Obon Is About Remembering the Dead

Some People Are Better Forgotten

Most people visit Kyoto during Obon for lanterns, incense, family gatherings, and the return of ancestral spirits.

It’s a time for remembering those who came before us.

For honouring the dead.

For welcoming them home and eventually guiding them back.

It’s beautiful. 

It’s quiet.

And it’s steeped in tradition.

When Tradition Meets Violence

In Crimson Little Dragon, Marin arrives in Kyoto with one simple assignment.

Her target is Kenji Takahashi, the Red Dragon and Oyabun of the Takahashi-kai Syndicate. 

He’s a man with a taste for ritual, revenge, and the sort of creative cruelty that makes a very traditional city feel considerably less peaceful.

The instructions are straightforward.

No collateral and get out before the last paper lantern reaches the river.

It sounds simple. At least, it should have been.

Honour Has Teeth

Takahashi has built his power around fear, loyalty, and an old-fashioned understanding of honour, but honour means very little when the man demanding it is willing to spill blood to protect his own power.

And Marin isn’t the only person with unfinished business.

Her contact in Kyoto is Ren.

He’s quiet, efficient and very difficult to read.

He’s a man carrying his own history—and a blade he knows how to use. 

Marin came to kill one man, but Ren has his own reasons for wanting Takahashi dead.

And neither of them is particularly interested in sharing everything they know.

The Dead Don’t Always Stay Quiet

Obon is built around the idea that the dead return.

That for a brief time, the boundary between the living and the dead becomes thinner.

In Crimson Little Dragon, that idea takes on a darker meaning.

Because old grudges have a way of resurfacing.

Family secrets don’t stay buried forever.

And the people who think they’ve escaped the consequences of their past aren’t always as safe as they believe.

Marin’s job may be to eliminate one target, but Kyoto has other plans.

If you like your thrillers atmospheric, deadly, and steeped in tradition… if you prefer your assassins sharp, your mysteries layered, and your revenge served with a very sharp blade…

This one’s for you.

Crimson Little Dragon is available now!

Obon is a time to remember the dead.

Marin is about to give Kyoto someone new to remember.