Hoobler, Dorothy & Thomas. In darkness, death.

Penguin Putnam, Philomel. 208p. c2004. 0-399-23767-4. $16.99. J *

The suspenseful adventures of Seikei, 14-year-old samurai apprentice to Judge Ooka in early 18th-century Japan, continue in this sequel to The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn and The Demon in the Teahouse, though this volume can stand alone. When a samurai lord is mysteriously murdered while under the shogun's protection and only an origami butterfly is left behind as a clue, Judge Ooka is called in to solve the crime and he enlists Seikei to help him. Disguised as a pilgrim and accompanied by a ninja, Seikei travels to a province in the far north to ascertain the maker of the paper from which the butterfly was created. Along the way, Seikei learns about ninjas and also about the dire condition of the impoverished peasantry. When he takes the peasants' complaints to their lord, he is thrown in prison, but luckily rescued by his resourceful ninja companion. In the end, brave Seikei must hike a sacred mountain and confront a famed but dangerous ninja alone in order to discover who had hired this ninja to kill the samurai lord, and why.

As with its predecessors, this is an exciting mystery/historical novel, full of details of the shogun era in Japan. The plot moves swiftly and the information on samurai and ninja warriors will captivate readers, especially boys. A brief Author's Note at the end gives some background on the era and on Judge Ooka, a real-life magistrate, "the Sherlock Holmes of Japan." Paula Rohrlick, KLIATT