The Samurai's Octopus

For readers who loved the intrigue of Shogun and the women in Memoirs of a Geisha . . .

It’s the year 1784 and the shogun rules with an iron fist . . . except within the walled pleasure quarter of Yoshiwara. Inside the Great Gate, samurai law does not apply, and it’s women who pull the strings. Magistrates bow to courtesans, prostitutes snub potentates, and those with the most power beg favor from those with the least. There is no greater spectacle in all the land.

But beneath the surface r...