China Trade
St. Martin’s Paperback 1994
ISBN 0-312-95590-1
Christina says:
PI Lydia Chin lives in New York’s Chinatown with her mother and tries
to reconcile her unconventional profession with her traditional
environment. That’s not always easy, as she once more has the
opportunity to notice when charity organization Chinatown Pride hires her
to recover two boxes of valuable china stolen from their museum. One of
her brothers had a hand in her getting the job but is also worried that
she will disgrace him and wanted her to decline the work. But Lydia
accepts and so she and her partner Bill Smith start to unravel the tangle
of illegal art dealings, family obligation and Chinese gangs.
Lydia Chin and Bill Smith are an extraordinary and especially likeable
team of detectives. S. J. Rozan alternately writes her books from the
point of view of Lydia and Bill. In CHINA TRADE, the first in the series,
she looks over Lydia’s shoulder. Lydia is an American born Chinese with
a mother and four older brothers who all love to tell her how to live her
life. Lydia prefers to stand on her own two feet, though, even if she
still lives with her mother, and she proves that she can take care of
herself and knows how to do her job. Unlike her family Bill Smith can
accept that.
With Lydia Chin the readers can immerse themselves in the exotic world
of Chinatown to the extent that they almost smell the Chinese spices and
herbs. This time they also get an introduction to the scheming world of
museums and art dealership. In passing you learn a lot about Chinese
porcelain, but Rozan never lectures and doesn’t stuff her chapters with
unneeded details. The mystery plot is solid and not drowned in local
color. The New York setting, however, is just as important for the story
as the characters.
CHINA TRADE is the first in a great series that I can recommend highly. |
Any comments? Write us:
Christina Gross
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