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Lydia Chin & Bill Smith #6
Stone Quarry: A Novel
For the past twelve years that private investigator Bill Smith has owned his cabin in the woods in a small upstate New York town, he has used it as an escaping, a place of refuge, never letting city life or his work intrude. All that changes, however, when Eva Colgate, a local farmer, summons Bill to meet with her. She wants him to quietly recover some recently stolen possessions–items which, if known to be hers, would expose her past and a secret she has kept for thirty years.
As Bill, with the help of his sometime-partner Lydia Chin, begins the search for the stolen goods, the usual quiet of this rural county abruptly shatters. A local hoodlum is found murdered in the basement of a local bar, the young daughter of a prominent businessman runs away from home, and Jimmy Antonelli, a teenager with a troubled past who is tied to these events, is missing. Now Bill and Lydia have to find the missing boy–and uncover the connection among these events–in time to save him.
A gripping story of power, corruption, and long-held secrets, Stone Quarry is a most compelling novel from one of the finest mystery novelists of our time.
As Bill, with the help of his sometime-partner Lydia Chin, begins the search for the stolen goods, the usual quiet of this rural county abruptly shatters. A local hoodlum is found murdered in the basement of a local bar, the young daughter of a prominent businessman runs away from home, and Jimmy Antonelli, a teenager with a troubled past who is tied to these events, is missing. Now Bill and Lydia have to find the missing boy–and uncover the connection among these events–in time to save him.
A gripping story of power, corruption, and long-held secrets, Stone Quarry is a most compelling novel from one of the finest mystery novelists of our time.
539 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1999
14 people are currently reading
345 people want to read
About the author
S.J. Rozan
127 books384 followersSJ 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
S.J. Rozan has a B.A. from Oberlin College and M.Arch from SUNY/Buffalo
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
July 31, 2017
"Thin razor-sharp wires of color were stretched across canvas, pulled so taut they broke apart; or, released, they bunched together in choking knots. [...] The colors twisted, tangled, pierced each other, bled; but the field they were on was luminous, and the color wires glowed against it like lightning against the sun."
How likely is it that a hard-boiled, noir PI plays difficult classical pieces on the piano in his free time? Well, not less likely than an engineer-turned-mathematician with limited command of English writes 600 book reviews on Goodreads. Having thus gotten over the implausibility hurdle - let's begin the praise. My seventh novel in the Smith-Chin series, S.J. Rozan's Stone Quarry (1999), is her best that I have read so far, even better than the great Winter and Night. And to think that I was worrying about the series after the weak Mandarin Plaid ! Stone Quarry has an interesting plot, great prose, and is a tribute to one of the masters of the genre (later about this).
Bill Smith drives to his cabin in upstate New York to meet with his client, Eve Colgate, who has her residence in the same county. The detective is hired to retrieve items that have been stolen from Ms. Colgate; we later learn these are valuable paintings. Mr. Smith meets with Tony, a bar owner and his long-term acquaintance. When Tony is assaulted by three bad guys led by a well-known yet somehow untouchable hood, Smith helps the victim defend himself. One of the bad guys is soon found murdered and Tony's younger brother, whom Mr. Smith once helped when he had gone astray of the law, is the main suspect. Not only is Bill facing the criminals, but his enemies also include a powerful local businessman and the local sheriff who hates Bill, "the asshole from the city messing in his county." Lydia Chin appears pretty late in the plot but when she does, to serve as a baby-sitter/ bodyguard for the client, the story switches to even higher a gear.
There are a few masterful passages of prose in the novel, where the quality of writing transcends the usually lackluster crime/mystery style. For instance, Smith's nuanced conversation with the owner of Antiques Barn would not be out of place in a literary work of highest caliber. True, the components of the plot are traditional clichés of the mystery genre and it is also true that the whole narrative structure of the story does not feel original. Let me now go on a limb and put forward a theory: the novel is Ms. Rozan's homage to Ross Macdonald (Kenneth Millar) and his magnificent Lew Archer series (I have reviewed all 18 Archer books here on Goodreads). To me Ms. Rozan's Stone Quarry, with minor changes of protagonists and times, could have been written by Macdonald. The same cadences of the plot, similar high quality of prose, and the all-encompassing understanding of human weakness and unusual warmth towards decent people:
Why not five stars then? I can't stand the mandatory climactic shootout scenes. Yes, I know, Macdonald used them too. And it is amazingly well-written scene for such a moronic and boring topic as a shootout. Still, I hope one day I will read a novel by Ms. Rozan that would not end with gun play. Otherwise the denouement - as monstrously complex as it is - is plausible and logical, at least for me.
