Reflecting the Sky (Bill Smith/Lydia Chin Novels) [Mass Market Paperback]

S. J. Rozan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 7, 2002 | Series: Bill Smith/Lydia Chin Novels

S. J. Rozan is widely regarded as one of the finest crime writers to emerge in the past decade. Praised by critics and colleagues alike, her works have been finalists for most of the major awards and have won both the Shamus and the Anthony Awards for Best Novel. Now, with Reflecting the Sky, she has written her finest, most broad-ranging novel to date.

Lydia Chin, a Chinese-American private investigator in her late twenties, is hired by Grandfather Gao, one of the most respected figures in New York City's Chinatown, for what appears to be a simple task. Lydia, along with her professional partner Bill Smith, is to fly to Hong Kong to deliver a family heirloom to the young grandson of a recently deceased colleague of Grandfather Gao. They arrive in Hong Kong safely but before they can deliver the heirloom, the grandson is kidnapped and two, separate ransom demands are made. While the family of the kidnapped boy tries to freeze them out, Lydia and Bill must quickly learn their way around a place where the rules are different, the stakes are high, and the cost of failure is too dire to imagine.

 

Reflecting the Sky is a 2002 Edgar Award Nominee for Best Novel.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

S.J. Rozan's reputation grows with every new installment in her lively series starring the redoubtable Lydia Chin, a twentysomething New York PI and her partner Bill Smith. Here Lydia's venerable family friend Grandfather Gao dispatches the twosome to Hong Kong to deliver a jade amulet to the grandson of Wei Yao-Shi, whose American family knew nothing of the son and heir he left in Asia. A simple assignment quickly turns into a kidnapping, as Chin and Smith make their way through the complex world of triad politics, Asian intrigue, and the smuggling of Chinese antiquities. Along the way, Rozan treats us to an insider's view of Hong Kong; if someone you know is headed in that direction, this would be a great guidebook as well as a diverting plane read.

The relationship between the two protagonists has a nice subtext; there's sufficient sexual tension to spice up the narrative, but not enough to slow down the action. Rozan excels at pacing, and her characters are complex enough to linger in the reader's mind after the last page is turned. This is a standout performance from a writer who ought to break out in the bestseller ranks with this eighth in a series that keeps getting better. --Jane Adams --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

The seventh Bill Smith/Lydia Chin novel proves that Rozan's Shamus (for Concourse) and Anthony (for No Colder Place) awards were no fluke. This is a beautifully written book with a sophisticated plot, rich in both action and atmosphere. After 1999's Stone Quarry, told from Smith's point of view, this outing belongs to Chin. At 28, Lydia is a product of New York's Chinatown, where Grandfather Gao, a community elder, has watched over her family all her life. So it's a great honor when he asks her to travel--with professional partner Smith--to Hong Kong to deliver three precious items: the ashes of an old friend for burial, a note from that friend to his brother and a valuable jade to the friend's seven-year-old grandson. The job seems too easy to require two licensed PI's, but there are complications: the friend had two wives and two sons--one family in Hong Kong, one in the U.S. Neither son knew about the other until the will was read. Chin and Smith arrive at the Hong Kong son's apartment to find it ransacked and the grandson kidnapped. Lydia and Bill are both suspects and searchers, in a chase that pits them against a criminal triad and subjects them to the torrid heat and rushing crowds of Hong Kong. Rozan is an architect, and the structure of this book sets a high standard. Every twist of the plot rises from a foundation of truthful emotions and motives solidly rooted in the characters' cultures. Every bit of humor and evocative description serves the action; there's not a smidgen of clunky exposition as the Chin-Smith relationship continues to grow and fascinate. Agent, Steve Axelrod. (Feb. 6)Forecast: With an author tour and major promotion from the publisher, plus enthusiastic blurbs from some big mystery stars--Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos and Michael Connelly--this could well be Rozan's break-out book.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (January 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312981341
• ISBN-13: 978-0312981341
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #476,908 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #76 in Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > Asian American

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

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new level, April 12, 2001

By 

roger holkum (NY NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reflecting the Sky (Hardcover)

SJ Rozan -- one of my favorite crime writers anyway -- has hit a new level with REFLECTING THE SKY. Maybe it's the Hong Kong setting, but something in this book brings out a new depth and maturity in Lydia Chin. She show a seriousness we haven't seen before as she and Bill Smith, working with (and sometimes against) an Alabama-raised, Chinese-American Hong Kong cop, try to solve a complicated case revolving around kidnapping, smuggling, and the meaning of family. I'm eyeing ticket prices to Hong Kong as I write this.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic mystery, January 19, 2001

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Reflecting the Sky (Hardcover)

Chinese-American Lydia Chin and Bill Smith are now official partners
in a private investigation business. Lydia's honorary grandfather Gao,
an herb shop owner in Chinatown asks her to perform some tasks in Hong
Kong for him. She agrees, taking Bill with her, to deliver a package
containing a jade statue to the grandson of a deceased friend, Wei Yao
Shin.

The easy assignment turns difficult almost from the onset
of their arrival in Hong Kong. Someone kidnaps Harry, the intended
recipient of the delivery, but Lydia and Bill have no idea who or why
since several diverse groups claim responsibility. As the American
sleuths try to find and return Harry safely home; they risk their own
lives in the process.

S.J. Rozan is one of the best writers of
hard-boiled private eye novel as proven with her latest, REFLECTIONS
IN THE SKY. The tale includes several red herrings that take the
reader down false trails leaving everyone clueless as to who the
kidnappers are. Hong Kong is vividly described as a beautifully
strange hybrid mix of Eastern and Western cultures that leads to the
reader wanting to visit the island. The award winning Ms. Rozan, in
her seventh Chin-Smith mystery, provides her fans with another
powerfully taut thriller.

Harriet Klausner

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is S.J. Rozan's BEST, April 10, 2001

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Reflecting the Sky (Hardcover)

I only recently discovered the duo of Lydia Chin and Bill Smith ... and I'm hooked! I read one right after the other, and loved every word, but this is by far Rozan's best work. These two characters just get more finely-tuned with every book. She offers fascinating insight into the Chinese culture, while balancing it with Bill's very Western viewpoint. The mysteries are subtle and intricate, and always contain an element you didn't see coming. Treat yourself! Can't wait for more of these two!