Still, I couldn’t resent Kendall for being one of the Howards, for as busy as my cousin was with the babies, running her household, and fund-raising for her favorite political hopefuls, she hadn’t forgotten me. Kendall was the only relative who’d sought me out since I’d arrived in Washington a few months earlier, and I was grateful for that.
“How are the twins?” I avoided asking about her husband, Win, whom I couldn’t stand. Win was a real estate agent and saw everyone as a potential target. The fact that Hugh and I hadn’t been interested in buying a McMansion in the suburbs was still a point of contention.
“The babies are sick with strep. It’s highly unusual in children under three, but my two have it, of course!”
“You must be tearing out your hair running from one to the other,” I sympathized.
“At night, yes. By day our au pair is playing Nursie, thank goodness. I’ve escaped to the gym and had an hour to spin and then an hour for weights. I’m starved. Could you make a twelve-thirty lunch?”
“I don’t know. The weather’s kind of bad. I was thinking of doing some things around the apartment—”
“Rain’s good for you, honey!” Kendall snorted. “And it’s not just a gals’ lunch at the coffee shop I’m talking about. It’s at a good restaurant with Harp Snowden.”
“You socialize with Harp Snowden?” I was amazed. Harp Snowden was a Democratic senator representing California, a liberal stalwart who voted against each and every war proposed. He was one of the few politicians who’d entered the new century unabashedly pro-environment, pro-immigrant, pro-peace. Kendall’s meeting with him was interesting; she was a conservative Democrat, practically Republican.
“It’s a new relationship. When he suggested lunch at Mandala—one of my favorite places—I knew he was on the make. I thought you might like to come along, too.”
“What do you mean, he’s on the make?” I asked. Kendall had been married for five years. I’d thought she was still crazy about Win.
“Not that way, silly. He wants me to raise money for him, you know, get involved with his campaign in this area, especially reaching into northern Virginia. It’s kind of a challenge, not being a Republican there, although he does have the history of actually having fought in Vietnam and lost a foot, which earned him a Purple Heart. He’s kind of like John McCain meets Howard Dean meets the late Paul Wellstone.”
Kendall was like that. She talked in shorthand, clichés, expressions that I was just beginning to learn everyone used, 24/7, in America. “But you’re from Maryland,” I said. “And if Senator Snowden and you are both Democrats, what are you doing talking about going after Republicans?”
“It’s possible to get people to shift their vote, if the candidate is right,” Kendall said. “Of course I’m a Marylander, but I went to boarding school and college in Virginia, which practically makes me a citizen. I know everyone, from the horsey set in Charlottesville to the techies in Reston. Harp desperately needs a friend like me.”
Everyone meant people with money, I thought cynically. “So how much money do you have to give the senator to become his friend?”
“An individual can’t give more than two grand because of all the soft-money reforms, but people like me can encourage our friends to give money. Lots of people, lots of money. You weren’t here during the McCain campaign, but I threw a dinner for him that people are still talking about.”
“McCain wasn’t a Democrat,” I pointed out. “What are you, a switch-hitter?”
“Usually I describe myself as a conservative Democrat with Independent leanings,” Kendall said. “Anyway, I promise you lunch won’t be too political. I want you to relax. You can talk with him about Japan. He did some kind of Zen yoga thing there when he was in his twenties. Maybe you have some friends in common.” She paused. “Oh, Rei. About your clothes?”
“Yes. What should I wear?” A private lunch with a senator was a first for me.
“Think Democrat, but dress Republican. Got it?”
Books by Sujata Massey:
THE PEARL DIVER
ISBN 0-06-621296-0 (new in hardcover from HarperCollinsPublishers) Just as Rei Shimura starts to settle down in Washington, D.C., things start to go haywire. First, her cousin vanishes, and then Rei is drafted to help find a Japanese war bride who disappeared thirty years earlier.
THE SAMURAI’S DAUGHTER
ISBN 0-06-059503-5 (paperback)
Rei Shimura enters the world of war reparations and family secrets when her lawyer-boyfriend’s plaintiff is murdered and Rei begins to uncover unsavory facts about her own family’s actions during WWII.