Four and a quarter stars.
How likely is it that a hard-boiled, noir PI plays difficult classical pieces on the piano in his free time? Well, not less likely than an engineer-turned-mathematician with limited command of English writes 600 book reviews on Goodreads. Having thus gotten over the implausibility hurdle - let's begin the praise. My seventh novel in the Smith-Chin series, S.J. Rozan's Stone Quarry (1999), is her best that I have read so far, even better than the great Winter and Night. And to think that I was worrying about the series after the weak Mandarin Plaid ! Stone Quarry has an interesting plot, great prose, and is a tribute to one of the masters of the genre (later about this).
Bill Smith drives to his cabin in upstate New York to meet with his client, Eve Colgate, who has her residence in the same county. The detective is hired to retrieve items that have been stolen from Ms. Colgate; we later learn these are valuable paintings. Mr. Smith meets with Tony, a bar owner and his long-term acquaintance. When Tony is assaulted by three bad guys led by a well-known yet somehow untouchable hood, Smith helps the victim defend himself. One of the bad guys is soon found murdered and Tony's younger brother, whom Mr. Smith once helped when he had gone astray of the law, is the main suspect. Not only is Bill facing the criminals, but his enemies also include a powerful local businessman and the local sheriff who hates Bill, "the asshole from the city messing in his county." Lydia Chin appears pretty late in the plot but when she does, to serve as a baby-sitter/ bodyguard for the client, the story switches to even higher a gear.
There are a few masterful passages of prose in the novel, where the quality of writing transcends the usually lackluster crime/mystery style. For instance, Smith's nuanced conversation with the owner of Antiques Barn would not be out of place in a literary work of highest caliber. True, the components of the plot are traditional clichés of the mystery genre and it is also true that the whole narrative structure of the story does not feel original. Let me now go on a limb and put forward a theory: the novel is Ms. Rozan's homage to Ross Macdonald (Kenneth Millar) and his magnificent Lew Archer series (I have reviewed all 18 Archer books here on Goodreads). To me Ms. Rozan's Stone Quarry, with minor changes of protagonists and times, could have been written by Macdonald. The same cadences of the plot, similar high quality of prose, and the all-encompassing understanding of human weakness and unusual warmth towards decent people:
"I wondered whether some people were born understanding the true nature of kindness, or if it was something you had to learn."As good as the novel is, Lydia's character enriches it even further. I don't care for (neither do I mind) the inane, TV-sitcom-style banter between her and Smith, but even when playing only a secondary role in the plot, she somehow makes her appearances luminous. I have mentioned it at least once in my reviews that Lydia reminds me of a less bitter, sweeter Lisbeth Salander, in her strength and straightforwardness.
Why not five stars then? I can't stand the mandatory climactic shootout scenes. Yes, I know, Macdonald used them too. And it is amazingly well-written scene for such a moronic and boring topic as a shootout. Still, I hope one day I will read a novel by Ms. Rozan that would not end with gun play. Otherwise the denouement - as monstrously complex as it is - is plausible and logical, at least for me.
Four and a quarter stars.
March 4, 2015
I feel a little awkward about this one, because I haven't found (read: made) the time to review the previous book in the series, but I just finished this one and didn't want to put it off, in case I forgot the experience. So far, the Bill Smith novels in this series haven't thrilled me -- they're interesting, they deliver what they promise, it's fun to see these two from a different perspective, etc. But I just don't like them as much as the Lydia Chin novels.
Until now. (you saw that coming, didn't you?)
And honestly, reading the book jacket copy saying that Rozan had won two pretty prestigious awards, both for Bill Smith books befuddled and annoyed me. But I think I'm over that now.
Like the other Bill novels, Rogan tends to get a bit more writer-y, more noir-ish, a bit more moody than the Lydia novels which tend to be more plot and character-driven.
We're not in New York City this time -- Bill's been hired to work for someone upstate near the fishing cabin he retreats to from time to time. So we're plunged into a new world -- a world Bill is familiar with, but a stranger to. The case he's investigating is quickly overshadowed by other events that concern people Bill's semi-close to, and it's not long before the bodies start to pile up, the secrets and lies start to get exposed, and Bill is repeatedly assaulted. Small town politics, police corruption, corporate -- and garden variety -- criminals are everywhere, and a few (relatively) innocent people are caught up in it all.
