The Flask of the Drunken Master by Susan Spann Review & GIVEAWAY!

I received this book for free from TLC Book Tours for review consideration, opinions expressed are 100% my own. This post contains affiliate links as indicated by an asterisk. Purchases from these links provides a small commission to me at no extra cost to you.

The Flask of the Drunken Master by Susan Spann
Series: Shinobi Mysteries #3
Published by Minotaur Books
Publication Date: July 14, 2015
Genres: Drama, Fiction, Mystery or Thrillers, World or cultural
Pages: 304
Format: eARC
Source: TLC Book Tours
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Goodreads

Synopsis from Goodreads:

“Master ninja Hiro Hattori and his companion Father Mateo are once again pulled into a murder investigation when a rival artisan turns up dead outside of their friend Ginjiro’s sake brewery. They must find the killer before the magistrate executes Ginjiro, seizes the brewery, and renders his family destitute. All the evidence implicates the brewer, yet with Kyoto on alert in the wake of the shogun’s recent death, Ginjiro’s is not the only life at risk.

As tensions rise, Hiro investigates a missing merchant, a vicious debt collector, a moneylender and the victim’s spendthrift son. But when a drunken Buddhist monk insists on helping Hiro and Father Mateo solve the crime, the monk’s bumbling threatens to foil the investigation altogether. With time running out, Hiro once again gambles on a clandestine mission to find the truth. Except that this time, Hiro isn’t the only one with a secret mission to fulfill.

Flask of the Drunken Master is the latest entry in Susan Spann’s thrilling 16th century Japanese mystery series, sure to gain new fans and please old alike.”

My Thoughts:

It’s not often that the more I think I about a book, the more I liked it but such is the case with The Flask of the Drunken Master by Susan Spann. It should come as no surprise to my frequent readers that I love reading and learning about different countries and cultures. I am, after all, a co-host for the Travel the World in Books Reading Challenge.

When I select a book for our challenge, I hope it quenches my curiosity for the culture. Honestly, sometimes I’m disappointed when the book speaks little to the atmosphere, culture and customs of the country. However, The Flask of the Drunken Master was rich in imagery and culture, teaching me more about the life, expectations and etiquette of the samurai and shinobi and the class system during that period. I found the period fascinating and wanted to learn more about it.

If you saw the author’s guest post on my blog a few weeks back, you’ll see what inspired Susan to write this book and her amazing research trip to Japan. The pictures from her trip really helped me envision what was happening in the story. The book even had a dictionary of Japanese terms and a cast of characters reference guide to help keep the names straight (I would love if all books had a cast of characters, wouldn’t you?). 

I wondered how coming in at the third book of the series would go but thankfully, I was not lost or disconnected from the characters at all. I was able to pick up on Hiro and Father Mateo’s unique relationship. Hiro serves the Jesuit priest and their conversations about duty, honor and their religious and cultural beliefs are interesting. They are a clever team, often playing good cop, bad cop either on purpose or unwittingly to get the answers they sought.

This book reminded me of An Unwilling Accomplice by Charles Todd. Both books are clean mysteries, the violence not too graphic and the story centered around solving a murder rather than the shock and awe of the crime and investigation. I will have to go back and read the other books in the series, Claws of the Cat and Blade of the Samurai. The Flask of the Drunken Master is a book I would let my teen read and think he would enjoy learning about the samurai culture in Japan. 

Setting:

Japan – qualifies for my Travel the World in Books Reading challenge goals

Tour Schedule: