Negocios orientales

Lydia Chin & Bill Smith #1

by S.J. Rozan

La detective privado Lydia Chin tiene especial olfato para los problemas y no tardará en unir fuerzas con el detective Bill Smith para tirar de la madeja tan pronto le atenaza una sospecha. El robo de una porcelana valiosa del Museo de Chinatown es un suceso que para la mayoría no pasaría de ser un recorte del periódico, pe

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller, Detective, Thriller

317 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

SJ Rozan, a native New Yorker, is the author of the Bill Smith and Lydia Chin detective series as well as several stand-alone novels. She has won the the Edgar, Nero, Macavity, Shamus and Anthony awards for Best Novel and the Edgar award for Best Short Story. She is a former Mystery Writers of America National Board member, a current Sisters in Crime National Board member, and President of the Private Eye Writers of America. In January 2003 she was an invited speaker at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. In February 2005 she will be Guest of Honor at the Left Coast Crime convention in El Paso, Texas. A former architect in a practice that focussed on police stations, firehouses, and zoos, SJ Rozan was born and raised in the Bronx. She currently lives in Greenwich Village, New York. (from the author's website)"
S.J. Rozan has a B.A. from Oberlin College and M.Arch from SUNY/Buffalo

Reviews

["Avonna · Rating 4 out of 5]

China Trade (Lydia Chin & Bill Smith, #1) by S.J. Rozan is a great start to a new-to-me P.I. mystery series. I met Ms. Rozan for the first time at a day long mystery writers and readers conference and had to read these books. The book was very well written and as interesting as the author herself.

P.I. Lydia Chin is hired to find two boxes of stolen porcelains. The case follows clues through New York’s Chinatown from Chinese gangs to specialty museums and collectors. With the help of P.I. Bill Smith, who assists Lydia and cares deeply about her personally, the two have to solve this case that has many twists and turns before there are more dead bodies.

Both Lydia and Bill come to life as fully developed characters early in the book and I know I’ll be reading more in the series. Ms. Rozan brings the smells, sounds and sights of New York’s Chinatown vividly into my imagination. I also loved Lydia’s challenge of being a dutiful Chinese daughter to a traditional mother and Chinese community, while being a modern, independent American P.I.

If you love following P.I. mystery series, this is definitely one for you to try.

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one surprised the heck out of me.

I got it as an e-book, either free or silly cheap based on a recommendation by Laurie R. King. I finally opened it on the plane the other day. I couldn't put it down.

It's a good mystery, nice and twisty, with well-drawn likeable and believable characters. It's well-constructed, with no awkward phrasing or hanging plotlines. But it's more than that. It's a beautifully created world, full of sights and sounds and smells, unfamiliar people and cultural differences. A fantasy world, that just happens to exist, for real, in New York City. I could smell the food, hear the singsong patter of Chinese. I could even see the ghosts, the ancestors drifting in the beam of sunlight by the window, complaining.

I loved Tony Hillerman's Navajo mysteries, though they got redundant and hokey after a while. What I loved was that glimpse into another culture, eyes and hearts and brains so different from my own experience and so fascinatingly human. Rozan builds her world the same way - though I feel with greater skill - and I find myself as fascinated with her Chinatown and its denizens as I was with Hillerman's Navajo Southwest.

And did I mention, also a really good mystery?

A new favorite, for sure. I'll seek out this author's work again.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like many mystery/detective novels China Trade reads easily and quickly. Weighing in at just over 260 pages, it is short enough to read in a sitting or two, but long enough to develop its characters and plot while holding the reader’s attention. As first novels go, it is a very good one.

Because it is a whodunit, the protagonists take us on a web of interrelated clues and interviews as they try to solve a theft. Because the theft was of valuable Chinese porcelain, we are introduced to a world of art historians, collectors, curators, and museums; always obsessive and often semi-shady. Because the porcelain was stolen from a neighborhood Chinese cultural center and museum, the story centers on Chinatown and those who live in it. Because it is a Chinese-run organization, they wish to save face and instead of informing the NYC police bring in a Chinese-American PI.