There's been some progress/advancement/development/insert your own word in both the professional and personal relationships between Bill and Lydia, that's obvious. But it's all happening between the books -- which is an interesting way to go about it, keeps the books focused on the mysteries and from changing into something else. Not that I'd necessarily mind what it changed into (and still may), but I appreciate the approach.
Something about this Stone Quarry -- and, no, I can't tell you what, I wish I could -- struck home with me -- the ambiance, the characters, Bill's reactions, the story, the strong sense of place (and the tie between the characters and the place) -- in a way that nothing else in this series has. In reading breaks between the last few chapters, for some reason my mind when to the experience of reading Lehane's A Drink before the War and Parker's A Savage Place. Neither one of those books, or this one, have much in common at all -- but they all left me feeling the same way. There's a bit of melancholy, a sense of dissatisfaction (with the events -- not the book), yet knowing that the author put you right where he/she wanted you the whole time and brought you to those feelings. Now, I don't think this book is as good as those two (which is not a criticism, almost nothing can touch those two for me), but this was really satisfying.
Until now. (you saw that coming, didn't you?)
And honestly, reading the book jacket copy saying that Rozan had won two pretty prestigious awards, both for Bill Smith books befuddled and annoyed me. But I think I'm over that now.
Like the other Bill novels, Rogan tends to get a bit more writer-y, more noir-ish, a bit more moody than the Lydia novels which tend to be more plot and character-driven.
We're not in New York City this time -- Bill's been hired to work for someone upstate near the fishing cabin he retreats to from time to time. So we're plunged into a new world -- a world Bill is familiar with, but a stranger to. The case he's investigating is quickly overshadowed by other events that concern people Bill's semi-close to, and it's not long before the bodies start to pile up, the secrets and lies start to get exposed, and Bill is repeatedly assaulted. Small town politics, police corruption, corporate -- and garden variety -- criminals are everywhere, and a few (relatively) innocent people are caught up in it all.
There's been some progress/advancement/development/insert your own word in both the professional and personal relationships between Bill and Lydia, that's obvious. But it's all happening between the books -- which is an interesting way to go about it, keeps the books focused on the mysteries and from changing into something else. Not that I'd necessarily mind what it changed into (and still may), but I appreciate the approach.
Something about this Stone Quarry -- and, no, I can't tell you what, I wish I could -- struck home with me -- the ambiance, the characters, Bill's reactions, the story, the strong sense of place (and the tie between the characters and the place) -- in a way that nothing else in this series has. In reading breaks between the last few chapters, for some reason my mind when to the experience of reading Lehane's A Drink before the War and Parker's A Savage Place. Neither one of those books, or this one, have much in common at all -- but they all left me feeling the same way. There's a bit of melancholy, a sense of dissatisfaction (with the events -- not the book), yet knowing that the author put you right where he/she wanted you the whole time and brought you to those feelings. Now, I don't think this book is as good as those two (which is not a criticism, almost nothing can touch those two for me), but this was really satisfying.
September 9, 2020
I enjoy this series but this installment was a little bumpy.
November 11, 2012
I don't believe that Bill Smith will make it to a 60th birthday.
This is a great mystery series, and Rozan is a champion tricky plot maven, but I have two huge frustrations with her books. One - Bill is SO self-destructive; he smokes and drinks too much, he has had alcoholic blackouts, he has had at least three concussions, he forgets to eat, he goes days without sleep, he suffers from deep depressions, and he throws himself in front of guns. He's the kind of guy that you know is doomed if he were for real, but since he's a fictional detective, he tires me. Two - the weird Beauty and the Beast love affair between Chin and Smith is getting silly in being dragged out for six novels and counting. Countless pecks on the cheek, soulful stares, and one emotional hand holding in four years and I'm done caring about it.
This one is a Bill-narrated story. He begins this mystery at his vacation house in a small dying town, far from big city life, but he's there on a case. By the end of the book, he has accumulated so many beatings he really should be in a coma, but he is able to stagger on, solving the case and keeping dark secrets not his own. Thankfully, he has the good sense to ask for Lydia's help halfway through the case, otherwise this certainly would have been Bill's last book.
