Rating: 
Summary: Missing the Japanese Connection
Review: Although I really enjoyed the book, I found myself wanting more of Japan. As a confirmed Japanophile, I was thrilled when I discovered this series years ago. I have followed Rei's adventures and eagerly awaited the release of each new book. I was hoping the Bride's Kimono would be her only departure from Japan, but it looks like Rei is in America for a while to come.
I will continue to read any new books in the series because the characters and plots are always entertaining.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but not the best
Review: As much as I love the Rei Shimura books, this one was a letdown...Rei takes on the issue of WWII slave labor and reparations to the victims, which is interesting because it's not something a lot of western readers may be familiar with. However, the book would benefit from a sharper editor; quite a few key plot points are first mentioned as if the reader had already known about them (like Rosa's name, the identity of Morita, "my father told me about the gold"). I spent a lot of time flipping back, trying to figure if I missed something. If you've never read a Rei Shimura book before, don't start with this one because you won't see how great a storyteller Sujata Massey can be. If you're already into the series, this one is reasonably entertaining but not as insightful into daily Japanese life as they normally are.
Rating:
Summary: It had to happen sooner or later
Review: Even the best authors write at least one book that's not quite up to their usually excellent standard. Let me start with stating, that i am a devoted fan of Massey's work, and her heroine Rei Shimura. The next installment in the series chronicling Rei's mis-/adventures as a struggling antiques dealer and reluctant sleuth is always an eagerly awaited pleasure for me. That said i must confess i was a bit disappionted by this, the latest volume. As has been stated by some of the other reviewers, what makes Masseys books such a treat isn't so much the cases themselves, as the fascinating glimpses she gives us of life in japan (as experienced by a westener) and japanese culture in general. Since The Samurai's Daughter for a large part plays in San Francisco i had already resigned myself to my 'nippon fix' being somewhat diluted, but what was offered was even less than i had feared. Don't get me wrong, it's great to find out a bit more about the Shimura family and Rei's pre japan life, but i'm afraid it isn't interesting enough to occupy half a book with i'm afraid. Still this would be forgiveable, would it serve as set up for Rei's return to japan, and were the crime investigated truly engrossing, but unfortunately neither is the case. The end of the story sees Rei back where she started from, unlikely to return to her home of choice before the end of the next book, and the 'case', never Masseys strong suit, is i'm afraid an utter, incoherent mess, that completely failed to grip me (it's finally 'solved', if you will call it that, not so much through logical deduction, but rather a chain of lucky coincidences and the elimination of all other possible suspects aka authorial handwaving). Massey can do, and in the past has done, _much_ better. About Rei's 'great epiphany', that belonging to a particular nationality/race doesn't automatically make you a virtous, better human being, and that the japanese people, like everybody else, are made up of individuals, both good and bad, the less said the better. In conclusion it's a book for Massey's fans(and i will definitely buy the next one, and the one after that, and...), but newcomers should start with her earlier works, and, if Rei is their kind of sleuth, buy this volume once it comes out in paperback.
Rating:
Summary: Please... more about Japan!
Review: I feel the same way about this series that many reviewers seem to: a lot of what makes these books interesting is their glimpses into modern-day life in Japan. So, there is a significant loss when instead a novel (this one) takes place primarily in San Francisco. However, the mystery was still intriguing and I did learn interesting tidbits about Japanese culture through this book. I just hope the setting returns to Japan & stays there!
Rating:
Summary: Please... more about Japan!
Review: I feel the same way about this series that many reviewers seem to: a lot of what makes these books interesting is their glimpses into modern-day life in Japan. So, there is a significant loss when instead a novel (this one) takes place primarily in San Francisco. However, the mystery was still intriguing and I did learn interesting tidbits about Japanese culture through this book. I just hope the setting returns to Japan & stays there!
