BETRAYAL AT IGA

Fiction

Careful what you eat!

BETRAYAL AT IGA:

A Hiro Hattori Novel

By Susan Spann

256 pp. Seventh Street Books

Reviewed by Eric Petersen

Mystery writer Susan Spann is back with the fifth entry (the previous entry, The Ninja’s Daughter, is also reviewed on this site) in her series of mysteries set in a most unusual time and place and featuring a most unusual pair of sleuths.

The time and place is 16^th-century Japan, and the sleuths are Hiro Hattori, an honorable samurai and deadly shinobi (ninja) warrior, and Father Mateo, the Portuguese Jesuit priest for whom Hiro has been hired by an unknown party to serve as a bodyguard and translator.

Hiro is impressed by the foreign priest’s intelligence and courage, while Father Mateo is impressed by the shinobi warrior’s wisdom, compassion, and devotion to honor and justice. The two men have become close friends and acquired well deserved reputations for solving baffling murders and bringing killers to justice.

Betrayal At Iga opens with Hiro Hattori and Father Mateo arriving at the home of Hanzo Hattori – commander of the ninja clans of Iga Province and Hiro’s cousin – for a feast in honor of the peace negotiations that will be held between Hanzo and a party of delegates representing the clans of Koga Province.

Hanzo hopes that by forging a peace treaty between Iga and Koga, a bloody and costly clan war can be avoided. It will be no easy task, as there are Iga clans who don’t want a treaty with Koga, and Koga clans who oppose a treaty with Iga.

Also in attendance at the dinner are Hiro’s mother Midori, his grandmother Akiko, Tane, a mysterious mute orphan girl whom Akiko is training to be a shinobi, and Neko – Hiro’s childhood sweetheart and Hanzo’s bodyguard. 

Neko was Hiro’s true love until she tried to kill him in order to become the top shinobi assassin in Iga. Hiro defeated her, but his body still bears the physical scars from their battle. He’s torn between his love and hate for her. She regrets her past actions and wants his forgiveness. He doesn’t trust her for a minute.

The feast goes well at first, despite the suspicions of some Koga delegates. Then Yoshiro, the leader of the Koga delegation, suddenly starts retching. He vomits and keels over dead in front of everyone. At first, a weak heart is suspected, but Hiro Hattori knows the symptoms of poisoning when he sees them.

It’s soon discovered that someone poisoned Yoshiro with powdered torikabuto, also known as aconite or wolfsbane – a plant whose leaves, stems, and roots are so toxic that they’re capable of killing a man in just one to four hours after ingestion.

With the furious Koga delegates demanding justice under threat of immediate clan war, Hiro Hattori and Father Mateo launch an investigation. It will be the most challenging murder investigation they’ve ever faced, as there are many suspects with different motives, including Hanzo, the Koga delegates, Neko, and even Hiro’s own mother Midori, who prepared the dinner – and is a shinobi assassin with an expertise in poisons.

Hiro knows well that in the world of the shinobi, treachery is the rule rather than the exception. With time running out to avoid a clan war, Hiro’s mother offers to accept responsibility and execution for a crime that she didn’t commit, in order to prevent a war and allow Iga to save face.

Then the killer strikes again, and Hiro just barely saves Koga delegate Toshi, his bodyguard Kiku, and Father Mateo from drinking poisoned tea. Can Hiro and Father Mateo uncover the cunning and ruthless assassin before it’s too late?

Betrayal At Iga is another exciting entry in the popular Hiro Hattori mystery series that’s sure to please fans. Author Susan Spann’s meticulous attention to period detail and talent for creating unforgettable characters makes it work. Highly recommended!

Eric Petersen is an administrator and blogmaster for the Internet Writing Workshop, an international, online writer’s group run out of Penn State University. You can reach him by e-mail at EricPetersen1970@hotmail.com