If Lydia and Bill aren't a couple by the end of the next book in the series, though, that one will be the last one I read.
This is a great mystery series, and Rozan is a champion tricky plot maven, but I have two huge frustrations with her books. One - Bill is SO self-destructive; he smokes and drinks too much, he has had alcoholic blackouts, he has had at least three concussions, he forgets to eat, he goes days without sleep, he suffers from deep depressions, and he throws himself in front of guns. He's the kind of guy that you know is doomed if he were for real, but since he's a fictional detective, he tires me. Two - the weird Beauty and the Beast love affair between Chin and Smith is getting silly in being dragged out for six novels and counting. Countless pecks on the cheek, soulful stares, and one emotional hand holding in four years and I'm done caring about it.
This one is a Bill-narrated story. He begins this mystery at his vacation house in a small dying town, far from big city life, but he's there on a case. By the end of the book, he has accumulated so many beatings he really should be in a coma, but he is able to stagger on, solving the case and keeping dark secrets not his own. Thankfully, he has the good sense to ask for Lydia's help halfway through the case, otherwise this certainly would have been Bill's last book.
If Lydia and Bill aren't a couple by the end of the next book in the series, though, that one will be the last one I read.
February 18, 2016
Wow, what an amazing book. I found myself marveling over many of the lines in the book. I might have siad this before about a previous Bill-centered book, but much of the prose is elegiac. It was beautiful, and I pondered that last night. Besides the fact that I love this character, this protagonist so much, I think what I found so moving was that unlike all the other books, this book takes place in a rural area, a place where Bill keeps his somewhat austere cabin. As one of my fantasies is to have my own cabin that I can flit off to whenever for extended periods of time, this resonated. I think way too many things happened, and at times, the book read as what I might have seen in 1950s hardboiled fare, but everything else made up for it. Great book. And soon, I'll get to talk to S. J. Rozan about it.
December 31, 2014
By far the bleakest of the books - up to where I've read, at any rate! Most of it is seeing more of Bill's misery (his tragedy is THE tragedy above all others for me, just about) and his serious drinking problem as a result. He and Lydia have a bit of a coolness, which was sad too, but I still love seeing them (all right, it's mostly her) articulating how their partnership/friendship needs to evolve, and they work it out. Of course the mystery was sad and awful too, but nowhere near beyond tolerable.
February 10, 2014
Got a bit confusing towards the end.
November 15, 2016
So not thrilling that I quite qith 3 chapters to go. Sigh. Some of the writing is very lovely but not really my thing, but the plot plods.
July 7, 2019
I am enjoying this series, but I like the ones centered on Lydia Chin more than those featuring Bill Smith. This is a Smith novel.
May 2, 2012
Setting – upstate New York – cabin – bar – small towns – quarry
Theme – cover-ups, choices, extreme feelings,
Images – Colgate’s paintings – violent, passionate feelings in abstract, colorful painting. The process of mastering a musical piece as his process for feeling order in the world.
Characters –
Eve Colgate – farmer, independent, contained aka Eve Nouvel – artist.
In her youth, when making a name for herself, her husband told her he was having an affair with another woman and she was pregnant. They were drinking, Eve was driving, and she crashed the car killing her husband – and partly convinced she killed him on purpose. She painted 6 paintings, and then crated them. She made a life for herself in the woods, painting in a shed outfitted with a glass ceiling… She became friends with her husband’s lover, and watched their daughter grow… when the mother expressed a wish to send her daughter to a better school, Eve started painting again and set up a scholarship foundation and school donations to make a place for the daughter (with the aid of her art dealer/friend). 30 years later the paintings and other things for her marriage are stolen. She doesn’t want anyone to know who she is and she doesn’t want the paintings found/exposed so she calls Bill.
Bill Smith- he has a cabin in upstate New York – since the time of his wife and daughter – His daughter died in a car accident (was he driving? Did I miss that sentence in a previous book?)… and he uses the cabin to get away from people, from stress, froas m his life… It has a picture of his daughter; it has a piano that he has tuned a couple of days prior to each visit… When he first met Lydia, he would disappear and not tell her… now he tells her when he is going and when he returns. He has a friend in Tony, the local bar owner – and in his younger brother Jimmy, for whom he was a bit of a father figure and whom he assisted to get out of legal trouble the year before.