THE BRIDE’S KIMONO
ISBN 0-06-103115-1 (mass market paperback)
Rei Shimura, acting as courier in the transport of a set of priceless early 19th-century kimonos, embarks upon the adventure of a lifetime, involving stolen artifacts, a wacky tour group of Japanese women, and a very dead body.
THE FLOATING GIRL
ISBN 0-06-109735-7 (mass market paperback)
Moonlighting as an arts writer, Rei Shimura is set to interview a young comic book artist in Tokyo. But the artist has vanished, and his best friend turns up dead in the Sumida River, dressed in the gaudy costume of the super-heroine.
THE FLOWER MASTER
ISBN 0-06-109734-9 (mass market paperback)
Rei Shimura has her hands full with an ikebana class (Japanese art of flower arranging) when one of the teachers is murdered.
ZEN ATTITUDE
ISBN 0-06-104444-X (mass market paperback)
Bad karma comes with a to-die-for chest of drawers as Rei goes from murder suspect to murder target while staying on the grounds of the Zen temple Horinji.
THE SALARYMAN’S WIFE
ISBN 0-06-104443-1 (mass market paperback)
On a visit to an ancient castle town, Rei Shimura is the first to find a high-powered businessman’s wife dead in the snow.
Acknowledgments
I am grateful to the many kind and wise people who wrote to me, talked with me, and manipulated my pressure points as I wrote The Samurai’s Daughter. In various parts of Asia, journalists Dan Bloom and Mark Schreiber, translator Akemi Narita, and author Christopher Belton were always able to find answers to difficult questions. I received a fascinating introduction to the world of Japanese acupuncture from licensed acupuncturist Zoe Brenner in Bethesda, Maryland. Shizumi Manule brought me to the hospitable and elegant Urasenke Tea Society branch in Washington, D.C., where I experienced a beautiful lesson in tea. Mike Tharp, West Coast bureau chief of U.S. News & World Report, was a well-spring of information on the issue of war reparations. For help with the grave Buddhist precepts, I thank Drew Leder, professor of philosophy at Loyola College in Baltimore, and for insight into blindness, Aryan Shayegani, an ophthalmologist at Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins. My dear husband, Tony Massey, believed in the project, often relinquishing his leisure hours in order to give me the time to work. My sister, Rekha Banerjee, kindly opened her home to my two-year-old daughter, Pia, and me during a research trip. My mother, Karin Banerjee, kept Pia content so that I could get around San Francisco, and Donhatai Jirasingh kept her happy and entertained at our home. Consuelo Ramirez, cabbie extraordinaire, taught me the ups and downs of San Francisco’s streets. Helen Lee Dellheim shared legal expertise and friendship, as did many writer friends, including Marcia Talley, John Mann, Karen Diegmueller, Janice McLane, and Laura Lippman. My editor, Carolyn Marino, and my agent, Ellen Geiger, sent me on a mission to revise and shape the book into all that it could be—I am grateful for the advice.
While Shimura is a well-known name in Japan, Rei’s ancestors and their actions exist only in my imagination—as does any relationship to the Imperial Family. For fascinating insights and inspiration regarding the historic elements of the novel, I credit Herbert P. Bix’s Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, Sterling Seagrave and Peggy Seagrave’s The Yamato Dynasty, and Rosy Clarke’s Japanese Antique Furniture.
A be
loved friend of mine from the mystery bookselling community, Paige Rose, passed away right as I was finishing my first draft of this book. I had always meant to dedicate a book to Paige, but sadly, didn’t do it fast enough. So this book is for Paige, a year too late.
About the Author
SUJATA MASSEY was a reporter for the Baltimore Evening Sun and has spent several years in Japan teaching English and studying Japanese. She is the author of The Salaryman’s Wife, Zen Attitude, The Flower Master, The Floating Girl, and The Bride’s Kimono. Her books have garnered numerous awards, and critics have called her stories captivating, her writing clear-eyed and unique, and her characters complex, appealing, and wryly humorous. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland, with her family.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.
PRAISE FOR Sujata Massey and Her Novels
The Samurai’s Daughter
MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD NOMINEE
“Massey deftly weaves fascinating historical and cultural detail into a suspenseful plot.”