Lydia Chin (full name Chin Ling Wan-Ju) is a local woman who has been running her own solo PI office for six years. She lives with her mother in the heart of Chinatown and maintains an office nearby (to satisfy both Chinese and non-Chinese clients). When necessary she calls in a friend (or vice-versa), PI Bill Smith. Bill is older, larger, and (we are told) more successful. He is also smitten with her – which she keeps at arms length. Bill is also something of an art and music lover, so he has contacts with dealers and those who might have friends whose friends deal in objects d’art whose provenance is not entirely firm. Together they use their wits and skills to solve cases.

In this novel, what begins as a simple (yet mysterious) theft develops into something seedier and nastier. I’m going to avoid any real spoilers, but since the crime and majority of the action takes place in Lydia’s world-with-in-a-world enclave, her past and present are tightly woven into this story. There is a real blast-from-the-past that affects her and the solution.

The author has populated this story with some of the classic tropes of mystery, detective, and Chinese fiction: there are clues (one nicely placed one that had me straining to remember where it was), there is the cop friend (another Chinese-American woman) who gives the PI just enough rope to get further in trouble, the elderly wise man (the local Chinese Herbalist), and gangs (but no Tongs), and her disapproving mother. None of it seems heavy-handed; in fact, it is blended together in a way that keeps the story fresh and fast-paced.

This was an enjoyable book with very likable characters. I know that it is the first in a now-lengthy series and will happily devour more of them in the future. There is a lot of food in this book – but considering that the Chinese often greet each other with the question, “Chir Fan?” (Have you eaten?), that’s not surprising. What was surprising was find one glaring typo where the name of a bar was changed from “Dusty’s” to “Rusty’s” only three sentences later (it was “Dusty’s everywhere else.) Despite that, this is a genuine, export-quality book valued at Four (4.0) Full Stars.

[Hallie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was sufficiently hooked by this to start collecting copies of a bunch more in the series, though looking back makes it apparent how much better - more complex and interesting - the mysteries become. Still, the setting (New York's Chinatown, mostly) was great and Lydia and Bill grabbed my interest from the start. I have a bit to say about the weird resonances a lot of my 2014-read mysteries have with Julia Spencer-Fleming and Dennis Lehane's series, but not the time atm!

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

China Trade, published at the beginning of 1994, introduces the stellar detective series and its PIs Lydia Chen and Bill Smith. It also introduces you to NYC Chinatown and Tribeca neighborhoods - others too but those areas are the heart of the series. I've read later ones in the series but though I have owned the mass market paperback since it was published, it has languished on my TBR until now. It's a fantastic detective story and introduction to the series.

Lydia and Bill investigate the theft of some valuable porcelains from a Chinatown museum, which takes them from the Chinatown tongs and gangs (and you learn the difference) to the museums and dealers of collectible porcelains. You meet Lydia's extended family, and you walk the streets of NYC with her. The opening scene so vividly describes exiting the subway at Canal Street and walking through the heart of Chinatown, it is completely recognizable, even 20 years later. That same vibrancy exists. I was particulary chuffed when Lydia turns onto Pell Street - a small side street that at that time had one of my favorite noodle shops on it (long gone). I don't know if Lydia is the first time a female American/Chinese detective is the MC in a series, but she's definitely one of the first.

I'm planning now to read the series in order, and can't wait to walk the streets of NYC with her.

[Spuddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

#1 Lydia Chin and Bill Smith mystery set in New York's Chinatown. Lydia Chin is a 20-something private investigator. She's also Chinese-American with a large family including a mother and several brothers who would like nothing better than for her to be a traditional woman--meaning to marry and learn her "place" and stop bringing disgrace to the family. But Lydia is not so inclined.

In this first entry in the series, a friend who runs a small Chinese museum called Chinese Pride hires her to find some porcelains that were recently donated to the museum by the widow of a collector--only two crates of the newest additions were stolen from their basement. Because they don't want word to get out that they can't properly safeguard donations, they hire Lydia rather than contact the police. Lydia works with a sometime partner, another PI, "older white guy" Bill Smith, and she calls him in on this case. They seem to have a sort of semi-romantic relationship--Lydia is reluctant to get involved with him because of her family, and Bill obviously cares for Lydia but is content to just bide his time, at least for now. They begin investigating this case by trying to hear of any word on the street and consulting other museums and some of Bill's contacts (read: fences) to try to locate the porcelains.