Rating: 
Summary: Great addition to one of my favorite series
Review: I just finished this latest addition to Sujata Massey's Rei Shimura mystery series. I thought it rivaled her other novels, and even bettered a few of them. A change of setting was a new twist Massey gave the reader in this book, splitting Rei's time between her hometown of San Francisco, and her beloved, adopted home in Tokyo. I thought this split helped character development - the reader got to know Rei and her background even more than in previous novels. Her love life has finally stablized with on-again, off-again beau, Scottish man Hugh Glendinning. While Rei is visiting her parents in SF, she is working on a family history document. Hugh is a central character as he navigates his way through a class action lawsuit against former WWII slave laborers. As her involment in both projects grow, Rei comes to understand her own roots even more fully. If you've never read one of Massey's books before, this will be a treat (and go grab the others, too!). If you are looking for guns, violence, and hard language, look elsewhere. Massey's lack of these things makes her novels a haven for me! If you have enjoyed her novels before, this one, I believe, will not be a disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable, but perhaps not Massey's best book
Review: I love Massey's stories which usually take place in an idealized Japan. I was not as enchanted with the portions of this book that took place in America. The ending was not what I was hoping for and left me thinking that there should be more.
Rating:
Summary: Enojoyable reading w/ accurate modern Japanese psyche
Review: I started reading this book only because my husband had it. I am a Japanese woman living in the US, and I found the author, Sujata Massey adequately depicting modern Japanese culture and psyche in this book. I thought the book was very entertaining as well, but the motive of the killing in this case was too bizarre for my taste. This is the least favorite of my husband among her other books. I have read latest two books of the series and I wish I had read in order. Still, it is easy to follow the big picture of what is going on with the main character, Rei's life.
Rating:
Summary: a wonderful reading experince
Review: On the whole, Rei Shimura should be walking on air right now. Rei and her the love of her life, lawyer Hugh Glendinning, have finally worked past all their issues and differences, and it looks as if their relationship is (finally) progressing along the right lines (Hugh's even been given a posting by his firm to work in Japan for a while). True, Rei's father seems a little less overjoyed by all this. Especially when it comes to light that Hugh has become involved in a class action suit on behalf of those who had been forced into slave labour for Japanese companies during World War II. Rei herself is torn between wanting to see justice done and being terribly afraid at what secret wounds would be reopened if this case ever came to trial. Rei is also desperately afraid that Hugh may be in over his head, a feeling that grows once she meets the other lawyers involved in the case. And when one of Hugh's clients is murdered and another war victim is savagely beaten, Rei realises that she will have to do some hard investigating of her own in order to discover who is trying to keep the survivors silent as well as protect Hugh's interests... The Rei Shimura mysteries have always been a favourite of mine. They're clever, absorbing and really well done. I especially enjoy the little bits of information that Sujata Massey peppers the book with on the Japanese culture, manners and history. And after sighing with relief at the end of the previous Rei Shimura installment ("The Bride's Kimono") where Rei and Hugh finally reunited, I was glad that things didn't fall apart for them in this installment. Though I am a little saddened to discover that Rei and Hugh will be living in the US for a while. One of the joys about this series is that it is set in Japan. Sujata Massey has to send Rei and Hugh back to Japan soon! But to get back to "The Samurai's Daughter," I found it to be a truly engrossing and intriguing read. I read it in one go -- it was so very, very readable. And while some aspects were easy to guess, other aspects of the mystery kept me guessing for quite a while. Poignant, suspenseful and humourous in turns, "The Samurai's Daughter" is a read not to be missed.
Rating:
Summary: Never a Dissapointment
Review: Rei Shimura is a character that I feel strongly drawn to. She's just an awesome representation of my niche in my generation. That being said, being drawn to a main character isn't enough to make a great book. However, Massey, as usual, delivers both a likeable/identifiable character and a darn good mystery.
In this installment Rei is back home in San Francisco and this time she is learning more about her family and her once again boyfriend, the delicious Hugh Glendinning. Of course, knowledge for Rei always leads to painful chaos and "The Samurai's Daughter" isn't any different.
This is another great addition to a series that always creates a concrete and fascinating local and an interesting mystery all while progressing the main character(s).
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