Asian-American private investigator Lydia Chin knows New York City's Chinatown, its people, and its ways as no outsider ever could. It's a city within a city, a rich melange of smells, sounds, dark shops, and close-knit families--a world all its own. And in all of Chinatown, there is no one like Lydia, who has a nose for trouble, a disapproving Chinese mother, and a partner named Bill Smith who's been living above a bar for sixteen years. Hired to find some precious stolen porcelain, Lydia follows a trail of clues from highbrow art dealers into a world of Chinese gangs. Suddenly, this case has become as complex as her community itself--and as deadly as a killer on the loose.
The setting of this entertaining mystery, New York's Chinatown, with its food, its smells, its street hoods, and its clan leaders, is not its only strength, but is certainly its greatest one. Beautiful PI Lydia Chin is hired to solve a theft of antique porcelains from a struggling Chinatown museum, a puzzle with pieces scattered all over New York. Christine Marshall is wonderful with the Chinese-American accents but considerably less strong with the inevitable others, and she has a tendency to place emphasis so oddly that you wonder if she is aware of what the sentences mean, or only of the individual words. This is not fatal to the fun to be had here, though. Lydia's implacable Chinese mother is alone worth the price of admission. B.G. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
Booklist...
Rozan's Chinatown setting has the ring of authenticity, and Lydia is a true original. A very promising start to what shapes up as a top-flight series.
About the Author
S. J. Rozan is the author of nine previous novels, most recently Absent Friends. She won the Edgar Award for Winter and Night, and has also won the Shamus Award (for Concourse) and the Anthony Award (for No Colder Place). All of these titles are available from Sound Library®. An architect, Rozan was born, raised, and currently lives in New York City.
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