Akitada discovers that his appointment as governor comes with baggage in the person of the prime minister's favorite nephew. Then things turn really ugly.He arrives to find a flooded province, mutinous...

When an imperial princess disappears from the Ise shrine, Akitada, new governor of Mikawa Province, has barely had time to settle there with his family before he is dispatched by imperial order on a secret...

After a posting to the northern provinces, Akitada hurries to the deathbed of his mother in the capital. On the road, he spends the night in a monastery where he sees a painted hell screen.  The realistic...

The capital is plagued by unexplained fires, and panic threatens to break out, but Akitada has his own problems to worry about.  His ailing wife expects a child and he loses his job to a political appointee....

Deeply distressed by his wife's adultery, Akitada returns to the capital to patch up his marriage and to help Superintendent Kobe with a case of poisoning. But before he can deal with either, the prime...

In the streets of twelfth-century Kyoto, a homeless boy is brutalized and left to die.  A selfless physician saves him but cannot soften his hardened spirit.  Angry at the world and seeking vengeance...

Intended to become the emperor's concubine, she died at the bottom of a cliff near Prince Atsuhira's private villa.  The palace covered up the scandal.  Months later, Akitada is drawn into the case when...

Fifteen years after the brutal murder of an imperial prince, the crime casts its shadow on Akitada’s family. The case is cold and the assassin dead, but his young wife’s brother wants to marry the assassin’s...

After the loss of his wife and newborn son, Akitada returns home, ostensibly to care for his motherless children, but really to withdraw from the world into his grief. When his friends and family join...

From the Shamus Award winning author comes a new mystery set in Imperial Japan.In the autumn of 1033, Sugawara Akitada spends his last year as governor of Mikawa Province amidst reports of piracy and...

The nuns of one of the Nara temples have misplaced an imperial concubine. Concerned about her well-being, the emperor dispatches Akitada to find her. Akitada decides to take along his new wife, hoping...

On the eve of the Tanabata Festival, a warrior rides into a family gathering to slaughter the members of a high-ranking family and their guests. Akitada, whose best friend is among the victims, searches...

On a visit to a remote mountain region with his children, Akitada hopes to find some peace after the break-up of his marriage. Instead they become involved almost immediately in the random violence that...

Eleven stories about crime and detection in eleventh century Japan are arranged chronologically for  Sugawara Akitada's career. They include diverse cases with clues from moon cakes and Chinese lutes...

Still grieving the death of his small son, Akitada risks career, freedom, and family to rescue an abused child from a life of misery.  The search for the boy's family leads to a harrowing story of love,...

A.D. 1030.  Senior Secretary Sugawara Akitada is recovering from a knife wound and still reeling from the loss of his wife. When the Council of State orders an investigation of the claims of two warring...

On a journey to Naniwa to unmask officials who are selling information to pirates, Akitada witnesses the recovery of a body from the river.  The image of the drowned child prostitute follows him as his...

An unexpected and dubious promotion sends Akitada to Kyushu, an outpost where illegal trade with China breeds treason and murder. Leaving behind his family, he faces obstruction and hostility at his new...

If ever Akitada needed luck, it is now! Things are not going well for him. His new boss is out to get him, his daughter is in love with the wrong man, his ex-wife's affairs come again to haunt him, and...

A governor's life is not an easy one. It is spring when everything starts going wrong for Akitada. The town is full of unruly festival visitors, three brutal murders remain unsolved because the suspects...

In this Shamus-Award-winning short story, the young Akitada becomes a detective when a father asks him to find his daughter. To Akitada’s dismay, the young woman has been murdered and the suspect is a...