BookLife Reviews
05/15/2023
Kyoto comes to vivid life in this polished, thoughtful thriller, the debut novel from Copeland, a critic and editor who has translated several works of Japanese literature into English. That experience informs the mysteries of The Kimono Tattoo, which finds delicious suspense and surprise in the streets and garment manufacturers of Kyoto, and in the pages of a new work by Shōtarō Tani, an esteemed writer who, years after vanishing, wants narrator Ruth Bennett to translate his unpublished, unfinished, and narratively unstable latest novel. Presumably autobiographical, that manuscript, for Ruth, becomes “a dark door.” She’s jolted by a scene in that work of a heavily tattooed woman apparently murdered—a woman named for the author Shōtarō’s real-life sister, Satoko, a designer and businesswoman who had once revolutionize the kimono industry but now has long been absent from public life.
Even more jolting: news announcements of the discovery of a real-life corpse, possibly Satoko. Ruth grew up in Kyoto, and soon she sets herself to making sense of this mystery, especially attempting to unravel possible messages in tattoos described in the text. That demands research and investigation that will send Ruth into the worlds of skin art, kimonos, and even the yakuza. Copeland excels at capturing the intuitive work of ferreting out urgent secrets, presenting detective work and translation as fascinatingly related skills: Ruth must probe the curious facts until she reveals truths that a killer prefers to keep hidden.
The investigation comes with a cost: a threat to innocents Ruth cares about. The novel’s literate and humane, leaning on the “literary” in “literary thriller.” It’s also gripping, with deftly plotted twists of bursts of deadly action in both the narrative present and in the fiction-within-the-fiction that, increasingly, seems like it might not be fiction at all. Copeland handles the milieu with sensitivity and an eye for the killer detail, and an infectious sense of cultural discovery, even as the suspense tightens.
Takeaway: Gripping literary thriller about translation and possible murder in Kyoto.
Comparable Titles: Suki Kim’s The Interpreter, Amy Tasukada’s The Yakuza Path series.
Production grades Cover: A Design and typography: A Illustrations: N/A Editing: A Marketing copy: A
From the Publisher
"A delicate and intricate novel, pieced together like a mosaic, that just blew me away. The author shows a strikingly deep knowledge of Japanese literature and kimono culture."
-Natsuo Kirino, Edgar-Award nominated author of OUT, Grotesque, and other novels
"An intriguing mystery wrapped inside the beautifully rendered world of Kyoto. Rebecca Copeland's intimate knowledge of Japanese culture and custom shine throughout this novel. "
-Susan Perabo, author of The Broken Places and The Fall of Lisa Bellow
"It is not simply an exciting page-turner you cannot put down, but also an intricate thriller uniquely informed with the "kimono and tattoo philosophy," and immensely enriched by the protagonist's double perspective as both an insider and outsider-an American scholar living and working in Japan. The novel brings you so vividly into the kaleidoscope of the modern-day Japan, you want to make a trip there the next day, holding a copy of The Kimono Tattoo."
-Xiaolong Qiu, author of the award-winning Inspector Chen Series
"Debut novelist, Rebecca Copeland offers a smart, entertaining read in The Kimono Tattoo. Readers who relish mystery, suspense, literary fiction, and romance will find it all in this multi-genre gem!"
-Johnnie Bernhard, author of A Good Girl, How We Came to Be, and Sisters of the Undertow
"In a tale as intricately patterned as a Jacquard-weave obi, Rebecca Copeland's American heroine finds herself entangled in the delicate threads of Kyoto's kimono industry as well as the darker skeins of yakuza, tattoo parlors, and rebellious youth. The reader is quickly drawn in to the dangerous twists and turns while Copeland's detailed knowledge of Kyoto comes through on every page-a treat for all who love this city, and a great read."
-Liza Dalby, anthropologist, artist, and author of the best seller, Geisha; Kimono: Fashioning Culture; and the novels
The Tale of Murasaki and Hidden Buddhas: A Novel of Karma and Chaos
"The Kimono Tattoo is an intelligent escape-into the past, into the mind, into a fascinating culture. Finely crafted and perfectly paced, this literary thriller remains engrossing long after the last sentence, opening a world that lingers in the imagination."
-Jeannette Cooperman, St. Louis Media Hall of Fame journalist, essayist, and author of A Circumstance of Blood
2022 Winner Independent Press Award for Multicultural Fiction
