Laura Joh Rowland
Author of Shinjū
About the Author
Historical mystery author Laura Joh Rowland writes the popular Sano Ichiro series, which is set in 17th-century feudal Japan and features a samurai detective protagonist. Before becoming a full-time writer, Rowland held several positions in chemistry, microbiology, and engineering. She studied at show more the University of Michigan and earned a B.S. in Microbiology and a Master's degree in Public Health. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by Laura Joh Rowland
Sano Ichiro 1-16 1 copy
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Rowland, Laura Joh
- Legal name
- Rowland, Laura Joh
- Other names
- Роулэнд, Лора Джо
- Birthdate
- 1954
- Gender
- female
- Education
- University of Michigan (B.S., microbiology)
University of Michigan (M.Sc., public health)
New Orleans Academy of Fine Art - Occupations
- chemist
microbiologist
sanitary inspector
quality engineer - Agent
- Pam Ahearn (The Ahearn Agency)
- Short biography
- Laura Joh Rowland is the daughter of Chinese and Korean immigrants. She grew up in Michigan and was educated at the University of Michigan, where she graduated with a B.S. in Microbiology and a Masters in Public Health. She lives in New Orleans with her husband, Marty, and their three cats. My road to publication was almost as accidental as my road to becoming a writer. In 1992 I attended the New Orleans Writers Conference. Everyone who signed up and paid the registration fee got to submit an excerpt from a manuscript to be read and critiqued by one of the editors who would be speaking at the conference. My excerpt from Shinju happened to go to an executive editor at Random House. He liked it and asked to see the whole manuscript. Eventually, he bought it. That was 12 years and 10 books ago.
- Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- Michigan, USA
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA - Map Location
- USA
Members
Reviews
A fun read, sometimes overly overwrought, but exciting at the end. Charlotte gets to reconcile nicely with her real professor in Brussels and experience reciprocal love. I think her real-life husband appears briefly as an annoying guy. The author's note at the end says who is historically real and who is make believe.
The only book I've read by Charlotte Brontë is Jane Eyre. It seems to me that the relationship there that is most like the relationship between Charlotte and John Slade is the show more one between St. John Rivers and the woman he loves but will never marry.Charlotte's decision to not marry John Slade is perhaps very modern and feminist, but also, sadly, quite wise. Like St. John, she realizes that the lives they want are just too different. The quote from The Rainmaker by Lizzie that she can be Melisande for a night, but Lizzie for her whole life seems apt. A nice touch is Charlotte saying "Reader, I let him go." It's reminiscent of Jane Eyre saying, "Reader, I married him." (The exhibit I saw at the British Library with the original manuscript was opened to this page.) show less
The only book I've read by Charlotte Brontë is Jane Eyre. It seems to me that the relationship there that is most like the relationship between Charlotte and John Slade is the show more one between St. John Rivers and the woman he loves but will never marry.
I've been wearying of mediocre historical mysteries lately, going so far as to create a list of writers I want to remember to avoid. Laura Joh Rowland is NOT one of those writers. Garden of Sins provides a satisfying blend of fun, menace, and historical scandal that make it well worth reading.
This novel set in the Victorian era includes the central characters, the Barretts (she's a crime-scene photographer; he's a police officer), and their investigative "team" that includes a gay aristocrat show more and a former street child. There's also evil Inspector Reid who has it in for Sarah Bain Barrett. He's trying to frame her father for a decades-old murder and threatening to frame her husband for more recent ones.
The action shifts between settings—sometimes focusing on Sarah's father's defense team, sometimes returning to Sarah's childhood neighborhood, and often taking place in Crenmore Gardens, a derelict amusement garden with multiple offerings, some more legal than others. Readers get to experience a train wreck, investigate the death of a female Pinkerton agent, discover a dark side to one member of the royal family, search for a missing American heiress, and face a possible reemergence of Jack the Ripper.
In other words, the action is non-stop. If you like historical mysteries, this is a series you'll want to check out. I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the Opinions are my own. show less
This novel set in the Victorian era includes the central characters, the Barretts (she's a crime-scene photographer; he's a police officer), and their investigative "team" that includes a gay aristocrat show more and a former street child. There's also evil Inspector Reid who has it in for Sarah Bain Barrett. He's trying to frame her father for a decades-old murder and threatening to frame her husband for more recent ones.
The action shifts between settings—sometimes focusing on Sarah's father's defense team, sometimes returning to Sarah's childhood neighborhood, and often taking place in Crenmore Gardens, a derelict amusement garden with multiple offerings, some more legal than others. Readers get to experience a train wreck, investigate the death of a female Pinkerton agent, discover a dark side to one member of the royal family, search for a missing American heiress, and face a possible reemergence of Jack the Ripper.
In other words, the action is non-stop. If you like historical mysteries, this is a series you'll want to check out. I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the Opinions are my own. show less
An encompassing Victorian murder mystery!
Rowland has that special gift of placing the reader steadfastly not only in the times and location of the story but firmly in the mind of the major character.
Sarah Bain, daughter of a wanted child killer and a gifted photographer is now herself a photographer, who along with her friends, street urchin Mick O'Reilly and Lord Hugh Staunton, is working for the Daily World newspaper.
Always there's a delicate balance between finding the story that will show more satisfy Sir Gerald Mariner and his paper's readers, and having to scrape a living.
It's 1890 and Sarah is called to the scene of a dead naked woman sprawled on the banks of the Thames River, surrounded by raucous witnesses. "The river laps at her, covering her legs up to her knees with foam. She looks like a mermaid that has washed ashore—a wounded mermaid." Startlingly, Sarah discovers she is barely alive! The injured victim remains in a coma. The story is broken under the heading Sleeping Beauty.
