I honestly didn't expect to like this. It started incredibly slow, there were easily twenty "important" characters, and I really didn't like Shin at first. By the end I loved all the relationships happening and that each character was truly their own, and yup I even like Shin!
It's opening night for Daidoji Shin's newest investment a kabuki theater and everything has to go off without a hitch because he's invested not just money but his reputation on this venture. He believes his and the Three Flower Troupe success is almost guaranteed as he has retained Noma Etsuko, the greatest actress of her generation for the lead role, what he doesn't realize is Etsuko is as arrogant and rude as she is talented and beautiful. No one in the troupe likes her and she isn't even trying to get them to. As the curtain rises it becomes clear that something is wrong with Etsuko and when she collapses on stage Shin knows it's more than just a fainting spell, he rushed backstage to watch her breathe her last. Even with his lead actress dead Shin knows the show must go on and he only has a few hours to find her killer in a packed theater of suspects from her fellow actors to the courtiers gathered in the wings, Etsuko pushed one person just a little too far.
I've already touched a bit on the downside of this, it is very slow to start, even when you take into consideration Reynolds had a very large stage to set with how many people wouldn't mind seeing the victim dead it still took forever to get to the actual death scene. After that it starts to get a bit better, the momentum picks up and we find a complicated tale of blackmail involving almost everyone Etsuko touched.
The best part of this book has to be the characters though. I found each and every one of them thoroughly enjoyable and I loved how unique each one was. If I had to pick a favorite though it would be Arban, yes he's a side character but he really was hilarious.
I'd never even heard of this series until I picked up this eArc so I started it pretty late in the series, I'm definitely going to be going back and reading the rest of them though! Shin seems to be a really interesting character and I'd like to know why he's the outcast in his clan.
I want to say thank you to the wonderful people over at NetGalley and Aconyte Books for this
fantastic eArc!
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