The Hell Screen

Book 2, in the Sugawara Akitada series Some sites will show this book as the 5th in the series. The Hell Screen, set in eleventh century Japan, features government official Sugawara Akitada and occasional amateur detective. It is a solid multilayered mystery with detailed attention to Ancient Japan,......more

The Akitada series takes place in eleventh century Japan, before the infamous Edo (Shogun) period when much of what we think of as Japanese was set in cultural stone, and much restriction became the norm. This is long before my recent The Toki-Girl and the Sparrow-Boy, which takes place in the Meiji......more

read July, 2004 (so sorry to bring in the old stuff) Frankly, all of the action in this book really starts in the last few chapters. Sure, there's a nasty murder in the first chapter, to whet the reader's appetite, and then there's another one a little further on down the road, but the bulk of this b......more

Thrilling, detailed but in my opinion a bit too long. Good read......more

This is one of those books where I look at everyone else's ratings, look at my two stars and scratch my head wondering what I was missing. I just did not enjoy this book. It started promising, despite complete confusion on my part. I downloaded the audiobook, having had Hellscreen by Akutagawa recomm......more