Tony Antonelli – older brother, bar owner, worried about brother, always tough on his brother… but he loves his brother, and goes to great lengths to protect him when he thinks he’s guilty. He follows Jimmy’s truck (not knowing that Frank & ginny are in it, not Jimmy), sees Frank leave without the girl… he finds the girl dead, covers it up with lots of paint… takes her body to the quarry… hits Bill over the head when he gets near, but calls Eva to come fetch him… though he doesn’t trust his brother, he obviously loves his brother. Towards the end, he is shot out in his bar’s parking lot when htakes Bill out to tell him what he did...
Jimmy Antonelli – young, wild, wanting to take risks and prove himself, knows cars – gets in with the wrong crowd. A year earlier the local sheriff arrested him for drugs, beat him trying to get him to turn on Grice – Jimmy didn’t – Bill got him a big town lawyer and all charges dropped. Currently being set up again. He spent a few months with a lovely woman… but was enticed by Sanderson’s daughter. When she dumped him (for a rougher, tougher guy), he confessed all – she kicked him out, but is helping him when he hides when he hears about the trouble. When all is said and done, he goes to his brother’s bar to open it up and help his brother out… and Bill sends him to see his brother in the hospital, after making sure he knows how much his brother would do to protect him.
Mark Sanderson – local big guy – owns a profitable baby food company, known to throw his weight around, has a wild, 16 year old daughter whom he cannot control. He killed his wife (who was sleeping with lots of men), and calls in Grice (a thug sometimes used) to help him cover it up. Grice then blackmails him into partnering with him to buy up land that Sanderson can manipulate the government to use for their gas line… stand to make millions.
Ginny Sanderson – rebellious, angry, out to hurt her father. She wants to attract Grice – is selling drugs for him at her boarding school; when she’s expelled, she’s hanging out with his friends, looking for ways to get his attention. She entices Jimmy – gives him up for a closer henchman – takes Jimmy’s truck, robs Eva’s shed, and realizes she has really valuable paintings – hides them in Antonelli’s basement (Jimmy told her all about it), and brings Frank & her henchman to the basement. When Frank appears bored with the paintings (he’s hiding that he has plans for them), she shoots the henchman again to impress Frank. She tosses Jimmy’s keys by the body – to frame Jimmy. Bill identifies her as the one pawning some of the other belongings. Frank spends a couple of days with her… but then kills her and dumps her body in the quarry, with her mother.
Frank Grice – out of town thug, but one the local sheriff can’t get to (state trooper is ‘protecting’ him). He helped the local big man, Sanderson when Sanderson killed his wife, and now is blackmailing him with it. They are partners in land ‘speculation’. He kills Ginny in Eva’s studio/shed when she takes him to see other drawings they can steal…
Plot.
Hmmmm – Bill works to figure out how the pieces fit – why frame Billy? Why steal from Eva? Why can’t anyone stop Grice? How does Ginny fit in? What is Jimmy hiding? They do, of course, work it all out, and restore the paintings to Eva without anyone but Bill seeing them, and only Lydia knowing of them.
Bill gains Lydia’s help, but doesn’t tell her the whole story, which pisses her off. (A step forward, a step back)... He finally gets her to town to watch over Eva – and tells her all. But not before she tells him that his taking this case in this neck of the woods without warning her about it – and she tells him she questions whether he is truly wanting to make a commitment to their partnership – both professional and potential personal. He doesn’t have an answer for her, but then she throws herself wholeheartedly into the case.
Elegant examples of Rozan’s wordcraft:
Page 57 (following an elderly man) – “Luckily we were only going around a glass-doored breakfront to an alcove…. I don’t think it took us more than an hour to get there”
Page 80 – “the night was dark and damp and foggy. It wasn’t the up-close kind of fog where you couldn’t see your own hand if you held your arm out straight. It was a soft film you didn’t notice if your focus was close, where everything was clear and sharp and normal, what you expected. It was only when you tried to look around, to get your bearings, that you noticed that five yards away in all directions there was absolutely nothing at all.”
Page 182 – “She wandered around the room investigating my drawings, photographs, books. She stopped at the small silver-framed photo. She picked it up in both hands, looked at it silently, then looked over at me; but I was busy with cups, spoons, and teabags, and I let her look pass.”
Theme – cover-ups, choices, extreme feelings,
Images – Colgate’s paintings – violent, passionate feelings in abstract, colorful painting. The process of mastering a musical piece as his process for feeling order in the world.
