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124th out of 292 books
—
176 voters
The Shanghai Moon (Lydia Chin & Bill Smith #9)
by
S.J. Rozan (Goodreads Author)
With The Shanghai Moon, S. J. Rozan returns to her award-winning, critically acclaimed, and much-loved characters Lydia Chin and Bill Smith in the first new novel in the series in seven years.
Estranged for months from fellow P.I. Bill Smith, Chinese-American private investigator Lydia Chin is brought in by colleague and former mentor Joel Pilarsky to help with a case that...more
Estranged for months from fellow P.I. Bill Smith, Chinese-American private investigator Lydia Chin is brought in by colleague and former mentor Joel Pilarsky to help with a case that...more
Hardcover, 373 pages
Published
February 3rd 2009
by Minotaur Books
(first published 2009)
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The Shanghai Moon .... toldfrom Lydia's POV.
I think I would enjoy reading about Bill and Lydia investigating just about anything. It was a fine treat then to have the mystery they worked to unravel, as usual, to be first rate. The story takes us into the past, to Shanghai and to the Nazi and Chinese persecutions of many different people; and into family relationships, full of love and betrayal and hurt; and into a topical modern police / private investigation with interesting cultural insights....more
I think I would enjoy reading about Bill and Lydia investigating just about anything. It was a fine treat then to have the mystery they worked to unravel, as usual, to be first rate. The story takes us into the past, to Shanghai and to the Nazi and Chinese persecutions of many different people; and into family relationships, full of love and betrayal and hurt; and into a topical modern police / private investigation with interesting cultural insights....more
This is a wonderful book after a long hiatus for Lydia Chin, and it was wonderful to be back in her world. In this book she is hired by another P.I. - she and Bill are slightly on the outs - to help with a holocaust recovery case. Some jewels have been recently unearthed in Shanghai and the more Lydia looks into it, the more wrapped up she becomes. Told partially through letters and diaries, the back story is one of an 18 year old girl and he brother fleeing the holocaust and ending up in Shangh...more
Actually I am not sure about the 3 stars - maybe 2.5 stars?
I did think that it had some really nice touches and the stories about holocaust survivors chimed with the other book I have just finished: the Morning Gift - I really must get up to date with all my reviews...
I was interested in the Chinese cultural aspects - again serendipity at work with my recent visit to China. I think there is something of a US stereotype Jewish person as I don't meet them and never have, but then I don't know many...more
I did think that it had some really nice touches and the stories about holocaust survivors chimed with the other book I have just finished: the Morning Gift - I really must get up to date with all my reviews...
I was interested in the Chinese cultural aspects - again serendipity at work with my recent visit to China. I think there is something of a US stereotype Jewish person as I don't meet them and never have, but then I don't know many...more
Trail of Blood has a strong historical component, with the present day story very much connected to family and wider political and social events in the past. It trundles along at a fairly quick pace, has good backstory, appealing characters, and interesting plot. That said, the story had a number of elements that I found detracted from my enjoyment. Sometimes the storytelling is a little too explicit, with some clear plot devices used to introduce certain pieces of information or push the story...more
The Shanghai Moon is a necklace created for a Jewish refugee woman and her Chinese husband during World War II in Shanghai. It disappeared at some point during the war, but finding has become an obsession with collectors and some of the heirs of the original owners.
The cast of characters (Rosalie — the young refugee woman — and her brother Paul, Rosalie's Chinese husband, his sister and her husband General Zhang, the general's son by and ealier marriage their own son, a Nazi major stationed in S...more
The cast of characters (Rosalie — the young refugee woman — and her brother Paul, Rosalie's Chinese husband, his sister and her husband General Zhang, the general's son by and ealier marriage their own son, a Nazi major stationed in S...more
"The Shanghai Moon" is a necklace that is purported to be of some value. Lydia Chin, a Chinese investigator, is asked to look into its disappearance and possible recovery.
Lydia is estranged from her partner, Bill Smith, since their last investigation. Bill has taken time off to sort through problems that were caused by that invesitgation.
Lydia finds herself deeply involved in finding "The Shanghai Moon" , but more deeply involved in the life of Rosalie Gilder. Rosalie was Jewish, German, and esc...more
Lydia is estranged from her partner, Bill Smith, since their last investigation. Bill has taken time off to sort through problems that were caused by that invesitgation.
