Welcome to this Track of Words Author Interview, where this time around I’m chatting to Josh Reynolds about his latest Legend of the Five Rings novel, Death’s Kiss. The sequel to 2020’s fantastic Poison River, and the second ‘Daidoji Shin Mystery’, Death’s Kiss offers another fascinating glimpse of Rokugani life through the lens of a Golden Age-esque detective story, and it’s great fun! It’s published by Aconyte Books on the 1st June 2021 in global ebook and US paperback, with the UK paperback following in August, and Josh is here to give you the lowdown on what to expect from it!
First though, let’s take a quick look at the publisher’s synopsis for Death’s Kiss:
Daidoji Shin, former louche layabout turned amateur investigator, and his long-suffering bodyguard, Kasami, are called away from the comforts of the City of the Rich Frog and into Unicorn lands to investigate a seemingly open-and-shut case of murder. But it’s never that straightforward… A condemned woman’s life is at stake, and the outcome may prevent a war between noble families. But that’s only the beginning of this mystery: Shin will come face to face with a sinister seditionist organization that could have much deeper consequences than he could imagine.
With that done, let’s get on with the interview.
Track of Words: To start things off, how would you describe your new novel Death’s Kiss?
Josh Reynolds: A comedy of manners masquerading as a forgotten episode of Perry Mason, set in feudal Japan – or the fantasy equivalent thereof.
ToW: For anyone who hasn’t read Poison River, who are Daidoji Shin and Kasami and what are the main things to know about them?
JR: Daidoji Shin is a wastrel scion of the Crane Clan with pretensions to being an amateur detective, and Kasami is his long-suffering yojimbo. Shin is polished, urbane and convinced he’s the smartest person in any room he happens to be in; Kasami is disciplined, murderous and convinced Shin is an idiot – but one she is pledged to protect.
ToW: What’s changed for Daidoji Shin and Kasami since the events of the first book?
JR: Shin has become somewhat infamous for his investigations, and has also invested in a kabuki theatre of dubious reputation. Kasami, who has somewhat grudgingly come to accept Shin’s new vocation, is worried that Shin is going to slip back into old (bad) habits despite his interest in solving mysteries.
ToW: While Poison River was set in the City of the Rich Frog, Death’s Kiss takes place elsewhere – what can you tell us about where it’s set, and why you chose to move events outside the city?
JR: Death’s Kiss is set in the mountain-city of Hisatu-Kesu, in the lands of the Unicorn Clan. It’s a rougher, less metropolitan location than the City of the Rich Frog, divided between two feuding vassal-families. I decided to take Shin travelling mostly as an afterthought – I came up with the idea, and had to find a location to fit. I did some digging into the background of the setting and Hisatu-Kesu popped out at me as the perfect place to have Shin visit.
ToW: You talked in our last interview about wanting to largely keep clear of L5R’s overtly magical elements and concentrate on Rokugani society. I assume that’s the case with Death’s Kiss too, so which cultural element(s) have you chosen to dig a little deeper into this time?
JR: I wanted to dig a bit into how the Rokugani justice system works – or doesn’t work, as the case may be. In Rokugan, the word of a noble is often enough to condemn someone of lower caste to imprisonment or death, regardless of the justice of that decision. I wanted to show what might happen if someone comes along after the fact and throws doubt on such a decision.
ToW: You’ve written your fair share of detective stories; what are the challenges (or, alternatively, opportunities) of telling this sort of story in a fantasy setting?
JR: Given that I’m intentionally keeping the more fantastic elements of the setting out of focus, there aren’t as many challenges as you might think. Of course, given that I’m essentially writing a historical mystery, what challenges there are, are ones that can generally be overcome by hours (and hours!) of nose-in-book research. Or so I like to hope. Mostly, I spend way too much time reading about things like the process for tanning leather, how an onsen works, etc. The little details that serve to add some color to the setting the mystery takes place in.
ToW: You spoke before about taking inspiration from Peter Wimsey and Albert Campion when writing about Daidoji Shin, but what about Kasami? Could you tell us a bit about who or what inspired her character?
JR: Oh, a variety of characters – I didn’t want her to be so much a Girl Friday as an equal partner. So, I looked to stuff like Walter Mosely’s Easy Rawlins books, or James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux series. Characters like Easy Rawlins’ friend Mouse, or Robicheaux’s pal Cletus, gave me the seed for Kasami – the sort of no-nonsense, hair-trigger roughneck that a layabout like Shin would need to keep him alive. Granted, Kasami is a touch more predictable than either of those examples, but she falls into that same category of sidekick/bodyguard/lethal friend.
ToW: What have you enjoyed the most about returning to these characters and the setting for a second book?
JR: Everything! I’ve become a big fan of the setting over the past two years, and Shin and Kasami are some of my favorite characters to write. I find their dialogue and their decisions incredibly easy to write, and it’s great fun to watch them race across the page, annoying all and sundry as they ask inconvenient questions and uncover secrets.
ToW: Where do you see this series going? Is it something that (all being well) you could develop into a long-running series in the vein of many other detective stories, or do you have just a few specific stories that you want to tell?
JR: I hope it’ll be a long running series. That’s the plan, at any rate. I have a whole list of story ideas – Shin investigates a case of mistaken identity, Shin investigates a theft at a wedding, Shin interrupts a funeral because they’ve got the wrong body, et al. Most of them are fairly simple Agatha Christie-type stories, but I believe they’d be entertaining. Which is the whole point, really.
ToW: Finally, can you tell us anything about what you’re working on with Aconyte for future release, or anything else you’ve got in the pipeline in general?
JR: Well, I’ve got a story in The Devourer Below, a forthcoming Arkham Horror anthology, and I just finished working on a book set in an IP I’ve never worked on before. I’ve also just sent off some pitches for a few new books, but I can’t say much more about them, unfortunately. As to what else I’ve got coming out, well, a bunch of short stories, as usual. Maybe some other stuff as well, but again – can’t say much about it, sorry!
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Josh Reynolds is a writer, editor and semi-professional monster movie enthusiast. He has been a professional author since 2007, writing over thirty novels and numerous short stories, including Arkham Horror, Warhammer 40,000, and the occasional audio script. He grew up in South Carolina and now lives in Sheffield, UK.
Check out Josh’s website for more information!
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Thanks as ever to Josh for taking the time to chat to me for this interview, and for giving us the lowdown on another excellent novel! Death’s Kiss is out from Aconyte Books in June in US paperback and global ebook editions, with the UK paperback due in August.
If you haven’t already, check out my review of the first Daidoji Shin novel – Poison River.
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