S. J. Rozan: Lydia Chin / Bill Smith Mysteries

S. J. Rozan: Lydia Chin / Bill Smith Mysteries

WEB SITE:   http://www.sjrozan.com/

Includes information on writing workshops in Italy this summer as well as an interview and listings of her works.

Personal Information:

Surname pronounced "Rose- anne"; born in the Bronx, NY. Education: Oberlin College, B.A.; State University of New York at Buffalo, M.Arch. Memberships: International Association of Crime Writers, Mystery Writers of America (former member of board), Private Eye Writers of America (president), Sisters in Crime (member of board), American Institute of Architects. Addresses: Home: New York, NY. Agent: Axelrod Agency, 49 Main St., P.O. Box 357, Chatham, NY 12037. E-mail: sjrozan@aol.com.

Career Information:

Writer, architect. Stein, White, Nelligan Architects, New York, NY, architect, until 2004. Presents panels on "Crime Writing and the American Imagination" at New York's 92nd St. Y. Has worked variously as a janitor, self-defense instructor, photographer, and jewelry salesperson.

Rozan's first mystery novel, China Trade, introduces private investigator Lydia Chin, a single woman who lives in New York City and occasionally works with partner Bill Smith, a sometime love interest. The reader meets Lydia's family in the novel: a mother who harps on the subject of her daughter finding a Chinese husband, and a brother, Tim, who involves her in the robbery of a collection of porcelains. Chin finds herself in a maze of possible leads and a sea of suspects. She is confronted by neighborhood gangs, discovers that the porcelains have been stolen several times, and links two murders to the missing objects.

Several reviewers found Rozan's characters and settings appealing. A Publishers Weekly contributor praised Rozan's skill at "characterizing Chinatown's denizens, apothecaries, shops, and food," but deemed the result to be "more flavor than substance." Jo Ann Vicarel stated in Library Journal that "Chin has a refreshing vulnerability."

China Trade (1994)

Lydia's family feels that she has chosen an unsuitable job for a respectable Chinese woman, though when the Chinatown Museum is robbed of rare porcelains, she is the perfect investigator to hire. With her knowledge of Chinatown and the Chinese gangs, she and her partner, Bill, find the connection between the Tongs and the black market for stolen art in this first novel. (256 pages)

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In Concourse, Rozan returns to the scene set in China Trade, but she gives Bill Smith the role of narrator. He and Chin are involved in a murder investigation at the Bronx Home for the Aged. A critic for Publishers Weekly stated that "her major characters ... and the minor cast ... leave a lasting impression. Rozan brings a distinctive, commanding voice to the genre." Washington Post Book World reviewer Paul Skenazy commented that the second novel "is better: firmer in its details, tighter in its construction, complex in its links of politics and violence. What's best here is the city life." Skenazy also noted that the book does not suffer from the shift in viewpoint from Chin to Smith. In 1996 the author won the Shamus Award for Best Private Eye Novel from the Private Eye Writers of America for Concourse, making her only the second woman to win the award.

Concourse (1996)

Shamus Award: Best P.I. Novel

When a security guard is beaten up at the Bronx Home for the Aged, Bill Smith smells something wrong. He goes undercover to investigate, working as the guard's replacement. Meanwhile Lydia Chin investigates from the outside.

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Storm Runners: A Novel - T. Jefferson Parker

Lydia Chin & Bill Smith Series (1994)

Lydia Chin, an attractive Chinese-American woman, and Bill Smith are private detectives who sometimes work together on investigations. They both live in New York City, where Lydia shares her apartment with her mother, who is beginning to respect Smith in her old-fashioned abrupt way. Smith also has a backwoods retreat in upstate New York, where he occasionally helps his neighbors both professionally and personally. Smith loves playing classical piano music and also seems to love Lydia, but their relationship stays on the flirtatious level

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Lydia Chin and Bill Smith Mysteries:

China trade  (Oct 1994)  #1    [Lydia]

Concourse: a Bill Smith-Lydia Chin mystery (Oct 1995)  # 2   [Bill]

Mandarin plaid  (Sep 1996)  # 3   [Lydia]

No colder place  (Sep 1997)  # 4   [Bill]

A bitter feast  (Sep 1998)  # 5   [Lydia]

Stone quarry  (Sep 1999)  # 6   [Bill]

Reflecting the sky  (Jan 2002)  # 7  [Lydia]

Winter and night  (Feb 2002)  # 8   [Bill]

The Shanghai Moon: a Lydia Chin/Bill Smith novel  (Feb 2009)  # 9  [Lydia]

On the line: a Bill Smith/Lydia Chin novel  (Sep 2010) # 10   [Bill]