Lydia finds herself deeply involved in finding "The Shanghai Moon" , but more deeply involved in the life of Rosalie Gilder. Rosalie was Jewish, German, and esc...more
"My best and oldest friend." Yea whatever! That Mary cop turd was a total brat the whole story long and I don't get why Lydia kept her as a friend at all. I get that she was always mad that Lydia put herself in danger, but really, she took her nasty sarcasm so far that one might start seriously questioning the purpose of a continued relationship with the woman.
Character frustrations aside, the mystery was a good one for the most part. Oh, one more thing I noticed that bugged me was when Lydia w...more
Character frustrations aside, the mystery was a good one for the most part. Oh, one more thing I noticed that bugged me was when Lydia w...more
This is an unexpected book. S. J. Rozan's Lydia Chin and Bill Smith novels were something I always looked forward to, but after Winter and Night I didn't expect to see them again. This is partly due to Winter and Night's ending (which had enough tragedy to suggest the end of their association), but also because Rozan is an architect, a New Yorker, and had finished Winter and Night before 9/11.
She wrote two books since then, but surprised me by returning to their story with this novel. The novels...more
She wrote two books since then, but surprised me by returning to their story with this novel. The novels...more
The Shanghai Moon, by S. J. rozan, B-plus, narrated by Samantha Quan, produced by BBC Audio America, downloaded from audible.com.
This is a Lydia Chin and Bill Smith mystery. This is the latest one, and apparently I’m missing some back story about Bill and Lydia falling out because of a previous case. Lydia is called in on a case by her former mentor, Joel Polarsky, a private investigator. Joel has been approached to find jewels which have been stolen, and which are, in fact, stolen assets from t...more
This is a Lydia Chin and Bill Smith mystery. This is the latest one, and apparently I’m missing some back story about Bill and Lydia falling out because of a previous case. Lydia is called in on a case by her former mentor, Joel Polarsky, a private investigator. Joel has been approached to find jewels which have been stolen, and which are, in fact, stolen assets from t...more
THE SHANGHAI MOON (PI-Lydia Chin/Bill Smith-NYC-Cont) – VG+
Rozan, S.J. – 9th in series
Minotaur Books, 2009, US Hardcover, ISBN: 9780312245566
First Sentence: “I’m back.”
PI Lydia Chin is back from a case that took her to China, but she is estranged from her friend and partner, Bill Smith. Her former mentor, Joel Pilarsky, contacts her to work on a case with him as he needs a connection to the Chinese community.
During WWII, China accepted refugees fleeing Europe. Rosalie Gilder and her brother wer...more
Rozan, S.J. – 9th in series
Minotaur Books, 2009, US Hardcover, ISBN: 9780312245566
First Sentence: “I’m back.”
PI Lydia Chin is back from a case that took her to China, but she is estranged from her friend and partner, Bill Smith. Her former mentor, Joel Pilarsky, contacts her to work on a case with him as he needs a connection to the Chinese community.
During WWII, China accepted refugees fleeing Europe. Rosalie Gilder and her brother wer...more
Feb 09, 2009
Patti
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Everyone!
Recommended to Patti by:
Robin Agnew, by giving me the ARC :)
What a terrific book, with wonderful storytelling. S. J. Rozan has long been one of my favorite authors, and this book was well worth waiting for. It's been about six years or so since the last entry in the Lydia Chin/Bill Smith series.
What made this so wonderful to me was that Rozan tells two stories. The reader gets the PI novel with Lydia & Bill, but also an interesting historical story told in letters about Jewish emigrants to Shanghai just before WWII. Rosalie and her brother Paul are y...more
What made this so wonderful to me was that Rozan tells two stories. The reader gets the PI novel with Lydia & Bill, but also an interesting historical story told in letters about Jewish emigrants to Shanghai just before WWII. Rosalie and her brother Paul are y...more
P.I. Lydia Chin is asked by her mentor, Joel Pilarsky, to help locate missing jewelry dating back to WWII. A cache of jewelry had been found in Shanghai. It was identified as belonging to European Jews attempting to escape Hitler's influence. Shortly after being found, a Chinese official is suspected of stealing the jewelry. Lydia is hired because there is suspicion that the jewelry might be found in Chinatown.