A complicated tale involving rival museums/porcelain collectors, a ghost from Lydia's past, import-export dealers, the unsavory leaders of a couple of local Chinese gangs, and Lydia's best friend Mary, a police detective. Great first entry in the series! This isn't really a 'cozy' mystery, but it isn't real hard-boiled either. I like Lydia and her independent spirit a lot. Bill is less well-fleshed in this book, but I understand that Rozan alternates between their two points of view in each book, so I'm assuming we'll get to know him better next time. (Interesting concept, by the way!) I liked the details about Chinese-American culture and values and the writing style was relaxed and easy to read.

[Kathryn McCary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm rereading the Lydia Chin/Bill Smith mysteries; I decided to read all the Chins in order, followed by all the Smiths (as I just finished the most recent Smith, On the Line)

I'm blown away. . .again. This is not what one expects of a first novel (especially, sneers the English major who couldn't write fiction if her life depended on it, of the first novel of an ARCHITECT!).

The characters of both Lydia and Bill are solidly established with little apparent effort early on in the book--providing a good stepping-off point for Bill's narration of the second book.

The plot is coherent and engrossing. All subsidiary characters are convincingly fleshed out (yeah, ok, to the degree appropriate to their narrative functions). Setting and background (NYC's Chinatown, art museums, police department)are established cleanly and persuasively. I go back every time expecting a "first novel" effect--and am always stunned not to see it anywhere. Why the hell was this not even NOMINATED for a "best first novel?"

Oh, yeah. The eclaircissement moment with Dr. Browning has made me want both to laugh and to cry every time I have read the book-he remains one of the most painfully remembered characters in this entire series, particularly notable for speaking convincingly in elegantly grammatical language. That is a triumph on Ms. Rozan's part that I'm not sure is obvious to the casual reader. Anyway, I really hope he came out of the entire schemozzle well. . .but I'm afraid that may not be the case.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This first in the series mystery with private investigators Lydia Chin and Bill Smith as sometimes partners is set in a very realistic NYC’s Chinatown. With enough twists and turns in the plot, interesting characters and family relationships, and a dash of cultural and art history this was an entertaining and enlightening read. I look forward to reading more in this series.

As a side note, this book was written in the early 90s and it was amusing to remember that not so long ago people used answering machines, answering services, and pay phones!

[Mary Welk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book years ago, but sometimes it's fun to go back and re-read a series from the very beginning. S. J. Rozan debuted her series with CHINA TRADE, in which Lydia Chin is hired by the Chinatown Pride Museum to recover some stolen antique porcelains. Lydia is not your every day, run-of-the-mill P.I. An ABC (American Born Chinese) living in New York, Lydia must contend with a disapproving mother and brother, both of whom believe that like any good Chinese girl, Lydia should be looking not for trouble, but for a husband. While her mother shows her displeasure in words, Lydia's brother Tim relies on counter-offensive actions to persuade Lydia to give up her fledgling business. His interference proves costly, though, when it leads to a murder at the museum.

Lydia and her sometimes-partner Bill Smith follow a winding trail of clues that points first at a respected Chinatown art dealer, then at the Chinese gangs that "own" the streets around the museum, and finally at an international antiquities-laundering business run by a clever but deadly character.

If you've never read S. J. Rozan, start at the beginning of this series with CHINA TRADE. You'll enjoy getting to know Lydia and Bill and the other characters who inhabit N.Y.'s Chinatown. Subsequent books in the series alternate POV between Lydia and Bill.

[aPriL does feral sometimes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lydia Chin is a sassy wit, used to going against the tide. Her mother wants her to be a nice Chinese girl, and her brothers pile on, adding their disapproval. Her girlfriend is a NYPD detective, and Chin is a private P.I. So much for being a nice Chinese woman!

I liked Lydia Chin, her family, especially her cranky mom, and this novel, the first in the series. She is tough, a martial arts expert, and is a 6 year veteran of the P.I. business, having her own office behind a travel agency in Chinatown. She carries a 38. Her sometime partner in investigating, Bill Smith, adores her, but Lydia thinks he's kidding and the kisses are brotherly. They aren't, but they work well together. They need to.

