Daughter of the Sword

Daughter of the Sword by Steve Bein is an interesting blend of police procedural and historical with a little tiny bit of fantasy thrown in & is set in Japan.  The book is told in alternating chapters so it is not a historical police novel but rather alternates between the historical story and the modern investigation.    In the modern section a police detective, Mariko Oshiro, is investigating an attempted robbery of a Samurai sword that soon spins into something bigger.  In the historic sections the story of 3 “fated” swords is followed (all of which come to be involved in the modern investigation).  The historic sections cover a number of different times in Japanese history from 1308 ce up to World War II.

The book was actually quite interesting for its depiction of Japanese life both in the past and now.  I found the historical sections more interesting then the modern ones but enjoyed the modern sections too.  Definitely a book I’d recommend taking a look at.