Ghost In Tokaido Inn

You've got to love Sonlight curriculum. My elder child is currently studying world history circa the 17th and 18th Centuries. We've been immersed in European attempts to colonize the New World, reading stories about Spaniards, English and French folks all seeking their fortunes. Then this

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week--BAM!--we get a mystery story set in 18th Century Japan. There was nary a foreigner in sight. Anyway, that in itself doesn't make this a good book. This is a good book, of course. I'd advise everybody who has a free afternoon to check it out. It's the tale of Seikei, the fourteen year old son of a tea merchant. He is traveling with his father on his way to Edo, the capital of Japan. His father is looking to open a shop there and make the big bucks. Seikei really doesn't want to be a tea merchant, like dear old Dad, but society is such that the station of life into which you are born is the station where you stay. One night during the trip, he and his father are staying at the same inn as a powerful daimyo when the latter has a priceless ruby stolen from him. The local judge--Judge Ooka--arrives on the scene and it soon comes out that Seikei had seen the thief. Of course, it was in the middle of the night, and Seikei claims that it was a horned demon, but that's no reason to doubt his testimony, right? Well, surprisingly enough, Judge Ooka accepts Seikei's story and enlists him to help track down the thief. What follows is an enjoyable tale. As far as the mystery goes, it was only fair, but the Hoobler's handling of setting and character more than makes up for it. I'm strongly tempted to seek out the sequel.
--J.

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Classified as young adult fiction, but I think it's appropriate for younger kids as well. The protagonist is the son of a merchant (a disrespected class since they are seen as valuing money too much) who dreams of becoming a samurai (a position you must be born into). On a business trip with his

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father (in the 1700s), they stay at an inn where a jewel is stolen from a samurai. A judge is called to decide the case, and our protagonist starts off on a journey with the judge to solve the mystery.

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It's a fairly well written book, and although you do get the solution as to who the culprit was, the main question was: why they did what they did. It was certainly interesting and it focused a lot more on Seikei and how he managed to help Judge Ooka capture the thief and find out the real reasons

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why the crime was done the way it was done. I think it was well written due to the fact that it paid close attention to detail and it was filled with good amounts of description to give the reader the feel for the time period and how it was like back then. It provided the reader with several tidbits of background information, so the reader won't be lost in all the historical aspects of the book. However it's well done so that you do end up getting a mini history lesson without being overwhelmed with information.

Although a mystery, it also did focus on the development and growing maturity in Seikei. Dreaming of becoming a samurai, he gets taught by several characters on how to behave and even fight like one. His behavior develops from a dreamy boy to someone slightly more mature and takes this samurai business more seriously. Although geared towards younger children, there are certain parts of the book where it seems more appropriate for young adults instead. That's just my opinion about it though.

The plot was well done. It mixes the element of paranormal and with mystery and has it's similarities with Sherlock Holmes where there's always a logical explanation to everything. Judge Ooka steps up on this aspect and is shown to be a character with a quiet form of intelligence and stays in the background while Seikei does the actual work himself. In many ways they compliment each other perfectly and make a great mystery solving team.

Overall, I'm definitely picking up the next book after this one. This series has a great potential and has done a good job with this book. Pick this up for a good quick mystery read, with a small history lesson of Japan under Shogun rule.

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While attempting to solve the mystery of a stolen jewel, Seikei, a merchant's son who longs to be a saurai, joins a group of kabuki actors in 18th century Japan.

Wonderful tale for young adults from 18th century Japan about revenge and honor. Seikei, the 14 year old son of a tea merchant, gets caught up in an investigation of the theft of a valuable ruby at the inn where he and his father were lodging. He ends up following a chief suspect in the case, a

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kabuki actor named Tomomi. What follows are several adventures all leading up to the solution of the case, and more importantly, to the motive for the crime. In addition to an intriguing plot, the setting of the story is carefully crafted, and while reading this short book, I felt like I had stepped into 18th century Japan. I look forward to reading the next in the series.

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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

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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.

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

While attempting to solve the mystery of a stolen jewel, Seikei, a merchant's son who longs to be a samurai, joins a group of kabuki actors in eighteenth-century Japan.

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