Museum quality porcelain have vanished, and the museum board doesn't want publicity. Instead of the police, they call in Chin. Her investigation leads her from the offices of wealthy museum directors and art collectors to the hidden rooms of the local Chinese gangs. Trouble ensues.

Some violence, but nothing excessive. Not a total cozy, but close. A fun read, worthy of your time.

[Julie Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rereading this was just as good as in 2016. I had a very slight memory of Lydia and Bill and equally slight idea of the way the book ended. Overall, I just enjoyed the ride.

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I borrowed this as a Prime Kindle book and found myself pleasantly surprised. Lydia Chin is an ABC (American Born Chinese) living in New York's Chinatown with her mother. She's also a private investigator and we follow her on a case tracking down stolen porcelain from a small, private Chinese museum. Thus we get first-person insight into life in Chinatown, Chinese gangs, and many other small details of daily life in this unique environment.

Lydia often partners with Bill Smith who provides both brains and muscle to complement Lydia's own particular skills. The partnership contrasts work well both for mystery solving and as a story telling device.

I thoroughly enjoyed this and was interested to see that the next book is one of Bill Smith's cases, told from his point of view. I'm looking forward to seeing his view of Lydia.

[LJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

CHINA TRADE - VG+
Rozen, S.J. - 1st in Lydia Chin/Bill Smith series

Asian-American private investigator Lydia Chin knows New York City's Chinatown, its people, and its ways as no outsider ever could. So when the Chinatown Museum is robbed of a set of rare export porcelains, Lydia is hired to recover them quietly - a task that quickly proves more difficult than it at first appears. Maneuvering gently around the local gangs who control the streets of Chinatown, Lydia tackles an investigation that takes her - and her sometimes partner Bill Smith - far beyond the borders of Chinatown into the equally cryptic world of art and collecting, and upstart outer-borough gangs trying to gain a toe hold in the closed world of Chinatown.

I really enjoyed this. Great, different protagonists, wonderful sense of place. The author clearly loves NYC. Lydia is a fascinating blend of old and new Chinese culture and her mother is a hoot. This is definitely a series to follow.

[Katherine Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. I read it because on March 12, as part of "Death March," I will be interviewing S. J. Rozan for NEO SINC. So, I'm reading every book she has written. This is the first in the series featuring Lydia Chin and Bill Smith. I read one of these books many years ago, and for reasons I don't understand, I stopped reading the series. I don't think I ever read the first book, and I am hooked. I just wrote down 2 pages of notes. I love Lydia and Bill. I love Chinatown in New York, and I love the depiction of Lydia's family and friends. I love how traditionally Chinese Lydia is , and how very American she is. It makes for a great tension. I can't recommend highly enough, and I've already started the next in the series.

[Woman Reading (is away exploring) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 🌟 (rounded up)
Good introduction.
I like Lydia because her ethnic background provides a new voice and perspective to the mystery genre.

[Vfields Don't touch my happy! · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!
Mother Chin is hardcore!

[CLM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lydia Chin is an Asian-American private investigator whose knowledge of Chinatown is a distinct advantage when she is asked to track down a theft from a local museum.

My review:

http://perfectretort.blogspot.com/202...

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun read! So glad I found S.J. Rozan and the talented, fun character, Lydia Chin, she created. I've already requested the next one in the series from the library. Lydia is of Chinese heritage (her mother doesn't even speak English) living in Chinatown in New York City. She is a private eye who cooperates on cases with Bill Smith, a Caucasian P.I. The light-hearted mood of Rozan's writing reminds me of Lawrence Block's "Burglar" series which I love. While I enjoy the introduction to Chinese culture, the plot in this book was very good with twists and the unexpected. If you are looking for a quick read that will give you a chuckle while working your brain a little to unravel the mystery, I definitely recommend this book. I just hope the following books are as good.

[Marcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really 3 1/2 stars.

A couple passages I really liked:

"A tall wavy-haired young man, his face decorated with a sneer and a sparse mustache, sauntered out. He stood and looked at me. I looked back, taking in his leather jacket, tight black jeans, loafers without socks. Even in this weather, bare ankles. Maybe I could do a paper: Cross-Cultural Expressions of Macho."

"I pawed my way through the cabinet until I found some Lapsang Souchong, which is smokey and dark and murky, just the way I felt."

