Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Acknowledgements
CHAPTER ONE - THE TWO CLERKS
CHAPTER TWO - TEMPTING SOGA’S WRATH
CHAPTER THREE - GHOSTS
CHAPTER FOUR - THE BLIND STREET SINGER
CHAPTER FIVE - THE SHACKLES OF LIFE
CHAPTER SIX - KOBE
CHAPTER SEVEN - OLD MEN
CHAPTER EIGHT - THE NUN
CHAPTER NINE - FORTUNE TELLING
CHAPTER TEN - THE HIDDEN GARDEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN - THE B OY
CHAPTERTWELVE - THE BEAUTIFUL LADY YASUGI
CHAPTER THIRTEEN - THE STOREHOUSE
CHAPTER FOURTEEN - BROKEN TIES
CHAPTER FIFTEEN - CAUGHT
CHAPTER SIXTEEN - PURPLE AND WHITE WISTERIA
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - TO THE DEATH
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - THE EVIL OMEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN - HASEO’S SWORD
CHAPTER TWENTY - HASEO’S CRIME
CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE - SMOKE OVER TORIBENO
CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO - HIROKO
CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE - KOBE
CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR - EVENING BELLS
HISTORICAL NOTE
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First published in Penguin Books 2009
Copyright © I. J. Parker, 2009
eISBN : 978-1-101-05094-1
1. Sugawara Akitada (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Murder—Investigation—
Fiction. 3. Exiles—Fiction. 4. Smallpox—Fiction. 5. Japan—History—Heian
period, 794-1185—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3616.A745C66 2009
813’.6—dc22 2008043475
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am indebted to a number of friends and fellow writers who were kind enough to read and make comments on this novel, among them especially John Rosenman and Jacqueline Falkenhan.
To my great delight, I also worked with a new editor, Rebecca Hunt—an association that was not only a pleasure but helped make this the best of my novels so far.
My debt to my agents, Jean Naggar, Jennifer Weltz, and Jessica Regel, increases with every book and every contract. They are simply the best in the world.
CHARACTERS
Japanese family names precede given names.
MAIN CHARACTERS
CHARACTERS CONNECTED WITH THE CASES
OTHERS
ALSO: Assorted noblemen, thugs, merchants, soothsayers, beggars, peasants, servants, and children.
PRONUNCIATION OF JAPANESE WORDS
Unlike English, Japanese is pronounced phonetically. Therefore vowel sounds are approximately as follows:
“a” as in “father”
“e” as in “let”
“i” as in “kin”
“o” as in “more”
“u” as in “would”
Double consonants (“ai” or “ei”) are pronounced separately, and 
“g” as in “game”
“j” as in “join”
“ch” as in “chat”
This fleeting world is
A star at dawn,
A bubble in a stream,
A flash of lightning
In a summer cloud,
A flickering light,
A phantom,
And a dream.
—THE DIAMOND SUTRA
TEMPLE BELLS
The fifteenth day of the Fifth Month was the day Tomoe died. It was also the day of her birth, but otherwise unremarkable. She knew her way, had walked it daily now for two years, always before dark, because then she could dimly make out shapes.
She passed the restaurant, caught the rich smell of fish soup, and felt a fierce craving for it and for a cup of wine to celebrate. But there would be no wine, not even the cheapest, and no fish soup either, though there was a silver coin among the coppers she had earned today. She clutched her lute to her chest to feel the pressure of the coins inside her robe.
As she passed under the market gate, she was jostled by someone. Suddenly, a hand came from behind and felt her breast. She swung around with an angry cry and pulled the scarf from her face. The man who had touched her so familiarly cursed. He had not fondled a pretty young harlot, but an ogress. Tomoe was tempted to hiss and bare her teeth at the unseen tormentor, but she resisted.