Rei Shimura, a twentysomething Japanese American antiques dealer, returns for a third outing in Sujata Massey's series set in Japan (Zen Attitude, The Salaryman's Wife). In The Flower Master, Rei's former boyfriend has left Japan, and her antiques business is only slightly more successful than her love life. Then she's dragooned by her aunt Norie into enrolling at a famous Tokyo ikebana school. Rei's not a natural at the ancient art of flower arranging, but she has a talent for sleuthing, which comes in handy when the head teacher at the Kayama School is found dead--with a pair of flower shears exactly like the ones Norie gave her lodged in her neck.

Rei's efforts to find the killer and unravel the secrets entwining her Tokyo family with the Kayamas move the action along, but the real mystery is whether the budding romance between the California girl who can't quite find her place in the tradition-bound society of modern Japan and the handsome environmental activist slated to take over as iemoto (headmaster) of the school will flower into lasting love. Intrigue and multiple murders spice the romance, along with a fascinating explication of ikebana's enduring history. Rei is a lively protagonist who brings the reader along for an entertaining and subtle lesson in Japanese culture as well as in the dangers involved in digging up buried family skeletons. --Jane Adams


From Publishers Weekly
A volatile yet harmonious mix of ancient Eastern traditions, modern American chutzpah and some inexplicable violence characterizes Massey's hardcover debut (after the mass market The Salaryman's Wife and Zen Attitude). Rei Shimura, 28 and a San Francisco transplant, is a Tokyo antiques buyer who is taking a flower-arranging course at a prestigious ikebana school run by the Kayama family. Of mixed American and Japanese parentage, Rei is constantly upbraided by her staid aunt Norie for her less-than-perfect conduct. But when an instructor at the school, Sakura, is killed, apparently with Norie's gardening shears, it takes Rei's Western impudence and grit and her entire store of charm to get to the bottom of the caseAwhich grows more complex as Rei finds out about Mr. Kayama's unsavory past and her aunt's surprising relationship with him. What's more, Mr. Kayama's son, the heir apparent to the school's directorship, is inexplicably linked to an extremist environmental group trying to shut down the school. The narrative is enhanced greatly by the richly detailed Tokyo setting, from ancient tea houses to arcane rituals involving the cherry blossom festival. With such a gratifying background and such an appealing sleuth, it scarcely matters that an overly melodramatic finale mars the novel's resolution. Agents, Ellen Geiger and Dave Barbor at Curtis Brown. (May) FYI: The Salaryman's Wife won the 1998 Agatha Award for Best First Novel.Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
YA-Enrolled in the Kayama School of Ikebana by her Aunt Norie, Rei Shimura, a Japanese-American antique dealer living in Japan, finds her instructor stabbed with the flower-arranging shears of her trade. Rei's natural inquisitiveness, accompanied by the worry that Norie may be the chief suspect, propels her to become active in the investigation. An arsenic-poisoning attempt, her growing infatuation with a wealthy young Japanese man, and her efforts to determine the true purpose of an anti-flower environmental-rights group lead Rei's determination to solve the crime, which has its origins well in the past and does involve her aunt. The writing is as serene and graceful as the flower arranging while the plot reflects the convolutions of Japanese manners and customs. The whodunit intrigue combined with the little tidbits of everyday Japanese life result in a rich, robust read.Pam Spencer, Young Adult Literature Specialist, Virginia Beach, VA Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Masseys hardcover debut, following the Salarymans Wife (an Agatha winner for Best First Novel) and Zen Attitude, brings back Rei Shimura, a Japanese American antiques dealer and accidental sleuth living in Tokyo. Persuaded by her Aunt Norie to attend the prestigious Kayama school to study the Japanese art of flower arranging (ikebana), Rei becomes enmeshed in tracing the murderer of one of the schools head teachers. She finds numerous red herrings and distractions, including threatening notes and an attempt on her life, an environmental group protesting against the schools use of imported flowers treated with pesticides, and the attractive, billionaire heir to the Kayama holdings, but the ending is sadly murky. Nevertheless, the mystery is enhanced by Masseys familiarity with the cultural milieu and the etiquette conundrums that confront modern Japanese. For discerning mystery fans.Francine Fialkoff, Library JournalCopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Seeing Tokyo through the eyes of amateur sleuth Rei Shimura, a young Japanese American antiques dealer, proves to be a totally captivating experience. Shimura's Japanese side allows her inside the heart of daily life in Tokyo, while her American side gives her enough distance from the world around her to respond with an openness that American readers will appreciate. She shares her discomfort with the classes she is taking at the famous Kayama School, renowned for its teaching of ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging. Her frustration increases when an unfriendly teacher is murdered and Rei's beloved Aunt Norie becomes a suspect; American-minded Rei is outraged at the cold shoulder given to Norie by the other women at the school. Although Massey points out Rei's troubles with fitting into Japanese culture, she also makes it clear that Rei loves Japan and her heritage. A unique plot, an exceptional protagonist, and some subtle cultural lessons are as beautifully arranged as a vase of cherry blossoms. Jenny McLarin


