Concourse: A Bill Smith-Lydia Chin Mystery (Lydia Chin, Bill Smith Mystery) [Mass Market Paperback]

S. J. Rozan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 1996 | Series: Lydia Chin, Bill Smith Mystery (Book 2)

It flows through the Bronx like a river between banks of faded elegance. And at the end of the avenue called the Grand Concourse is the place people go to die, the Bronx Home for the Aged. The only trouble is the people dying there are going before their time.

Bill Smith has been hired by an old friend to investigate the brutal killing of a young security guard on the Bronx Home grounds. Going undercover, Smith wades out into a sea of violence and lies washing up against the old brick building. When a second murder is committed, Smith knows that there's a method to the madness. With the help of bright, young Chinese-American investigator Lydia Chin, Smith uncovers a web of corruption that's found a home in the Bronx. Now he has to figure out who will die next.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rozan nails down the promise of China Trade, her debut and the introduction of memorable New York City PIs Bill Smith and Lydia Chin. Here, Smith goes undercover for his mentor Bobby Moran, who now runs a security firm. One of Moran's young employees has been brutally murdered-kicked to death by an expert in martial arts-while on the job at the Bronx Home for the Aged in an elegant old building on the no longer elegant Grand Concourse. Although the murder carries trademarks of the work of the Cobras, a powerful gang, Smith, posing as a Moran employee, investigates the premises and staff of the Home. Quickly, another member of the security staff is similarly killed; later, a member of the Home's staff is fatally shot in someone else's tossed apartment. Smith runs afoul of the Cobras while defending another Home employee, but his probings suggest that even more powerful villains are at work in philanthropic and political circles of the Bronx. Rozan's dense, credible plot cuts through all circles of its urban hell and is resolved with drama and realistic ambiguity. Her major characters-the classical piano-playing Smith who's in love with the independent, Asian-American Chin-and the minor cast, from dimensionally portrayed gang members to delicately drawn Home residents, leave a lasting impression. Rozan brings a distinctive, commanding voice to the genre.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

S.J. ROZAN’S acclaimed novels and stories have won most of crime fiction’s greatest honors, including the Edgar, Anthony, Shamus, Macavity and the Nero Award. She lives in New York.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 291 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks (September 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312959443
• ISBN-13: 978-0312959449
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #187,883 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

SJ Rozan was born and raised in the Bronx and is proud of it. She spent over twenty years as an architect in New York City and is kind of proud of that, too. Now she writes and teaches. She's done 10 books in the Lydia Chin/Bill Smith series (the newest, ON THE LINE, comes out Sept. 28, 2010) and two standalones. She's also published three dozen short stories. A collection of her stories, A TALE ABOUT A TIGER, is available, and a second volume is coming.

SJ's work has won the Edgar, Anthony, Shamus, Nero and Macavity Awards, and she's a recipient of the Japanese Maltese Falcon. She's served on the National Boards of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. She's a past President of the Private Eye Writers of America. She's been Guest of Honor at Left Coast Crime (El Paso, 2003), Toastmaster at Bouchercon (Indianapolis, 2009), an invited speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland (2003) and as if that weren't enough, she has the key to the city of Fort Worth, Texas.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than China Trade, and C.T. was great!, February 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Concourse: A Bill Smith-Lydia Chin Mystery (Lydia Chin, Bill Smith Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book has interesting characters and plot, and is extremely well-written. I read it first, then found China Trade, the first novel in the series, in the library. As a (real) man, I can say that Rozan's Bill Smith is realistic; I would not have guessed that the author was female if I hadn't already known it. Smith reminds me of J.P. Beaumont, Jance's Seattle detective, and I can't think of a better compliment. It was a pleasant surprise to find that China Trade was written from the viewpoint of Lydia Chin. I hope that the viewpoint continues to alternate between the main characters in the later novels. If the quality continues, Rozan will join J.A. Jance, Minette Walters, Dick Francis, Robert Crais, and Ed McBain on my A-list of mystery writers whose new books I will buy in hardcover. On to Mandarin Plaid!

P.S. Jonathan Kellerman is borderline for my A-list. Sue Grafton, Robert Parker, and James Lee Burke are former A-listers.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great character-driven mystery, February 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Concourse: A Bill Smith-Lydia Chin Mystery (Lydia Chin, Bill Smith Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

CONCOURSE, by S.J. Rozan is the second novel of the Lydia Chin - Bill Smith series started in CHINA TRADE. CONCOURSE is an even stronger entry.

Bill Smith, despite his ordinary name, is anything but ordinary, even though he would be the last person to admit it. Rozan gives us a few clues to his less than ideal past, and that alone makes the reader want to learn more. As far as his relationship with Lydia -- their tenuous romance is gentle, wistful and at the same time, built on a deeply felt trust.

The plot of CONCOURSE takes Bill and Lydia into the world of non-profit organizations that are anything but, and leads Bill into the savage world of Bronx street gangs that live by their own rules and are governed by codes of honor written in blood. In the end, the ultimate brutality is the evil wrought by money and power -- a struggle that nearly costs Bill his life.

CONCOURSE is not for the faint of heart; the language is strong, the violence harsh and realistic, but the characters and plot are involving and exciting. A highly recommended series.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Awesome, August 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Concourse: A Bill Smith-Lydia Chin Mystery (Lydia Chin, Bill Smith Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book has everything a good mystery needs - a great plot, engaging characters, snappy dialogue, suspense and humor. China Trade was good but this book is better for three reasons: 1) Bill Smith's character is much better developed, 2) it has a tougher, more realistic edge to it and 3) the interaction between Bill and Lydia is more interesting. In sum, highly entertaining. I plan to read all her books.