Review – Seven Paths to Death (Samurai Mysteries, Book 6) by Dorothy and Thomas Hobbler (4/5 stars)

This is the final book in the Samurai Mysteries series.  It is pretty much similar to previous books in the series in style and plot pace.  So if you were a fan of previous books you’ll like this one.  I really enjoy all the interesting historical facts about Japan and love that the authors tell you what is real history and what is made up at the end of the book.

In this book Seikei is drawn into a mystery involving a man found near death with part of a map tattooed on his back.  Ends up this map is tattooed on seven different men’s backs.  Seikei and Judge Ooka need to find out where the map leads if they are going to unravel a plot to overthrow the shogun.

As I said this is pretty much on par with previous books.  There is not as much adventure in this book, it is more of a mystery.  Seikei spends a lot more time with Judge Ooka than by himself.  In this book we learn a lot about the history of the yakuza and the Japanese art of tattooing.  The writing style is somewhat simplistic, which matches the previous books in this series.

Overall it was a great mystery with some very interesting historical facts about Japan thrown in.  The ending wraps the story up nicely, but there really isn’t anything pointing at this book being the last book in the series.  I keep wondering if they will write more books, but on their website it states that this is the last one.  I would recommend this book for younger readers (elementary school to middle school) who like mystery and action.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– The 100+ Book Reading Challenge