Lydia Chin and Bill Smith
Created by S.J. Rozan

New York private eye BILL SMITH and his sometime partner/associate LYDIA CHIN have appeared separately and together in a series of quite entertaining short stories. Recently, they've made the jump to novels.

Bill is a rumpled, middle-aged "seen-it-all" cynic with a sentimental streak who's lived alone, above a bar, for sixteen years. He plays piano for relaxation, although nobody has heard him play for over twenty years. I'd love to know the story behind that one. He's also been known to disappear on occasion for an upstate hunting trip. He's had a long stretch in the P.I. business and an even longer string of acquaintances that includes bookies, loan sharks and cops.

Lydia, on the other hand, comes from a tight-knit community, New York's Chinatown, where everyone seems to know everyone else's business, especially her disapproving mother.

A sense of affection infuses the relationship which, so far, has only gone as far as casual flirting. But quite an interesting relationship. I mean, Bill's a fortyish army brat who's been around, and Lydia's a native New Yorker, Chinatown Chinese, twelve years younger, who still lives with her mother. The gentle friction between the two provides a sexy spark to the stories, and the well-drawn recccurring characters and insiders' look into Manhattan, especially Chinatown, make this series one to watch out for.

Born and brought up in the Bronx, Rozan is an architect in a New York firm whose practice includes police stations, hospitals, firehouses, zoo buildings, and the largest terra cotta restoration project in the world, which may explain why she has such an eye for detail when it comes to building descriptions. She's also been a self-defense instructor and photographer, as well as a Knicks fan and a "lousy but dogged" point guard.

UNDER OATH

  • "S.J. Rozan... continues to maintain a high level of quality in her series work, reminiscent of Ross Macdonald."
    (George P. Pelecanos, March 2001, Rara-Avis)

SHORT STORIES

  • "Heartbreak" (Winter 1990, P.I. Magazine)
  • "Once Burned" (1991, P.I. Magazine; also 1996, Lethal Ladies)
  • "Prosperity Restaurant" (1991, The Fourth Womensleuth Anthology; also 1998, Lethal Ladies II)
  • "Hot Numbers" (February 1992, P.I. Magazine)
  • "Body English" (December 1992, AHMM)
  • "Film at Eleven" (1994, Deadly Allies #2)
  • "Hoops" (January 1996, EQMM)
  • "Marking the Boat" (2000, The Shamus Game)
  • "Double-Crossing Delancey" (2001, Mystery Street)

NOVELS

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.


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