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April Woo #5
Stealing Time
The novels of Leslie Glass have been praised as as "masterful" Booklist and "intense" Publishers Weekly. Now intrepid April Woo finds herself caught between New York City powerhouse politics and ethnic expectations when a young Chinese-American mother is beaten unconscious, and her newborn son is gone. The woman's domineering husband wants to control the entire investigation The mayor wants the case solved yesterday. And April's new boss is just waiting for her to make a career-killing mistake.To find the missing child April must return to her old Chinatown precinct--and uncover the hidden same of a hostile community--before someone decides to make this case her last."Exciting...a colorful tale, cleverly told." Kirkus ReviewsFrom Publishers WeeklyApril Woo (Judging Time, 1998, etc.) straddles two incompatible As a detective sergeant in the NYPD, she must be ambitious and aggressive; as the daughter of superstitious, demanding Chinese parents, she must be obedient and deferential. These tensions are the most involving aspect of this novel heavy on plot and coincidence. When Heather Rose Papescu, the Chinese-American wife of an affluent lawyer, is beaten and her adopted baby vanishes, it seems a straightforward kidnapping case. But Heather refuses to identify her attacker, and she and her husband, Anton, cannot produce adoption papers. Woven into the story is the plight of deathly ill Lin Tsing, an illegal alien working in a Chinatown factory owned by Anton's brutal relatives; Lin feels betrayed by her cousin, Nanci, who, coincidentally, was April's childhood friend. April's investigation of a case involving interracial marriage, meanwhile, prompts guilt over her affair with Latino cop Mike Sanchez. As the search for an apparently illegitimate baby continues, April examines her relationship with her parents, comparing her sense of assimilation with Heather's, who has also rejected Chinese traditions, and with Nanci's, who lives within them. While this overpopulated, overschematized story ends on an up beat, it's the themes of shame, guilt and familial obedience that make it work. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.Product DescriptionWith her mastery of police procedure and unflinching take on race relations, Leslie Glass is one of today's most original female suspense writers. April Woo's investigation of a child's disappearance in New York's Chinatown takes a nasty turn when suspicion falls on the wealthy parents. The father is hostile, the mother is unconscious, the police are without a lead, and all the pressure is on April. The facts don't add up and April's only hope of cracking the case is to find the child's real mother. Everyone involved is clearly hiding something, but is bound to silence by fear or guilt or both. With the reporters, her superior officers, and her own mother pressuring her, April is stuck in the middle of the kind of high-profile case most cops despise-- the kind of case perfect for cool-headed Sergeant Woo.
376 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 1, 1999
12 people are currently reading
159 people want to read
About the author
Leslie Glass
49 books41 followersLESLIE GLASS's new book, the Mother Daughter Relationship Makeover is a memoir and exploration of the issues that drive mothers and daughters (and also sons) apart. Her experience as founder and editor of Reach Out Recovery, the online wellness and recovery magazine, inspired her to move beyond her beloved April Woo mystery series and focus on helping people by writing recovery books for people of all ages. Since 2011, she has produced two award winning documentaries, The Secret World of Recovery, and The Silent Majority and developed a website with followers from all over the globe wanting to know more about addiction, recovery, relationships, and health. Reach Out Recovery has more than 1500 original articles.
In her early career Leslie worked in publishing and has written for a variety of media. She was a journalist at New York magazine and a short-story and feature writer for Cosmopolitan and Woman’s Own in Great Britain. A playwright and the author of the critically acclaimed mystery series featuring NYPD Detective Sergeant April Woo, Glass is also the author of Over His Dead Body, Sleeper, The Teen Guide to Health, Find Your True Colors in 12 Steps, The 8 C's That Help Me Be All Right.
She lives in Sarasota, Florida.
Series
* April Woo Mystery
In her early career Leslie worked in publishing and has written for a variety of media. She was a journalist at New York magazine and a short-story and feature writer for Cosmopolitan and Woman’s Own in Great Britain. A playwright and the author of the critically acclaimed mystery series featuring NYPD Detective Sergeant April Woo, Glass is also the author of Over His Dead Body, Sleeper, The Teen Guide to Health, Find Your True Colors in 12 Steps, The 8 C's That Help Me Be All Right.
She lives in Sarasota, Florida.
Series
* April Woo Mystery
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
June 21, 2025
More character study of Chinese-American women and their mothers than a murder mystery. Four young Chinese-American women in New York City - detective April Woo, her friend Nanci, Nanci's cousin, Lin, and Heather - come together when Lin gives birth, doesn't want the baby, tries to give him to Heather, who gives him back, and Nanci ends up with him. All complicated when Heather is beaten, the baby is kidnapped, and Lin is murdered. Meanwhile all of these women have mothers who see their daughters as mere tools to make them look good so people will think they are such great models of motherhood. The book is filled with sickening acts committed by the mothers to enhance their reputations, not to help, to care about, or to enhance their daughters'. April finds the kidnapped baby and solves the murder case, but she ends up wondering if her mother tried to poison her.
