Widow's Weeds (Motosu Mysteries, #1) / Motosu Mysteries (ePub)

Edo, the capital of Japan, 1907.

Helen Motosu is in deep mourning after the death of her husband, private investigator Shigeru Motosu. Restricted to caring for her young children and keeping her brother-in-law from his self-destructive habits, Helen feels stagnated and unchallenged.

Until the charismatic Mitsuo Okabe, one of Edo's mayors, requests the Motosus' help in solving the murder of his brother, an energy scientist working on a solar-powered bullet train. The main suspect is a Russian prostitute who was with Dr. Okabe the night he died. Mayor Okabe knows that his brother had enemies in the city, rivals in the development of new energy technologies. The Russian girl refuses to cooperate with the Japanese police, but Mayor Okabe hopes that a foreign woman can convince her to reveal what she witnessed that night.

Helen has never actively investigated anything on her own. To solve this crime, she must navigate Japan's scientific circles while maintaining her own precarious social position. Without her, an innocent young woman could lose her life, and a violent murderer will be free to kill again.

WIDOW'S WEEDS is the first in an alternate history mystery series set in Japan. Set in a "steampunk-lite" timeline, the world of the Motosu Mysteries is slightly different from our own. Steam-power and clockwork are giving way to new technologies such as solar-power and electro-power. Imagine the world of Sherlock Holmes combined with a Ghibli movie, and you're quite close to the setting and tone of the Motosu Mysteries series.