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Start giftingThe Fire Kimono
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn moreJapan, March 1700. The strife between Sano Ichiro, the samurai detective who has risen to power in the shogun's court, and his enemies has escalated to the brink of war. Called away from the crisis by the shogun's orders to investigate a mysterious skeleton, Sano and his wife, Reiko, must confront dangerous, long-buried secrets. What was Sano's own mother doing on the night when a burning kimono ignited a blaze that nearly destroyed the city? The shogun gives Sano and Reiko just three days to find out—or risk losing not only their position at court but their families' lives as well.
Laura Joh Rowland is the author of the acclaimed Sano Ichiro mystery series and the Victorian mystery series, among others.
Bernadette Dunne is the winner of more than a dozen AudioFile Earphones Awards and has twice been nominated for the prestigious Audie Award. She studied at the Royal National Theatre in London and the Studio Theater in Washington, DC, and has appeared at the Kennedy Center and off Broadway.
Reviews
“Pure entertainment...It takes us to an exotic time and place and overwhelms us with intrigue, romance, adventure, and frequent bloodshed.”
“An exciting and enthralling story set in a vividly rendered setting. I was captured by it from the moment a Shinto priest, buffeted by winds, his robe flapping ‘like a swan in mad flight,’ discovers those buried remains heaved from the earth.”
“Outstanding…Rowland has given her hero his greatest challenge yet in this suspenseful look at feudal Japan.”
“Rowland brings Sano, his wife, a cast of supporting characters, and 18th-century Japan to life with a sweet, simple writing style.”
“The novel displays Rowland’s gifts for seamlessly incorporating period detail and historical information into the traditional mystery format. Fans of historical mysteries—at least those few who haven’t already sampled this series—should be enthusiastically steered in Ichiro’s direction.”
“The historic setting is mesmerizing. Great escape fiction.”
“Dunne tells this story in graceful and genteel tones. The characters represent a broad spectrum—from toddlers to octogenarians, as well as both genders. Dunne creates unique personas for each, providing continuity in an otherwise winding narrative that alternates between the present and scenes that occurred forty-three years earlier.”
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