Laura Joh Rowland is a detective/mystery author best known for her series of historical mystery novels set in the late days of feudal Japan, mostly in Edo during the late 17th century. Her protagonist is Sano Ichiro, a samurai and minor official who, by the end of the first novel, became the trusted chief investigator for the fifth Tokugawa Shogun, and by the tenth novel, was promoted to a very high office. She began the series in 1994 with the book Shinju ; the series now includes more than a dozen books.