Not long after being hired to look into the missing jewelry, Joel Pilarsky is murdered...more
Not long after being hired to look into the missing jewelry, Joel Pilarsky is murdered...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Well, how exciting to discover a detective series you were unfamiliar with . . . and one of such calibre! Quite a read, almost straight through, with minimal stops and those under protests! Lydia is wonderful! And I want to know more about Bill. This story was top of the heap!! A real page turner. In the story, they say that the gem the Shanghai Moon, casts its spell over you and you are lost. It's the same with this book . . . you begin it and you can't put it down. The creation of the WWII Jew...more
It is very rare that I fall in love with a story on the first page. Yet The Shanghai Moon pulled me in immediately, spinning a yarn that was as alluring as the Shanghai Moon itself -- a legendary piece of jewelry at the center of the story. Private eye Lydia Chin is hired to help track stolen jewels dating back to World War II, when Jews fleeing the Nazis went to Shanghai. The story is told in flashback through a series of letters from the jewels' original owner, Rosalie Gilder, and by her survi...more
I was home sick today and finished this book while feeling pathetic in bed. This is the first novel that I have read in this series and I really enjoyed it. Lydia Chin is a Chinese-American PI who is hired to locate a thief believed to have stolen a valuable piece of jade jewelry known as the Shanghai moon that was lost sometime during WWII. Since it had been so long since anyone had actually seen the jewel, much of the story includes Lydia's historical research, which I found fascinating to rea...more
This series follows the private investigators duo of Lydia Chin, a Chinese-American living in Chinatown New York and her partner Bill Smith. At the time of this novel, the partners are estranged, and have been for a couple of months, and so Lydia Chin accepts a case with her old friend, Joel. A wacky, 60-ish, Jewish P.I. The two accepts a case from a mysterious European woman who tries to help refugees displaced by the Germans recover their personal belongings. In this case, jewlery belonging to...more
Aug 12, 2009
Linda
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Shelves:
1940s,
1930s,
contemporary,
china,
private_investigator,
mystery,
new-york,
favorite-characters
What great fun this was! My favorite kind of mystery: ordinary people doing things both extraordinarily good and evil, and the reader is brought along as the protagonist tries to find out who did what, and why.
Lydia Chin, on the outs with Bill Smith, is brought into a case by her colleague and former mentor, Joel Pilarksy. Joel was hired by a Holocaust assets recovery specialist lawyer to investigate any leads on jewelry stolen from an excavation in China by a Chinese official, who fled to New...more
Lydia Chin, on the outs with Bill Smith, is brought into a case by her colleague and former mentor, Joel Pilarksy. Joel was hired by a Holocaust assets recovery specialist lawyer to investigate any leads on jewelry stolen from an excavation in China by a Chinese official, who fled to New...more
These books are amazing. I love the way Rozan goes back and forth between her two main characters. In this book, Lydia Chin is front and center, but she and Bill Smith take turns being the main protagonist. I have to admit a slight--ever so slight--preference toward the Bill Smith ones, but I love them both. The relationship between Lydia and Bill is unique in all fiction (as far as I know) and wonderful. This was the most recent one, and it seems Rozan is getting better as she goes along. This...more
I was worried that this wouldn't work as a mystery since there were pages and pages of letters supposedly written in 1938, and they didn't look like they were going to mesh with Linda Chin's contemporary sleuthing. But they did after all. The history lesson was satisfying. Did you know that Shanghai was about the only place in the world willing to take the exodus of Jews in 1938? Me neither. They lived in miserable ghettos, but they were allowed to live and were often cared for by other Jews who...more
I am SO happy that S.J. Rozan has returned to writing her Lydia Chin/Bill Smith series after a hiatus that has lasted since 9/11. And what a great book to return with -- I've been completely absorbed in The Shanghai Moon for 2 days. Rozan is a wonderful storyteller, and the history that this book covers is such a bonus. Set in New York's modern-day Chinatown, we also get flashes back to Shanghai in the 1930s/40s -- one of the few places where Holocaust refugees were welcomed. Even though I read...more
I love this series with a young Chinese/American female PI teamed with a middle aged American male partner. The different perspectives are great, especially since Lydia must live with one foot in the traditional world of her Chinese family. This one seemed especially rich so I actually gave it 5 stars. Rozan, an architect by training, is one of many top crime writers who believe that today's crime novels have taken over the sociological role that was played by novelists like Pearl Buck, Sinclair...more
I like Lydia Chin, but never appreciated Bill Smith. I like Lydia's voice, her POV, because she makes mistakes, but only lets the reader know, not some pale/frail confession to the big strong man. The novel is about a mesmerizing brooch of jade and diamonds and a fully realized Austrian Jewish teenager, who escapes to Shanghai (one of few places to accept Jewish refugees. America didn't.) with her young brother. Rosalie comes fully through letters she wrote to her Mama, stuck, and later murdered...more
The Jewish ghetto in Shanghai in the 1940s joins 21 c NY Chinatown as a coequal scene for this intriguing story. It is much more than a rather good mystery story, though it is that. It is also a laying out of a disturbing history, an exploration of family in Chinese and Jewish cultures, and of nontrivial spiders web that lies, through statement and silence, create. Rozan is a cut above your average mystery writer, but as a novelist falls a bit short due to some shaky premises and too neat situat...more
As mystery plots go, this one is adequate. Some of the twists are telegraphed a couple of chapters in advance, and an awful lot of the story depends on a characters separated by decades who somehow wound up living within a few blocks of each other.
