Title: The Shanghai Moon: A Lydia Chin/Bill Smith Novel (Bill Smith/Lydia Chin Novels)
Author: S. J. Rozan
Rating *****
Tags shanghai, mystery, series, jewelry, holocaust, lydia chin, bill smith
Ah, bliss. Lydia Chin and Bill Smith are back. I've never been disappointed in a book by S.J. Rozan, but I confess the Lydia Chin/Bill Smith series is my favorite. They alternate between being narrated by Lydia and Bill, who are partners in a private eye business. Both are believable and intensely human characters.
In this volume, Lydia is asked to help with a case when her mentor Joel Pilarsky asks her to help on a case with a Chinese connection. Bill isn't around, still deeply affected by their last case. When an important person in the case is murdered, Bill comes back. The case winds up involving Shanghai before and during World War II. Shanghai for a while had a large Jewish refugee population, as it was one of the few places that would accept the high number of Jewish refugees from Germany.
Rozan crafts a tragic story that involves Chinese and Jewish cultures, love that crosses those cultural boundaries, the horrors of war, and the ties between families. Highly recommended.
Publication St. Martin's Minotaur (2009), Edition: 1, Hardcover, 384 pages
Publication date 2009
ISBN 0312245564 / 9780312245566
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