Sujata Massey: Zen Attitude

A very interesting mystery from Sujata Massey, involving an antique chest with a secret history and a series of murders that seem to dog its previous owners. Antiques dealer Rei Shimura finds herself in the middle of the investigation when she purchases the chest on behalf of a client only to discover that it has been tampered with - and people are dying because of it.

In addition to the basic mystery plot, there was just way too much ficus on rei's relationship with Scottish lawyer Huge Glendinning, the too macho for words gaijin she hooked up with in the first novel in the series. Rei thinks she loves him, but his attitude toward her makes me cringe.one could hope to see less of him in future books, however, as he has gotten tired of sticking out like a tall, red-headed sore thumb in Japan and wants to go home to Scotland, while Rei does not want to leave her ancestral home, and appears to have learned that giving up her independence to live with Glendinning was a bad idea. Hoping that absence will make the heart grow cooler and Rei will find someone less patriarchal to have fun with, I look forward to the next mystery.