From Kirkus Reviews
Agatha-winner Massey's hardcover debut takes her antiques-buyer sleuth Rei Shimura to Tokyo's Kayama School of ikebana, where her aunt Norie hopes she'll learn the ancient art of flower arrangement. Rei is so untalented in ikebana that she earns a rare public reproof from her teacher, Sakura Soto, and an even rarer public defense from Norie. But she hardly has time to join Norie's plans to apologize by presenting Sakura-san with a pair of scissors before the scissors, 15 minutes after Norie brings them into the school, are found embedded in the teacher's neck. Gravely courteous Lt. Hata, of the Metropolitan Police, clearly thinks Norie is the prime suspect, but as he's murmuring noncommital pleasantries to her, Rei is already wondering about the alternatives. What about Natsumi Kayama, the spoiled heiress of the wealthy school, or her twin Takeo, who can't decide whether he wants to make romantic overtures to Rei or accuse her of stealing his family's ceramics? What about Mari Kumamori, the Korean student whose pottery Sakura-san had smashed? What about Che Fujisawa, the head of Stop Killing Flowers, who argued that Japan's demand for fresh flowers endangered thousands of Colombian workers who came into contact with dangerous pesticides? Massey not only fleshes out each of these subplots but weaves them together to illuminate conflicts of old and new in Japanese manners, morals, family, and love. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Rei Shimura, a 20-something part-California girl, part-Japanese antiques dealer, can't quite find her place in Tokyo society. Lately Rei's love life has fallen off the radar screen, and despite all her efforts, her new business isn't doing much better. At her aunt's insistence, Rei enrolls in a course in ikebana, the famous Japanese art of flower arranging. Little does she realize what a cutthroat class it will be; she's hardly completed a lesson before her instructor is murdered. Rei is ready to track down the killer, but suddenly the case hits close to home. She and her aunt are battered by waves of police questioning, press attention, and mysterious warnings. Skeletons are rattling in her family's closet, and Rei must open the door to a dangerous secret.

FROM THE CRITICS

New York Times Book Review

[The action never upstages] the local customs, which Rei observes closely and interprets with...quick wit...

NY Times Book Review

[The action never upstages] the local customs, which Rei observes closely and interprets with...quick wit...

Library Journal

Masseys hardcover debut, following the Salarymans Wife (an Agatha winner for Best First Novel) and Zen Attitude, brings back Rei Shimura, a Japanese American antiques dealer and accidental sleuth living in Tokyo. Persuaded by her Aunt Norie to attend the prestigious Kayama school to study the Japanese art of flower arranging (ikebana), Rei becomes enmeshed in tracing the murderer of one of the schools head teachers. She finds numerous red herrings and distractions, including threatening notes and an attempt on her life, an environmental group protesting against the schools use of imported flowers treated with pesticides, and the attractive, billionaire heir to the Kayama holdings, but the ending is sadly murky. Nevertheless, the mystery is enhanced by Masseys familiarity with the cultural milieu and the etiquette conundrums that confront modern Japanese. For discerning mystery fans.Francine Fialkoff, Library Journal

School Library Journal

YA-Enrolled in the Kayama School of Ikebana by her Aunt Norie, Rei Shimura, a Japanese-American antique dealer living in Japan, finds her instructor stabbed with the flower-arranging shears of her trade. Rei's natural inquisitiveness, accompanied by the worry that Norie may be the chief suspect, propels her to become active in the investigation. An arsenic-poisoning attempt, her growing infatuation with a wealthy young Japanese man, and her efforts to determine the true purpose of an anti-flower environmental-rights group lead Rei's determination to solve the crime, which has its origins well in the past and does involve her aunt. The writing is as serene and graceful as the flower arranging while the plot reflects the convolutions of Japanese manners and customs. The whodunit intrigue combined with the little tidbits of everyday Japanese life result in a rich, robust read.-Pam Spencer, Young Adult Literature Specialist, Virginia Beach, VA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

NY Times Book Review

[The action never upstages] the local customs, which Rei observes closely and interprets with...quick wit...Read all 6 "From The Critics" >

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Sujata Massey at her masterful best.
 — Lisa Scottoline