Stone Quarry [Hardcover]

S. J. Rozan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1999

For years, Bill Smith has been coming to a small, rural upstate town to escape his life in New York City. This visit, he accepts a job to track down some stolen paintings; paintings that could reveal the artist's secret -- and famous -- identity. While quietly investigating the break in, a local boy becomes implicated in a murder case, and only Smith is convinced of his innocence.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

It's Bill Smith's turn to take center stage in this sixth entry in S.J. Rozan's memorable Lydia Chin/Bill Smith series of mysteries, and the tough and taciturn private eye really comes into his own. Smith has cloistered himself in his remote cabin in upstate New York, where he escapes from his private devils by fishing, hunting, and practicing Mozart and Bach on his piano, when he is sucked into two local crime cases.

The first involves Tony Antonelli, the brother of a young man whom Smith once helped out of trouble. Tony finds the body of a murdered local hoodlum in the cellar of his roadhouse. His brother Jimmy suspiciously goes missing and becomes the leading suspect. The second case involves a reclusive older woman (who turns out to be a world-famous painter). She asks Bill to track down some of her early works, which had been stolen from her studio. There's also a very nasty sheriff who hates Smith, a moderately tolerant state trooper who grudgingly helps, a corrupt executive of a babyfood company and his sad, dangerous teenage daughter, plus a crew of smalltime crooks who give the lie to the myth of rural safety. Lydia doesn't get called in from the Big Apple until quite late, and when she arrives she attracts stares in the local 7-Eleven "as though she were a black-petalled orchid that had sprung up in the daisy patch. Back in the car, Lydia grinned, said, 'Not many Asians up here, huh?' 'Especially in black leather,'" Bill answers."

The plot might have one or two tangles too many for its own good, but as usual Rozan proves herself to be one of the best descriptive writers in the genre, bringing to indelible life everything from a modern painter's latest work, to a depressed countryside where the last stone quarry is about to close down and grind away a few more dreams.

Other books in this award-winning series: A Bitter Feast, Concourse, Mandarin Plaid, and No Colder Place. --Dick Adler

From Library Journal

While visiting his country retreat, series private investigator Bill Smith (A Bitter Feast) gets involved in another case: he promises to find several unsigned paintings stolen from a reclusive celebrated artist who wishes to remain incognito. Back in New York City, partner Lydia Chin assists as usual, offering her trademark banter along with news of any unexpected appearances on the New York art scene. Smith's investigation, which impinges upon a murder at his friend's barAblamed on his friend's missing sonAultimately leads to a prize local scumbag and beyond. Solid plotting, exceptional characters, and well-crafted prose recommend this to most collections.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 276 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (September 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312209126
• ISBN-13: 978-0312209124
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,898,201 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

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fine book by one of the best writers in mystery today, October 11, 1999

By 

A. Shechter (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stone Quarry (Hardcover)

My introduction to the work of S.J. Rozan took the form of a short story. After reading one or two of her novels, I was telling friends on the internet that this writer was a major talent, someone I believed would be a strong voice in mystery.

With the publication of STONE QUARRY, the sixth book in Rozan's Lydia Chin/Bill Smith series, St. Martins Press has proved me right - but then, I knew that about the time that CONCOURSE, won the Shamus Award back in 1995. Rozan has not only developed a continually fascinating series, with fully developed characters, well-described settings (mostly in and around New York City), but she has successfully created a series with two distinct voices. In books one, three and five, Lydia Chin takes the narrative. She is a young, optimistic Chinese-American private eye who tries to balance the needs of her family and her own need to declare her independence and intelligence. The older, far more cynical private eye Bill Smith takes the lead in the other books. STONE QUARRY is, technically a "Bill Smith" book, while Lydia still participates. While Smith seems to fit the mold of he standard white guy p.i., he is anything but typical and is as interesting as his more "exotic" partner.

In this dark mystery, Bill is in upstate New York where he's had a house for years - a place he retreats to. He's in town primarily to assist Eve Colgate, a somewhat reclusive resident who wants him to check out a theft, without reporting that theft to the police. He is as well known as anyone in the area, but still seen as an outsider; even when he helps someone, he's somewhat resented. There is corruption, there's the arrogance of wealth and small-town attitudes for Bill to deal with. He calls Lydia, who is clearly out of her element in this rural setting, but still insistent on helping her friend and some-time partner.

STONE QUARRY continues an excellent series. It tells you more about Smith and Chin, two of the most intelligently drawn private eyes in modern day. Rozan, who won the Anthony for best novel for A COLDER PLACE, writes as effectively about this dark place as she does the bright lights of Chinatown and the upper west side and Brooklyn. The conflicts between Lydia's fairly upbeat attitudes and Bill's world-weariness only serve to highlight the way the two characters care for each other and keep each other balanced, keep each other from going off the deep end in either direction. This is truly one of the best mystery series available today - never a disappointment, cleanly, sharply written with warmth and wit and compassion, but the author never forgets to tell the story.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new departure, October 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Stone Quarry (Hardcover)

Shamus winner S. J. Rozan tries something new: setting a book in upstate New York instead of New York City. The city was such a strong presence in the earlier books that I was afraid this one would be weaker, but it's a great read: atmospheric, dark and moving. Good plot, good characters, too. BTW, it's a Bill Smith book, so Lydia Chin fans, wait your turn.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, as usual, May 30, 2001

By 

Roger Lee - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stone Quarry (Bill Smith/Lydia Chin Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)

The setting is different in this book (rural upstate New York vs NYC) but in every other way this book is very similar to Rozan's other novels, which is a good thing. As usual, this is a very well-written book; Rozan obviously puts a good deal of thought and effort into her writing; she tries hard to describe things and people in a way that is fresh and that puts vivid images of the scene into the minds of the readers. The plot is complex and satisfying, which is one of the things that Rozan always does well that most of the current mystery writers do not. This series is made up of real, quality mysteries, in the tradition of Chandler, Hammett and Ross MacDonald; these are not thrillers masquerading as mysteries. There is a good bit of action here, though, and the ending is a real barnburner. My only quibble, and it is a small one, is that Rozan needs to either have Smith and Chin get together or have them decide to be strictly friends. The quasi-relationship that they have been in for several books now is starting to wear a little thin.