[Supriya]

Loved it! Great writing, good plotting, and Chin and Smith are just fantastic together. I wish Rozan wrote first person in a slightly less direct way, but in a sense, that on-camera straightforwardness is part of what pushes the book along quickly and cleanly. Oh please, online bookstore, send me the others soon.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mystery series featuring a pair of New York private eyes—Chinese-American Lydia Chin and her partner Bill Smith—who each take center stage in alternating books. In this first entry, the pair are drawn into the world of Chinatown’s gangs when Lydia is hired to find missing porcelain antiques.

[L Y N N · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good solid mystery with unexpected twists and turns, but I particularly appreciate the diversity among the characters, especially the insertion of Chinese cultural aspects, as well as inclusion of some other Asian cultural tidbits.

Definitely reading more in this series!!

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed it, culturally different points of author are always what I enjoy it.

[Soo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Notes:

Ok start to a series. I like the characters but did not care for some of the descriptions & actions in the book.

[Laurence · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 rounded down.

It's not a good sign when I almost can't pick any tag for a book except its genres.

China Trade is far from great, but not terrible. Despite its flaws it remains readable and flows. My heartbeat did not go one single bpm higher than its resting average, but my attention was held until the end. I wasn't excited to read on, but I wasn't dreading it either.

However, it immediately struck me how forced and superficial the Chinese culture aspect of the story felt. Emphasis is put on stereotypical details, such as describing every tea the protagonist drinks and every ingredient in her mom's kitchen. The author takes any chance to mention Chinese cultural elements and explains them without any subtlety. That made me think that the author is probably not Chinese, and I was indeed right. I’m absolutely not against writing characters from another ethnicity, I’m just saying that if you're going to push the cultural angle you better do it right.

The prose did the job. There were a few clever tricks I hadn't read before, but I haven't read much so take that with a grain of salt. There's an awful lot of useless weather, food and outfit descriptions. They are annoying in the beginning because they're too numerous and detailed, and, by the end of the book, where it's clear the author had given up on them and went back to add some because it's got to be done, they are annoying because they're half-assed.

As for the characters, the author kept whisking but the egg whites didn't firm up. There's a bit of good sentiment with the misogyny, racism and Confucianism the protagonist had and has to face, as well as with her insecurities about her lack of femininity. Unfortunately, the execution is mostly clumsy and overdone and, in the end, she's almost like any other "strong female character": a woman acting or trying to act like a man. The protagonist's partner is there to simp over her and doesn't have much of a personality beyond that. I did like a couple of secondary characters, namely overly enthusiastic Steve and overly shy Dr. Browning.

Another reason why I tagged this book "clichés galore" is, and I physically rolled my eyes every time: the author overuses the good old “detective gets epiphany from seemingly mundane event or sentence”. In this case, it was:
1. Mother complains about cigarette smell on protagonist's clothes and airs them before sending it to the laundry place -> protagonist realises that the case is an art laundry!
2. Protagonist sees a porcelain figurine shining in the dark at her mother's place -> protagonist realises that she saw the stolen cup in the professor's dusty, dim house!
3. Protagonist muses that two men have acted to protect their sister in the case she's working -> protagonist realises that the shady man who was following her was hired by her worried brother!
And, of course, she's right every time.

But you know what? This book doesn't contain a single typo, even in "crème fraîche". Respect!

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much fun to come across a series that is completely new to you and then discover that the author has already written more than ten books. Since I really enjoyed China Trade by S.J. Rozan, I have great expectations for the subsequent titles.

China Trade is set in early 90s Manhattan, mainly in Chinatown, and features Lydia Chin, a young Chinese-American detective and her partner Bill Smith, who is decidedly not Chinese. Some rare antique porcelains have been stolen from a small neighborhood museum and Lydia is called in to investigate. The theft investigation moves quickly from Chinatown to the Upper East Side and Upper West Side and back downtown again. An intricate story with great ethnic atmospheric details quickly draws the reader into the story, which comes to a satisfying conclusion and drops a few hints for what may come in future installments.