And this is the beginning of not only a tortured search for the woman's identity, but the pursuit of Sarah by the dreadfully vindictive Inspector Reid who has a deep and abiding hatred and grudge against her. Fueled by the promotion of Sarah's fiancé Detective Sergeant Thomas Barrett over himself, Reid does all he can to bring Barrett down and implicate Sarah as a murderer.
Whilst uncovering Sleeping Beauty's secrets, Sara discovers more about her own family--all disturbing!
I do admire the way Rowland leads us along, revealing more information about Sarah and her birth family, and about the disparate people she has now made her own family. Brick by brick, a more complete picture of Sarah's background is emerging. As surprising to Sarah as it is to us.
Rowland so excels at this type of complex storytelling, that revels in wicked reversals and charged situations. A first rate twisty, dark Victorian murder mystery that kept me breathless.
A Crooked Lane ARC via NetGalley show less
Rowland has that special gift of placing the reader steadfastly not only in the times and location of the story but firmly in the mind of the major character.
Sarah Bain, daughter of a wanted child killer and a gifted photographer is now herself a photographer, who along with her friends, street urchin Mick O'Reilly and Lord Hugh Staunton, is working for the Daily World newspaper.
Always there's a delicate balance between finding the story that will show more satisfy Sir Gerald Mariner and his paper's readers, and having to scrape a living.
It's 1890 and Sarah is called to the scene of a dead naked woman sprawled on the banks of the Thames River, surrounded by raucous witnesses. "The river laps at her, covering her legs up to her knees with foam. She looks like a mermaid that has washed ashore—a wounded mermaid." Startlingly, Sarah discovers she is barely alive! The injured victim remains in a coma. The story is broken under the heading Sleeping Beauty.
And this is the beginning of not only a tortured search for the woman's identity, but the pursuit of Sarah by the dreadfully vindictive Inspector Reid who has a deep and abiding hatred and grudge against her. Fueled by the promotion of Sarah's fiancé Detective Sergeant Thomas Barrett over himself, Reid does all he can to bring Barrett down and implicate Sarah as a murderer.
Whilst uncovering Sleeping Beauty's secrets, Sara discovers more about her own family--all disturbing!
I do admire the way Rowland leads us along, revealing more information about Sarah and her birth family, and about the disparate people she has now made her own family. Brick by brick, a more complete picture of Sarah's background is emerging. As surprising to Sarah as it is to us.
Rowland so excels at this type of complex storytelling, that revels in wicked reversals and charged situations. A first rate twisty, dark Victorian murder mystery that kept me breathless.
A Crooked Lane ARC via NetGalley show less
Bundori, the second book in the Sano Ichirō series, finds our hero ensconced in Edo Castle as the Shogun’s ‘Most Honourable Investigator of Events, Situations, and People’. Despite this increase in fortune, the death of his father and the fact that there is little to do in this role of sōsakan-sama makes Sano lonely and unhappy. The murder of a loyal vassal to the Shogun and the nature of the crime - the head is mounted as a trophy, a Bundori, a tradition of war but not in times of show more peace - offers work for Sano, a way to fulfil his dying father’s wish and to cement his standing in society. The first death is quickly linked to a previous case and after another Bundori murder, the fear and reaction of the populace pushes Sano to try to apprehend the killer fast.
The investigation of this murder again allows the author to carry the reader to a far distant past, and with the same aplomb as her first story, the life of 17th century Japan is brightly portrayed across the pages. With the help and hindrance of the castle’s inhabitants Sano must unravel past occurrences to determine the whys and wherefores behind the murders while avoiding his own demise. Threatened early in his investigation, mourning the loss of his father and losing his social status through the intrigues of powerful enemies, Sano diligently and doggedly applies himself to the task, thus taking the reader on a journey through the history, social mores and etiquette of the times. Detective work is very different in medieval Japan, though corrupt officials, fawning sycophants, intelligent archivists, diligent researchers, shadowy ‘ninja’ abilities of deduction and political machinations would all find a place today.
I was unsure who the true murderer was until close to the end of this book and, hence, was entertained throughout. I got very frustrated with Sano as he clung to Bushido: the Way of the Warrior despite the adverse effects on his quest for the truth; but this is what the author was trying to convey - and she succeeded splendidly as I longed for this century’s logic to prevail. I savoured learning more of the history behind the story and the lives of the people in that age. I wouldn't want to live in that time but I delighted in reading about it.
(Dec 25, 2007) show less
The investigation of this murder again allows the author to carry the reader to a far distant past, and with the same aplomb as her first story, the life of 17th century Japan is brightly portrayed across the pages. With the help and hindrance of the castle’s inhabitants Sano must unravel past occurrences to determine the whys and wherefores behind the murders while avoiding his own demise. Threatened early in his investigation, mourning the loss of his father and losing his social status through the intrigues of powerful enemies, Sano diligently and doggedly applies himself to the task, thus taking the reader on a journey through the history, social mores and etiquette of the times. Detective work is very different in medieval Japan, though corrupt officials, fawning sycophants, intelligent archivists, diligent researchers, shadowy ‘ninja’ abilities of deduction and political machinations would all find a place today.
I was unsure who the true murderer was until close to the end of this book and, hence, was entertained throughout. I got very frustrated with Sano as he clung to Bushido: the Way of the Warrior despite the adverse effects on his quest for the truth; but this is what the author was trying to convey - and she succeeded splendidly as I longed for this century’s logic to prevail. I savoured learning more of the history behind the story and the lives of the people in that age. I wouldn't want to live in that time but I delighted in reading about it.
(Dec 25, 2007) show less
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