Way of the traitor - Laura Joh Rowland

Nagasaki, 1690. An exotic, volatile city where a corrupt government fears foreign invasion like the plague and rules with an iron fist. Spies lurk in every corner waiting to accuse anyone of following the way of the traitor - a crime punishable by death. It's the last place Sano Ichiro, the Shogun's Most Honorable Investigator of Events, Situations and People, wants to be sent.

But when the mutilated body of a Dutch trader washes up on Nagasaki shore, the Samuri detective finds himself leading a murder investigation that could thrust Japan into war. Framed for treason, Sano must find the killer to prove his own innocence... before his head dishonourably decorates the town square.