Hiro Brings Father Mateo Home to Iga Just In Time for Murder at Dinner

Betrayal at Iga by Susan Spann
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When last we left Hiro and Fr Mateo the Shogan has died and various factions are trying to take over. For the safety of the Portuguese Jesuit the two men have taken refuge in the mountainous home of Hiro--his ninja clan in Iga Province. On the day of their arrival a contingent from a neighboring province has also arrived. Although it is not the ideal situation since each new arrival by tradition receives their own welcome dinner, Hartori Hanzo, Hiro's cousin and commander, has no choice but to welcome both parties at the same meal. It would appear that the other guests are four emissaries from Koga Province. Hanzo would like to convince Koga to unite with Iga to show strength in numbers as the Shoganate is settled. Naturally, as often happens to our heros, one of the Koga emissaries dies violently vomiting and struggling to breath during the second course of the dinner!

The remaining Koga immediately accuse the Iga of murdering him and declare it an act of war. Hanzo calms them enough to get their agreement to remain three days while Fr Mateo, not of Iga Province and not Japanese, and therefore neutral, investigates to determine the murderer. So many possible culprits, most of them assassins by training, all of them with either motive or the duty to obey the orders of one with a motive. Hiro's grandmother, mother, former childhood sweetheart, the three remaining Koga, Hanzo himself, any of them capable of the act.

I love the fact that Susan Spann writes so well that the solution is as perplexing for the reader as for the characters. But, in the end, after another two deaths and threats of more, the murderer is indeed identified. A resolution is reached in the negotiations for a pact between neighbors. And, Hanzo with great humor sends Hiro, Fr Mateo, Ana the housekeeper and Gato, the cat on to their next adventure. What he doesn't know is that he is sending the reader along, too--at least this one.

The hardest part is having to wait a year to catch up with them at the sacred Mount Koya.



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