The Ninja’s Daughter: A Hiro Hattori Novel

In 1500s Japan, a young woman has been strangled to death on a riverbank, but because she’s the child of entertainers, the authorities have no interest in investigating. The only justice she may find will have to come from Father Mateo, a visiting priest from Portugal, and Hiro Hattori, the shinobi assigned to keep the priest safe. As they pursue dwindling leads, they find their lives in danger from corrupt police and a struggle for political power. Will the young woman’s killer be brought to justice, and at what cost to Mateo and Hiro?

Susan Spann’s Shinobi Mystery series takes some huge steps forward narratively in The Ninja’s Daughter, a mystery rife with coincidences and suspects, and easily the most challenging case the heroes have yet encountered.

Although many mystery stories benefit from having the overarching plot line cross with that of the book’s episodic plot, The Ninja’s Daughter suffers for it, as the investigation of the girl’s murder becomes an afterthought to the reader (even though it’s never portrayed that way by the protagonists). All of the twists and red herrings start to feel like filler, the plot spinning its wheels before the inevitable conclusion wrought by the main arc is unleashed.