I just couldn't get into this one. The writing style bothered me and kept drawing me out of the story. ( )

I just couldn't get into this one. The writing style bothered me and kept drawing me out of the story. ( )

Even though it is a good story and well written, I got bogged down with the vocabulary and strange names.
( )

Lots of action and Japanese history. Definitions of Japanese words were often clunky. Interesting characters and a good intro to feudal society and kabuki.

There is little I can say about this book beyond “wow.” I can easily see how The Ghost in Tokaido Inn became an Edgar Allan Poe Award finalist. Judge Ooka, one of the major characters, did once exist and is called the Sherlock Holmes of Japan. Though this story is a work of fiction, it is thanks to the quality of the telling that we can imagine living in the age of the Samurai, running through the old streets and following in the footsteps of his assistant as he tracks down the thief of a special jewel.

The plot unfolds naturally and gradually at first, allowing us to explore the mystery within the mystery: How did Judge Ooka solve the crime after hearing only one eyewitness account of the night’s events? As the characters develop, the reader finds that they are caught up in a dramatic finale that springs to the eye as easily as it draws in the mind.

An excellent beginning to the Judge Ooka series that will make you want to read more, even once the crime is solved. ( )