Characters –
Eve Colgate – farmer, independent, contained aka Eve Nouvel – artist.
In her youth, when making a name for herself, her husband told her he was having an affair with another woman and she was pregnant. They were drinking, Eve was driving, and she crashed the car killing her husband – and partly convinced she killed him on purpose. She painted 6 paintings, and then crated them. She made a life for herself in the woods, painting in a shed outfitted with a glass ceiling… She became friends with her husband’s lover, and watched their daughter grow… when the mother expressed a wish to send her daughter to a better school, Eve started painting again and set up a scholarship foundation and school donations to make a place for the daughter (with the aid of her art dealer/friend). 30 years later the paintings and other things for her marriage are stolen. She doesn’t want anyone to know who she is and she doesn’t want the paintings found/exposed so she calls Bill.
Bill Smith- he has a cabin in upstate New York – since the time of his wife and daughter – His daughter died in a car accident (was he driving? Did I miss that sentence in a previous book?)… and he uses the cabin to get away from people, from stress, froas m his life… It has a picture of his daughter; it has a piano that he has tuned a couple of days prior to each visit… When he first met Lydia, he would disappear and not tell her… now he tells her when he is going and when he returns. He has a friend in Tony, the local bar owner – and in his younger brother Jimmy, for whom he was a bit of a father figure and whom he assisted to get out of legal trouble the year before.
Tony Antonelli – older brother, bar owner, worried about brother, always tough on his brother… but he loves his brother, and goes to great lengths to protect him when he thinks he’s guilty. He follows Jimmy’s truck (not knowing that Frank & ginny are in it, not Jimmy), sees Frank leave without the girl… he finds the girl dead, covers it up with lots of paint… takes her body to the quarry… hits Bill over the head when he gets near, but calls Eva to come fetch him… though he doesn’t trust his brother, he obviously loves his brother. Towards the end, he is shot out in his bar’s parking lot when htakes Bill out to tell him what he did...
Jimmy Antonelli – young, wild, wanting to take risks and prove himself, knows cars – gets in with the wrong crowd. A year earlier the local sheriff arrested him for drugs, beat him trying to get him to turn on Grice – Jimmy didn’t – Bill got him a big town lawyer and all charges dropped. Currently being set up again. He spent a few months with a lovely woman… but was enticed by Sanderson’s daughter. When she dumped him (for a rougher, tougher guy), he confessed all – she kicked him out, but is helping him when he hides when he hears about the trouble. When all is said and done, he goes to his brother’s bar to open it up and help his brother out… and Bill sends him to see his brother in the hospital, after making sure he knows how much his brother would do to protect him.
Mark Sanderson – local big guy – owns a profitable baby food company, known to throw his weight around, has a wild, 16 year old daughter whom he cannot control. He killed his wife (who was sleeping with lots of men), and calls in Grice (a thug sometimes used) to help him cover it up. Grice then blackmails him into partnering with him to buy up land that Sanderson can manipulate the government to use for their gas line… stand to make millions.
Ginny Sanderson – rebellious, angry, out to hurt her father. She wants to attract Grice – is selling drugs for him at her boarding school; when she’s expelled, she’s hanging out with his friends, looking for ways to get his attention. She entices Jimmy – gives him up for a closer henchman – takes Jimmy’s truck, robs Eva’s shed, and realizes she has really valuable paintings – hides them in Antonelli’s basement (Jimmy told her all about it), and brings Frank & her henchman to the basement. When Frank appears bored with the paintings (he’s hiding that he has plans for them), she shoots the henchman again to impress Frank. She tosses Jimmy’s keys by the body – to frame Jimmy. Bill identifies her as the one pawning some of the other belongings. Frank spends a couple of days with her… but then kills her and dumps her body in the quarry, with her mother.
Frank Grice – out of town thug, but one the local sheriff can’t get to (state trooper is ‘protecting’ him). He helped the local big man, Sanderson when Sanderson killed his wife, and now is blackmailing him with it. They are partners in land ‘speculation’. He kills Ginny in Eva’s studio/shed when she takes him to see other drawings they can steal…
Plot.
Hmmmm – Bill works to figure out how the pieces fit – why frame Billy? Why steal from Eva? Why can’t anyone stop Grice? How does Ginny fit in? What is Jimmy hiding? They do, of course, work it all out, and restore the paintings to Eva without anyone but Bill seeing them, and only Lydia knowing of them.
