just a little too far, but it was easy to forget about them in the richness of the story.

Titled The Physician’s Tale, this account does not resemble Chaucer’s. Geoffrey Chaucer does play a rather large role in the book, however, and it is fun meeting him. This is a great book, containing mysteries of science, history, and love. At 514 pages, it is a little long for a typical suspense/mystery novel, but it is well worth the time to read.

Laura Joh Rowland is one of my favorite mystery authors; she always has a complex, absorbing plot, a cast of characters you can love or hate, and beautifully descriptive prose. But what really makes her books special is the historical accuracy and detail.

The year is 1698. After conquering warlords in most of the territory known today as
Japan, the Tokugawa government has established a strict administrative system that ensures social and economic stability.

In Red Chrysanthemum, the samurai detective Sano Ichirō has taken the place of his arch enemy Yanagisawa, and risen to the position of Chamberlain, second in command to the shogun. While Sano is overworked and facing his ever plotting enemies from all directions, his pregnant wife Reiko is found naked and bloody next to the murdered and mutilated corpse of Lord Mori, who was rumored to be planning to overthrow the ruling regime.

This is the eleventh in the series of the rise in political and cultural stature of the kimono draped hero, Sano. There is molestation and murder of young boys, plots to overthrow the shogun, voices of the dead speaking through a medium, and the reappearance of the dastardly ex-Chamberlain Yanagisawa. Not surprising, detective/samurai Hirata has moved into his mentor’s position of sōsakan-sama – Most Honorable Investigator of Events, Situations, and People.

For the first time in their marriage, Sano questions the honesty of his wife Reiko. The always dutiful samurai, Hirata, is torn between his job and dedication to Sano, and his study of the mystic martial art of dim-mak. Amazed at her lack of memory about the event that found her with a murder weapon in her hand, the very pregnant Reiko wonders about the devotion to the shogun of her beloved husband.

As usual, Rowland has created an in depth, evocatively detailed picture of Japanese society in the seventeenth century. This book is shorter than the previous stories about Sano, character development relies quite a bit on the previous novels, and the dialogue is slightly less realistic. It is still an excellent read, however, and a captivating look at a violent and dangerous society that closed its doors on the rest of the world for many centuries.