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.

The beautiful, mysterious women of Japan are being killed one by one. The famous samurai Judge Ooka knows he will need help to solve the crimes, so he turns to his newly adopted son, fourteen-year-old Seikei. Determined to prove his worth as a samurai, Seikei goes undercover as a teahouse attendant in the exotic "floating city" of Yoshiwara, where demons lurk among the pleasure seekers and no one is safe-not even a samurai.

Samurai Lord Inaba has been murdered in his sleep. To make matters worse, the crime took place under the protective eye of the Shogun himself. This is a case for Judge Ooka, Japan's own real-life Sherlock Holmes. And, of course, for his 14-year-old apprentice, Seikei. Their only clue-a bloodstained origami butterfly-leads them on a journey filled with mysterious shape-shifting ninjas, vengeful peasants, and a power-hungry killer you might never suspect. If Seikei is to help solve this crime, he must first survive. Edgar Award finalists Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler drench this story with drama and suspense in this, their third mystery featuring the famous magistrate Ooka and his young samurai apprentice.

When fourteen-year-old samurai apprentice Seikei is sent on a mission by the shogun, he believes it to be a simple one: convince the fourteen-year-old emperor to resume his ceremonial duties. But then the emperor is kidnapped, and Seikei finds himself in the middle of an elaborate plot to overthrow the shogun. With the help of a mysterious warrior, he must rescue the emperor before the sacred sword—said to be unbeatable in battle—falls into the wrong hands. Seikei knows he must succeed, or bloodshed will stain the land.

For Seikei, the adopted son of the famous samurai Judge Ooka with a knack for solving mysteries, a trip home to see his real family isn’t cause to celebrate. His brother has become mixed up with local criminals who use the family’s tea shop as a front for a smuggling operation. His sister, meanwhile, has fallen in love with an apprentice to a puppet master who stands accused of murder. Somehow, Seikei senses the two are connected. His loyalties divided between his new family and his old, Seikei must find the real killer before it is too late. Set against the eerie backdrop of the old Japanese puppet theaters, where life-sized marionettes were controlled by black-cloaked men, Edgar Award-winners Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler render their most satisfying mystery to date.

When a man with a tattoo covering his back is found floating in the water at the rice ceremony, Seikei and Judge Ooka know it's a bad omen?but not how dangerous the mystery behind it is. Soon, there are seven of these men with partial tattoos on their backs. All different, all seemingly unrelated? except for the tattoos, and the fact they keep turning up dead. It becomes apparent these men are not just carrying body art, but a treasure map?to what? And why is carrying this map so mortally dangerous? Seikei must find and assemble all seven tattoos to find the answer?and the path to a most terrifying destination. Another sensational samurai mystery by the masters of the genre: Edgar Award?winning duo Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler.

Adopted samurai Seikei goes to the shogun's palace to view a demonstration of European medicine. Instead, he sees a murder as one of the foreigners dies of poisoning. Another of the foreigners wants to take away the young nephew of the dead man, but the boy is reluctant. He does not speak Japanese, so to keep him out of harm's way, Seikei's foster father tells Seikei to take him to the foreigners' base at Nagasaki. What seems like a simple task soon turns into a dangerous one, for many people seem to want the boy for their own peculiar purposes. Seikei has to use all his ingenuity and daring to carry out his mission and find the murderer as well.