The Snow Empress

Blurb

The Snow Empress is a 2007 mystery novel written by Laura Joh Rowland, set in the Genroku of historical Japan It is the 12th book in the Sano Ichiro series.
It combines a murder mystery with a portrayal of the strained, and often xenophobic relations between the Japanese rulers and the aboriginal inhabitants of Hokkaido, the Ainu.