Product Description

Told with the beguiling mystery and historical authenticity that distinguish Dale Furutani's samurai trilogy, this second installment in the series brings us further into the heart of feudal Japan. The saga's hero is noble ronin Matsuyama Kaze, a warrior whose sense of honor is as keen as his deadly sword.

In Jade Palace Vendetta, Kaze continues the search to find his lord's missing child. This time out, Kaze is waylaid when he saves a helpless merchant from a vicious gang of killers and soon discovers that everything is not what it appears. He finds himself trapped in a web of deceit and violence, where a veneer of propriety hides great evil. Only Kaze's quick wit and martial skills can save him and keep him on his quest to find the kidnapped child.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #785657 in Books
• Published on: 1999-07-07
• Released on: 1999-06-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The second installment in Furutani's samurai trilogy (following the Anthony Award-winning Death at the Crossroads) has a startlingly modern sensibility. As ronin Matsuyama Kaze follows the Tokaido Road in search of his beloved Lady's kidnapped nine-year-old daughter, he saves the merchant Hishigawa from a gang of bandits. The coarse but enigmatic merchant insists on repaying Kaze with a new sword and invites him to his home in Kamakura, where the merchant lives with Yuchan, his cherished young wife. But something is rotten in Hishigawa's sumptuous villa, and as Kaze acquaints himself with members of the staff, including the chief bodyguard, Enomoto, and the suspiciously powerful female "head of household," Ando, he gradually discovers the depths of the merchant's depravity. Furutani names film director Kurosawa as "an inspiration" for this novel, and it shows. Every gestureAfrom Kaze's "gently cupping" his Lady's face as she dies, to the parrying of swordsAis rendered with the unhurried care of a master craftsman. Even the novel's one truly surprising scene, when Kaze learns the secret of Yuchan's life in the Jade Palace, has a kind of visual poetry, horror and beauty nightmarishly juxtaposed. Like Kaze's miraculous new sword "the Fly Cutter," Furutani's pen is "light and lively," but capable of gross violence when necessary. Yet what makes this novel so poignant is that Kaze's Jedi-like purity and self-restraint seem outmoded even in 1603 JapanAa time in which violence, sex and commerce proliferate, and 50,000 ronin samurai roam the countryside. (July)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Jade Palace Vendetta ($23.00; Jul.; 256 pp.; 0-688-15818-8): The second installment in Furutani's samurai trilogy (Death at the Crossroads, 1998) finds freelance warrior Matsuyama Kaze interrupting his search for his dead lord's son to save merchant Hishigawa Satoyasu from murderous banditsand then getting plenty of chances to regret the act of courage that's landed him in a stew of deception and treachery. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Dale Furutani's first novel, Death in Little Tokyo, was nominated for an Agatha Award, and won Anthony and Macavity Awards for best first mystery. He lives in Los Angeles.

Customer Reviews

A lyrical, engrossing mystery with a fascinating setting.
Like Death at the Crossroads, the first book in Dale Furutani's Samurai Trilogy, Jade Palace Vendetta is set in 17th century Japan and features lyrical prose, haiku to lead in each chapter, and one of my favorite fictional characters, Matsuyama Kaze. (Last name first)

Kaze is that extreme loner--a ronin--a samurai left masterless after Japan's civil war made Ieyasu Tokugawa the triumphant ruler of Japan. In many ways, Kaze reminds me of a Knight Errant from my own country's history--a medieval knight who wandered in search of adventures--a person of a chivalrous and/or adventurous spirit.

Kaze has a prototype in American mystery fiction also. Remember the quote from Raymond Chandler? "Down these mean streets must go a man who is not himself mean." Kaze fits this description, his "mean streets" being the Tokaido Road, one of the most famous roads in Japanese history.

Kaze is a great swordsman, a terrific strategist, an honest and honorable man who is saved from stuffiness by an appealing sense of humor. I'm really in awe of this character, and of the author's amazing feat in creating such an attractive and intriguing character out of someone who goes around killing people with his sword. In this novel, an interesting and convincing distinction is made between killing and murdering. Kaze would never murder, nor would he kill anyone who didn't deserve it, but he does still manage to knock off a considerable number of bad guys.