Bill gains Lydia’s help, but doesn’t tell her the whole story, which pisses her off. (A step forward, a step back)... He finally gets her to town to watch over Eva – and tells her all. But not before she tells him that his taking this case in this neck of the woods without warning her about it – and she tells him she questions whether he is truly wanting to make a commitment to their partnership – both professional and potential personal. He doesn’t have an answer for her, but then she throws herself wholeheartedly into the case.
Elegant examples of Rozan’s wordcraft:
Page 57 (following an elderly man) – “Luckily we were only going around a glass-doored breakfront to an alcove…. I don’t think it took us more than an hour to get there”
Page 80 – “the night was dark and damp and foggy. It wasn’t the up-close kind of fog where you couldn’t see your own hand if you held your arm out straight. It was a soft film you didn’t notice if your focus was close, where everything was clear and sharp and normal, what you expected. It was only when you tried to look around, to get your bearings, that you noticed that five yards away in all directions there was absolutely nothing at all.”
Page 182 – “She wandered around the room investigating my drawings, photographs, books. She stopped at the small silver-framed photo. She picked it up in both hands, looked at it silently, then looked over at me; but I was busy with cups, spoons, and teabags, and I let her look pass.”
September 29, 2022
I enjoy this series immensely. There's something charming and frustrating about the relationship between Bill Smith and Lydia Chin. I'm fascinated to watch her navigate her all-American world and her strict, traditional Chinese upbringing. It's an interesting bit of choreography to watch, and it must have been equally interesting to write.
As the book opens, Bill is headed for his sparse cabin in upstate New York. It's a small town, and it should be an idyllic, peaceful, paradise place. But the longer Bill is there, the more he realizes that the community is anything but peaceful or paradisical. A neighbor who is a famous painter approaches Bill with a problem. Someone broke into her place and stole paintings she did not want publicized. He agrees to help get them back. In the process of bumping up against the local hoods in town, one of them dies. No, Bill doesn't kill the guy; but law- enforcement officials are convinced the killer is a young man whom Bill had assisted in the past.
I had problems with some of the plot here. Bill and Lydia seem to be growing apart and sniping at one another more than usual. Bill has serious problems with alcoholism it appears, and he is inevitably smoking himself to death. Add to that his bouts of depression and innate desires to be isolated from the world, and you have a serious set of problems. My complaint with the book is that so many things happen to him he should have been comatose for months and possibly in recovery for years. He manages somehow to strive on through the gunshot wounds, the beatings, the booze-induced blackouts, and more. That said, I enjoyed the book and will certainly continue on with the series.
As the book opens, Bill is headed for his sparse cabin in upstate New York. It's a small town, and it should be an idyllic, peaceful, paradise place. But the longer Bill is there, the more he realizes that the community is anything but peaceful or paradisical. A neighbor who is a famous painter approaches Bill with a problem. Someone broke into her place and stole paintings she did not want publicized. He agrees to help get them back. In the process of bumping up against the local hoods in town, one of them dies. No, Bill doesn't kill the guy; but law- enforcement officials are convinced the killer is a young man whom Bill had assisted in the past.
I had problems with some of the plot here. Bill and Lydia seem to be growing apart and sniping at one another more than usual. Bill has serious problems with alcoholism it appears, and he is inevitably smoking himself to death. Add to that his bouts of depression and innate desires to be isolated from the world, and you have a serious set of problems. My complaint with the book is that so many things happen to him he should have been comatose for months and possibly in recovery for years. He manages somehow to strive on through the gunshot wounds, the beatings, the booze-induced blackouts, and more. That said, I enjoyed the book and will certainly continue on with the series.
June 24, 2023
S.J. Rozan is amazing. Every other book she focuses mainly on either Lydia Chin or Bill Smith depending on whose turn it is. Not that the other main character does appear, it's just that they are not the primary protagonist. This one, "Stone Quarry" features Bill Smith, through him Rozan gives the story a masculine focus. Rozan is just as adept at using Lydia for a more feminine appeal. This duality is rare and quite refreshing.
In this installment Bill Smith takes a PI assignment in upstate New York and the reader gets a lot of atmosphere for such a short book. Rozan makes the economically impoverished county seems so real and the early March dateline just adds to the barren and raw feel. The author does the same with the characters Smith meets along the way. The majority have the same coarse hopelessness and emptiness as the scenery. Smith leads with his chin (no pun intended) and events happen quickly to make this a suspenseful and intriguing read.
