Set, unusually, in a pre-Samurai world, Eyes of Truth is essentially a murder mystery story. With a difference. When the body of a gardener is found hanging in a storeroom, drained of all his blood, the Dyamu (the leader of the province) sends his brother Dar, an Insu-ha, to investigate. According to the mythology of this world "the god Insu was not like the others, for he could tell when a man spoke the truth. His sons and their sons, the Insu-has, had the gift and wore the Eyes of Insu tattooed across their foreheads". Very quickly after arriving in the town of Dak-moon Insu-ha Dar finds that something is very wrong. If that were not enough he also find that the High Magistrate of Dak-moon is Insu-ha Shoki, a man who bullied Dar throughout their time at Temple school.

Eyes of Truth is a well written enjoyable tale that flows easily and keeps the tension right to the very end. It is good to read a story that is not set in the usual pseudo-medieval world that is favoured by so many other authors. I particularly loved the use of Japanese honour and ceremony.

Synopsis
If you could always tell when someone was lying, you would think it would be simple to find a murderer, but it isn’t that easy as Insu-ha Dar learns when he is sent to Dak-moon to identify a killer. The Eyes of Truth is a fantasy mystery novel, set in an oriental kingdom of Naj. A violent, mountainous land, prone to earthquakes, Naj is ruled by the descendants of the god Insu, each with the ability to tell when someone is lying. It is a world where the spirits of the newly deceased return to roam the streets during the festival of Ram-sho, where soothsayers conjure up elementals, and where one man has received a gift of power and long life that threatens to eventually kill hundreds and destroy Naj.