(# 22 in the Akitada series)
He arrives to find a flooded province, mutinous nobles, and an empty tribunal, the previous incumbent having fled from a hostile population. When the P.M.'s nephew disappears, a frantic search of an abandoned temple turns up a dark and violent secret. Murders multiply: a merchant finds his wife's headless body and a man is tortured to death. Add two seductive young women who have plans of their own, and both Akitada's career and his marriage are threatened.