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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780312955908
ISBN number: 0312955901
Label: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 275
Printing Date: September 15, 1995
Publishing house: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Sale Popularity Level: 580770
Studio: St. Martin's Paperbacks
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Product Description:
It's a city within a city, of smells, sounds, dark shops, and close-knit families; it's a world all its own. And in all of New York's Chinatown, there is no one like P.I. Lydia Chin, who has a nose for trouble, a disapproving Chinese mother, and a partner named Bill Smith who's been living above a bar for sixteen years.
Hired to find some precious stolen porcelain, Lydia follows a trail of clues from highbrow art dealers into a world of Chinese gangs. Suddenly, this case has become as complex as her community itself--and as deadly as a killer on the loose...
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Rated by buyers 
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I've just finished China Trade by S.J. Rozan and its a great read, especially since this is the very first book the author has written. It seems very realistic so you almost feel the crowds of the city and Chinatown. Its a great mystery with twists all the way through and surprising near the end. I am hoping for more good books from this author and highly recommend this one.
Rated by buyers 
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As the very first of SJ Rozan's Lydia Chin/Bill Smith private investigations, we are given a good view of Lydia's life. We are also introduced to her mother and two of her four brothers, as well as another old friend who is a NYPD detective. The other minor characters of the story all appear to be real people and not just 'cut-outs from an a charlie chan movie'. Rozan shows a knack for characterizing Chinatown's denizens, apothecaries, shops and food. Lydia is an ABC, and american-born chinese, and as such has the same cultural problems of all very first generation americans. Coming from a closed, respect conscious society, where women are meant to be wives, she is fighting an uphill battle to be her 'own' woman.
Lydia, is hired by the Chinatown Pride museum to recover stolen antique export porcelains. During her investigation she confronts the leaders of rival Chinatown gangs in hopes of flushing out the robbers. With information gleaned from a meek scholar who habitually steals tiny porcelains from prominent collections, Lydia discovers an antiquities- laundering business that crosses all socioeconomic strata. More than the theft, it's the two murders that accompany her investigation that both Lydia the most.
Her sidekick, full-time PI Bill Smith, provides a minor element of sexual tension; the resolution of the murders (but not the crime) depend on a scheme in which Lydia sets herself up to be attacked by a hit man and to be rescued by the NYPD. It almost works out, and the involvement of a childhood friend, makes the ending bitter sweet (just like real life).
Rated by buyers -
This was the very first book I'd read from Ms. Rozan, and I wasn't sorry. She takes you into the wonderful world of Chinatown for a ride you won't forget. This book was so good that it got me reading all of her available books. Try any one of them, and I'm sure you'll be pleased.
Rated by buyers -
New York P.I. Lydia Chin is investigating the theft of Chinese export porcelains from the Chinatown Pride museum. With the help of her sometimes partner, Bill Smith, her investigation leads her through Chinatown into the world of Chinese gangs and what she finds there is heartbreaking and tragic. As a good Chinese daughter Lydia still lives with her mother, rare in a hard-boiled detective series. Of course, Lydia's very traditional family is horrified by her career choice which is in turn humorous and frustrating. This is fine start to an intriguing series with each book alternating between Lydia and Bill's point-of-view.
Rated by buyers -
In a genre that is finally reasonalby well populated by woman and African Americans, an Asian slueth (of either gender) is still a rarity. Enter Lydia Chin, an ABC (American Born Chinese)who still lives with her mother in Manhattan's growing Chinatown. For me, a native of Oakland (which has a strong Asian community), the highlight of this book is the entire sensory experience. Rozan, an Anglo, does a wonderful job of writing a book that stimulates the senses of smell and taste. It doesn't hurt that Lydia loves to eat and shares her wonderful meals with the reader.
The mystery revolves around a couple of crates of missing Chinese porcelains (hence a wonderful pun in the title). Lydia and her sort of partner, Bill, explore a mix of Manhattan museums and gangs as they seek the china. The resolution is nicely complicated and shouldn't be obivous - at least to the Anglo reader.
What keeps the book from pure hard boiled status is Lydia's meddling family (they don't approve of her work); a convenient best friend who's a cop; and Lydia's ambiguous relationship with Bill (good ABC girls aren't supposed to be attracted to white dectectives).
Bottom line: A solid debut in a series I'm already looking forward to reading again.
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