In this installment Bill Smith takes a PI assignment in upstate New York and the reader gets a lot of atmosphere for such a short book. Rozan makes the economically impoverished county seems so real and the early March dateline just adds to the barren and raw feel. The author does the same with the characters Smith meets along the way. The majority have the same coarse hopelessness and emptiness as the scenery. Smith leads with his chin (no pun intended) and events happen quickly to make this a suspenseful and intriguing read.
November 27, 2021
4.5 Stars Bill Smith goes to his cabin in up state New York where he takes a case in which he is to locate stolen items taken from Eve Colgate's shed and return them to her without police involvement or anyone learning who she really is. At the same time, his friends Tony and Jimmy Antonelli are wrapped up in trouble with Jimmy Grice, characters from a previous book in the series. The setting is beautiful and a character in itself. This is a compelling story that keeps the pages turning wondering what is going on and who is involved in what and in what way. I love SJ Rozan's writing. This is one of my favorite series and a go to comfort read. I know I am always in good hands.
July 7, 2021
This was a pig in a poke for me. I picked up this S.J. Rozan novel out of just luck. I had never even heard of S.J Rozan. Jumped into this series with book 6. I really enjoyed it as well. It's an old fashioned gritted P.I. pulp noir. Superb characters and a plot with so many twists and scary turns. Just 288 pages paperback I read this one in just two sittings over about 12 hours. I've got to find more books in this series to be sure. A must read. Check it out.
January 1, 2026
There are things to like about this detective - he plays piano and has a grounding in art. But he has the classic troubles - cigarettes, alcohol and a mysterious past involving his deceased daughter. At heart, he is a good guy trying to help others as a private investigator. The plot has lots of twists and turns. Not sure if I'll go out of my way to read more in the series, but if I trip across one, I'd probably read it.
Read
July 2, 2021A swashbuckling story of greed, corruption, teenage rebellion and ultimately brotherly love. S.J. Rozen writes with a hint of the wild west in her characters and scenarios and injects humour in the right places. A bit like NCIS. A cracking storyline with an unexpected twist at the end. I like the fact that the goodies win out but why does everyone seem to smoke?
April 27, 2022
A well put together hard to put down mystery. The storyline with subplots seems at first to go in a seemingly predictable fashion but then reader sees the complexity and events grow. Stolen art a rural stone quarry start to become part of the fabric. Some of the characters have hidden secrets that need to be brought to light.
October 14, 2024
It is such a joy to finally find that the NLS has produced this book for the Talking Books program. It is quite possibly the most outstanding novel so far in this series. Knowing what goes on later in the series was more interesting than a spoiler. And the good news is that there are now all the books currently in publication in this series available!
April 25, 2018
One of my favorites in this series despite a slight overload of violence and language. The upstate NY setting was an appealing shift from NYC, and as evocatively portrayed. As always the supporting characters were interesting; some of them to the point where I wouldn't mind meeting them again.
October 7, 2018
#6 in the Lydia Chin, Bill Smith series, this was the first book that I read that mainly featured Bill and it seems like there was a lot more violence. I was glad when Lydia came along but the violence didn't stop. Good mystery though.
February 22, 2020
Bill goes to his cabin in the mountains, just to get away. Is is asked to help a woman that lives there. She is a famous painter, and someone has stolen some of her paintings. She wants Bill to find them.
July 10, 2021
Very noir, much deception and violencem so that it is hard to believe that these two PIs want to keep doing their dangerous jobs. The countryside is full of mean and empty streets here. That said, I do admire the excellent writing and interesting characters. On to the next.
April 22, 2018
I do very much enjoy this series. I like how they trade off between Lydia's point of view and Bill's point of view. This was Bill's story, and it was a good one.
July 20, 2019
Great detective story read more of s.J. Rozan’s book fun read
December 15, 2019
A good, solid read. I don’t want to get too attached to Bill Smith, because with his self-destructive life style, he may not make it through book 7. And Lydia might decide he’s not worth saving.
December 18, 2019
I love the whole series. S. J. Rozan is a fantastic writer and there isn't another crime/mystery series like the Lydia and Bill series.
Want to read
July 19, 2020elibrary
October 9, 2021
Bill’s story to tell. Well done, but left me feeling sad.
Read
March 16, 2022own pbk
July 25, 2022
dnf on page 94
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