The descriptions of Chinatown and the depictions of Lydia's mother, her brother Tim, and her friends are so spot on. Whether Lydia is on Mott Street, in a neighborhood restaurant grabbing a quick bowl of noodles, or taking her shoes off at the door of the apartment where she lives with her mother, you get a persuasive depiction of the culture. It adds so much truth and immediacy to the story (even though this book is twenty-five years old) that you are eager to know more.

Perhaps a Chinese-American reader might feel differently, but I was certainly convinced that the author must be at least partly of Chinese background since the details were much what one might expect from known Chinese-American writers like Amy Tan or Lisa See. S.J. Rozan is most definitely not of Chinese heritage, and I would love to know what her research for this book entailed. After reviewing her website and reading her Wikipedia entry, that remains a mystery of its own, which just makes her writing all the more intriguing. Rozan's latest book was release in July, 2019, and her most recent blog post was just a few weeks ago, so it is great to know that she is still actively writing. More to look forward to...yay!

[Lisa (Harmonybites) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one. For one, after reading a slew of private investigator fic from Chandler's Marlowe to McDonald's McGee to Parker's Spenser, I was incredibly grateful for what Rozan's Lydia Chin was not. Yes, like many among her fictional brethren she has plenty of sass, and yes she can handle herself in a fight--but she's not someone who sleeps with clients or suspects or easily resorts to violence or breaks the law or lies to police (even if she doesn't tell all--but for once the reasons come across as credible)--nor is she Too Stupid To Live. This might sound like faint praise, but trust me, that alone makes Chin stand out in a good way in this subgenre.

Chin is also less isolated than the usual hard-boiled detective. She partners with Bill Smith, another private detective, she has a brother who makes me thankful to be an only child, a mother that drives her insane--and honest to goodness friends.

I also admit part of my enjoyment is that the novel is set in my hometown of New York City, and the author, herself a New York City native and resident, is good at conjuring up the city, from the world of Chinatown to the Upper West and East Side.

A fun, enjoyable novel I zipped through in one sitting, I'll certainly be reading more in the series.

[Alan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this audio book exposes one of my prejudices. How can an author write about a people and culture that he/she has not lived in or in from? While Lydia Chin is a mildly engaging character, and I say mildly because I will not be adding another Chin/Smith book to my TBR soon, what does Rozan know about Chinese immigrant families and culture in general and New York City in particular? Yes, I read for escapism but somehow I couldn't feel that to a certain degree Rozan continued some family and cultural stereotypes of the Chinese in America (and I live in a area with a large Asian-American population).

Lydia, and her sometimes investigative partner Bill Smith are handling the case of stolen porcelain from a Chinese non-profit. The majority of the story takes place in and around New York City's Chinatown. If anything Lydia's biggest challenge is not solving the theft and insuring murders, but her mother and oldest brother who disapprove of profession.

Some light humor and decent pacing.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

China Trade is the first in the Lydia Chin/Bill Smith mystery series sent in Chinatown of NYC. I really like this series, and this first installment is already assuredly written with Lydia's voice well-formed.

Here, Lydia is asked to investigate the theft of export porcelains from a small museum in Chinatown. To save face, the museum does not want the police involved. Lydia must maneuver amongst the rival street gangs, while also dealing with posh museums and their art experts and directors. Then a young expert in export porcelains from one of the fancy museums is brutally murdered, and Lydia and Bill have a lot on their hands.

Ms. Rozan is excellent at pacing, plot twists, setting, dialog and characterization. She neither writes too much nor too little, and all the elements of storytelling come together in a seamless and entertaining whole. This has fast become one of my favorite mystery series to read.

[Tasula · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first in a series about a young Chinese American woman working as a Private Investigator on her own, in Chinatown. She still lives with her mother, a very traditional Chinese immigrant who wants her to fatten up a little and get a husband. One of her brothers, an attorney, just wants her to stop embarrassing him. Her partner Bill Smith wants to be more than a partner. She has a gangster ex-boyfriend. She is asked to investigate the theft of some porcelains from a museum. All of these things should make for a very interesting story, but for me the novel never rose to that level. I did enjoy hearing some of the traditions, and I liked Grandfather Gao, the porcelain expert, and Steve Bailey. The others not so much.

[Jessica Zoop · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an engaging, fun read. I enjoyed the complex plot, the strong female characters, the peek into Chinese-American culture, & the tentative romance. I'll be seeking out more of this series immediately.