Early in the novel, Kaze gets involved in a sword fight. I would not have thought I'd ever be compelled to read every stroke of a sword fight, but I watched the whole thing in breathless anticipation of the outcome. It starts like this: "The new attacker brought his sword down, and Kaze brought his blade up to parry the blow. The sword blades, both finely polished and shimmering silver in the murky light, came together with a tremendous clang, and Kaze was pushed back a step by the combined momentum of the running man and the force of his overhead blow."

Lovely stuff.

The year is 1603 and Kaze is continuing the quest that motivated him in Death at the crossroads --searching for the kidnapped daughter of Kaze's former master and his lady. On the way, he becomes involved in other people's problems and finds himself in great danger The reader also learns more about Kaze's past and his training as a samurai in this book, and an enthralling past it is.

I was interested to learn that a merchant in that period was considered one of the lowest of the low. There's a fascinating character named Hishigawa, a merchant who fancies himself a Samurai. A merchant, by the way, could not kill anyone and get away with it, but a Samurai could.

There's a wonderful scene under a waterfall of Kaze's first meeting with the Lady, and another most subtle and touching scene between the two that creates powerful sexual tension out of one small action on the Lady's part.

There's also an appearance by Elder Grandma, who showed up in Death at the Crossroads wearing a headband with the kanji character for revenge emblazoned upon it. Elder Grandma has attitude and she knows what to do with it! In return for information Kaze wants from her, she demands Kaze's assistance in finding out who killed her grandson, Mototane, which Kaze agrees to do. He is as surprised as I was to find out the identity of the murderer!

This novel, like its predecessor, Death at the Crossroads, is a literary novel with a mystery at its heart. It's not a traditional mystery, yet there is a whodunnit in it, and a truly amazing conclusion. It's also a beautifully written, engrossing tour de force.

I can hardly wait for book three.

A fantastic, engrossing historical mystery
For a man who wasn't there, Furutani has an excellent ability to transport a reader to the distant, rather mysterious past.

This is the second in his Samurai trilogy, something I was mournfully aware of as I picked it up. I did not want to be 2/3 of the way done with the books, but paradoxically can't wait for the third!

Matsuyama Kaze is about as untraditional a protagonist of a mystery as it gets-- yet I can think of no one better suited to what he does. He is intelligent, intriguing, focused. He is a master swordsman, and in fact does end up using his sword a good deall, but he is ever honorable and has just the right combination of self-deprication and humor.

A ronin in a tumultuous time, when the Tokugawa shogunate has just come to power, he is a man on a mission: find the daughter of his defeated Lord. In Jade Palace Vendetta, Matsuyama Kaze is drawn almost against his will to defend a traveling merchant. At Hishigawa the merchant's home, he finds more than he expected. The wife of Hishgawa remains hidden, yet the head of the household, a female servant named Ando, avoids Matsuyama Kaze whenever possible.

Meanwhile, the reappearance of a certain memorable trio from the first book of the trilogy, Death at the Crossroads, spurs Matsuyama Kaze to action. He comes closer than ever before to finding the daughter of his Lord, and remembers his few painful encounters with the Lady.

This has got to be one of the best mysteries of the year.

A teriffic historical mystery
Europe considers the year to be 1603, but Japanese see it as the eighth year of Keicho. Life is finally quieting down following the battle of Sekigahara where the Takugawa clan became the rulers of Japan. Fifty thousand samurai were left without a master. Many such as Matsuyama Kaze became ronins, a homeless warrior. In the case of Matsuyama, he searches for the missing nine-year old daughter of his former Lord and Lady.

After three years of futility, Matsuyama finally finds a clue. He now seeks three people who most likely can provide him with answers. As he travels down The Tokaido Road, he rescues a merchant under attack by several bandits. He safely escorts his new but temporary employer home and receives gold in payment.

He goes back to his hunt for the trio of people with answers. When he catches up to the threesome, he learns they have a personal vendetta against the person Matsuyama just rescued. Still, they agree to help him if the ronin can learn what happened to their grandmother's grandson, who disappeared on the merchant's estate.

THE JADE PALACE VENDETTA, the second novel in Dale Furutami's Samurai trilogy, is a remarkable work of historical fiction that brings to life a part of the Japanese heritage not seen by westerners. The descriptions are so well drawn, the audience feels they have been magically transported to an exotic locale. Cleverly integrated within the story line of the well-designed mystery are folklore tales, legends, and customs. Anyone who takes pleasure in a wonderful work of historical fiction that makes a different era and culture come to life needs to read this novel and its predecessor.

Harriet Klausner