—Booklist
“An absorbing cross-cultural puzzle.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Combining the legal mystery with Japanese history and antiques is a winning stroke for Ms. Massey. Intricately plotted and filled with Asian lore and customs, this charming love story is spiced with courage and danger.”
—Dallas Morning News
“The characters and details of Japanese culture and history are as appealing as ever, and fans will relish this while awaiting another one.”
—Library Journal
The Bride’s Kimono
AGATHA AWARD NOMINEE
“Brimming equally with Japanese cultural lore and Rei’s sharp comments on love, money, death, and silk.”
—S. J. ROZAN, author of Winter and Night
“Astute character development and fascinating use of Japanese history.”
—Booklist
“The Bride’s Kimono takes the reader on another humor-filled thrill ride with a heroine for the new age, Rei Shimura, the Japanese-American antiques dealer-cum-sleuth who must navigate between two worlds and two lovers—and around a corpse—as she solves the mystery of stolen antiquity.”
—STEPHEN HORN, New York Times–bestselling author of In Her Defense
The Floating Girl
EDITOR’S CHOICE, Booklist AGATHA AWARD NOMINEE
“Sujata Massey is one of the rising stars of the mystery genre.”
—Denver Post
“Another must-read from an author who has honed the skill of captivating and educating her readers at the same time.”
—Booklist
“Novelist and former Baltimore Evening Sun reporter Sujata Massey takes readers on a thoughtful tour of contemporary Japanese youth culture in the accomplished murder mystery…. Deftly sketching everyday life in parts of Tokyo rarely seen by tourists, Massey tells a series of overlapping stories about identity, the popular media, and the hilarious frenzy of contemporary comic book culture.”
—Publishers Weekly
The Flower Master
MACAVITY AWARD WINNER
“The Flower Master is Sujata Massey at her masterful best.”
—LISA SCOTTOLINE
“Massey not only fleshes out each of [the] subplots but weaves them together to illuminate conflicts of old and new in Japanese manners, morals, family, and love.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Her best yet. Intricate plotting and writing as beautiful as the ikebana described herein.”
—LAURA LIPPMAN, author of Every Secret Thing
“A totally captivating experience…. A unique plot, exceptional protagonist, and some subtle cultural lessons are as beautifully arranged as a vase of cherry blossoms.”
—Booklist
“What Sujata Massey excels in, as evident from two previous Rei Shimura thrillers, is the arranging of plot details, interwoven with sprays of scene and freshly cut dialogue.”
—Baltimore Sun
Zen Attitude
ANTHONY AND EDGAR AWARD NOMINEE
“A gifted storyteller who delivers strong characters, a tight plot, and an inside view of Japan and its culture.”
—USA Today
“A very entertaining mystery.”
—Publishers Weekly
The Salaryman’s Wife
AGATHA AWARD WINNER
“Sly, sexy, and deftly done, Wife is one to bring home.”
—People Page-Turner of the Week
“Massey gives us a clear-eyed look at Japanese daily life. An impressive first novel.”
—Baltimore Sun
Other Books by Sujata Massey
The Bride’s Kimono
The Floating Girl
The Flower Master
Zen Attitude
The Salaryman’s Wife
Coming Soon
The Pearl Diver
Credits
Cover design by Peter Martin
Cover photograph by Creatas
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
THE SAMURAI’S DAUGHTER. Copyright © 2003 by Sujata Massey. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
First Perennial edition published 2004.
The Library of Congress has catalogued the hardcover edition as follows:
Massey, Sujata.
The samurai's daughter / Sujata Massey.—1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-06-621290-1
1. Shimura, Rei (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Women detectives—California—San Francisco—Fiction. 3. San Francisco (Calif.)—Fiction. 4. Americans—Japan—Fiction. 5. Japanese Americans—Fiction. 6. Antique dealers—Fiction. 7. Tokyo (Japan)—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3563.A79965 S26 2003
813'.54—dc21
2002068893
ISBN 0-06-059503-5 (pbk.)
04 05 06 07 08 /RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
EPub Edition © JUNE 2012 ISBN: 9780062218926
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