That said, the story hangs on an interesting bit of history -- the Jews who fled the Anschluss and found themselves in Japanese-ruled Shanghai, a community I was reading about a few week ago in Invisible China -- and Rozan writes with her customary wi...more
That said, the story hangs on an interesting bit of history -- the Jews who fled the Anschluss and found themselves in Japanese-ruled Shanghai, a community I was reading about a few week ago in Invisible China -- and Rozan writes with her customary wi...more
I haven't read a mystery for SO long. This book was reviewed somewhere and sounded good, so I picked it up at the library - and what a great treat it was! I have to admit, I ODed on Janet Evonovich books, and have vowed not to read any more of them. they were all sounding the same, and too predictable/weird.
Anyway, this was a really good mystery, with likeable well-defined characters. Lydia Chin and Bill Smith are two PIs in Chinatown, NY. The Shanghai Moon is a brooch that was fashioned during...more
Anyway, this was a really good mystery, with likeable well-defined characters. Lydia Chin and Bill Smith are two PIs in Chinatown, NY. The Shanghai Moon is a brooch that was fashioned during...more
This is part of a series set in New York City's Chinatown, featuring P.I. Lydia Chin and her partner and love-interest Bill Smith. I haven't read any of these before, but it was very good so I'll probably look for the earlier titles. This one involved a search for a missing and legendary piece of jewelry, and old letters from a young Jewish woman to her mother during World War II. I didn't know that Shanghai provided a haven for over 20,000 European Jews during the war.
There's lots of action and plot twists and turns in this mystery featuring Chinese detective Lydia Chin and her partner Bill Smith. In a nutshell, Lydia is hired to find a cache of jewelry including the infamous "Shanghai Moon" that dates back to pre World War II and involves a young Jewish woman and her husband,a Chinese national. The story is set alternately in pre WWII Shanghai and 21st century NYC. Lots of history and lots of interesting characters.
I listened to the Sound Library BBC audiob...more
I listened to the Sound Library BBC audiob...more
S.J. Rozan's recurrent detective characters reunite in this gripping story of the search for a legendary missing jewel that once belonged to a Jewish refugee in Shanghai and her Chinese husband. The story, narrated by Rozan's Chinese-American detective, Lydia Chin, alternates between NYC Chinatown and diamond district settings, and a vibrant portrait of wartime Shanghai as portrayed in the letters and diaries of the refugee and her sister-in-law. In addition to making this oft-neglected corner o...more
Latest installation in the Chin/Smith detective series, which is great for its bantering partnership and for its stereotype-bursting female protagonist. (Think VI Warshawski in Chinatown.) This time they're chasing a mysterious jewel - the Shanghai Moon - which takes them back into post-WW2 China, and the Jewish refugees there (apparently China was one of the few visa-granting countries at the time - who knew?). The historical part was my favorite part; the modern-day mystery and its guns-a-blaz...more
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SJ Rozan, a native New Yorker, is the author of nine novels. She has won the the Edgar, Nero, Macavity, Shamus and Anthony awards for Best Novel and the Edgar award for Best Short Story. She is a former Mystery Writers of America National Board member, a current Sisters in Crime National Board member, and President of the Private Eye Writers of America. In January 2003 she was an invited speaker a...more
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Shomeret
Mar 23, 2009 06:01pm
Shomeret "
I did, in fac...more
Mar 23, 2009 09:51pm