May 14, 2021
My 4th April Woo novel. Missed the first entry and since the plot was mentioned in subsequent books I saw no point in going back for the read. This entry in the series involves the disappearance of a wealthy couple's baby. I didn't find the mystery very interesting but that seems to be the general problem in all the books of the series. The characters drive the story and keep me interested and in this book there were a ton of new detectives and perps, so many that I sometimes was confused about who was who. I'm still hopeful that April will eventually develop the ability to stand up to tough criticism. At least she and Mike finally are together, just wish there was more about them as a couple or as a investigative team. That's what makes the book.
December 21, 2023
Abuse of women immigrants with few resources who are reluctant to engage the police. The intersection of two, three or more cultures is confusing and engaging, a complex layering of expectations, guilt, privilege and fear. Stealing time from another's life, from one's own.
July 31, 2017
It was OK. If I saw another on any of my book offers for free Kindle I would read more.
August 17, 2018
A really good read
Kept me guessing and actually caring about the outcome. I don’t understand the Chinese way of thinking but found it interesting to consider.
Kept me guessing and actually caring about the outcome. I don’t understand the Chinese way of thinking but found it interesting to consider.
August 8, 2023
Series is getting better.
July 19, 2024
Difficult to follow plot
July 10, 2016
I gave this book two stars instead of one, because I did manage to actually finish this. There is nothing spectacularly bad about the writing, nothing writing-wise that was irritating. But I found the depiction of April's mother and the other Chinese women not just irritating, but ridiculous and offensive. Mainly this occurs within dialogue. When immigrants speak another language, they are going to have errors and mistakes, and people from different countries will have different sentence structure. I get that. But when the immigrants start speaking in their native language, must their grammar still be stilted and make them sound like they don't know how to speak any language? What is that about?
The horrors visited on the young immigrant Lin, and her dreadful life, are the most compelling thing about this novel. She is really the only character who doesn't feel like an outline of a person; she feels fully human. Perhaps I would understand more about April and her background, perhaps she would feel more whole, if I had read this series from the beginning. On the other hand, by the time you get to #5 in a series, the character should really feel like a whole person and not just a cutout. I didn't hate April, I even empathized with her to a small degree, but mostly, like the other characters, she just feels like a placeholder. She is there to move a plot along, not to be a fully-realized person.
I can't recommend this book.
The horrors visited on the young immigrant Lin, and her dreadful life, are the most compelling thing about this novel. She is really the only character who doesn't feel like an outline of a person; she feels fully human. Perhaps I would understand more about April and her background, perhaps she would feel more whole, if I had read this series from the beginning. On the other hand, by the time you get to #5 in a series, the character should really feel like a whole person and not just a cutout. I didn't hate April, I even empathized with her to a small degree, but mostly, like the other characters, she just feels like a placeholder. She is there to move a plot along, not to be a fully-realized person.
I can't recommend this book.
February 10, 2010
Chinese detective April Woo is investigating the disappearance of a baby, whose adoptive parents become suspected. The husband is linked to an illegal alien who works in his relatives' company. It's all very complicated, fast-paced, confusing, and well-written. April's mother is especially maddening because she has no understanding of her daughter's life or career and screeches at her daughter, and is a huge racist. A very satisfying book.
February 1, 2011
Found this somewhat battered copy in a ubs in Curitiba, but as I'd never read a book by Leslie Glass and the price was minimal, brought it home with me. I think that if I had read the series in order I'd have enjoyed this one more.
December 16, 2012
Puntuación real, 2 1/2, pero me ha parecido que puntuar con tres quizá sería un poco exagerado, pues me ha parecido una buena novela dentro del género, entretenida y de fácil lectura, pero tampoco excesivamente original o destacable.
November 1, 2015
Good read. It wasn't quite a page turner except when the baby was involved. The hero's mom was a bellyful of laughs. The repartee between the lovers was too close for comfort for an old romantic. The brothers certainly were the kind of baddies one loves to hate. Very satisfying overall.
March 3, 2011
I simply love this series. I enjoy watching April Woo grow and accept the outside world.
August 22, 2011
Whodunnit, mystery, police story with a special twist that made it very different from the usual stuff. Well written and it had that page turner draw making it an easy and fairly quick read.
May 28, 2012
First read for this author. Not bad it was a good who dunnit.
February 11, 2013
Very good! Mystery, fun and romance in one place :)
February 28, 2013
Grade: B
Ooooo. I have found a new series that I really like! April Woo here I come!
Ooooo. I have found a new series that I really like! April Woo here I come!
December 23, 2015
love the April Woo series!
November 11, 2016
This is the first Leslie Glass book that I have read and I will read others. Very good mystery.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews