** spoiler alert ** Setting – China town,

Themes – old ways vs new ways (neither necessarily good), family, tradition

Characters –
Lydia and Bill – moving toward a partnership, both personal and professional…

H.B. Yang aka Yang Hao-Bing – old ways – informal leader in Chinatown, advisor to mayor, his boats carry immigrants from China, and they work in his factories and restaurants – they brought over Lydia’s father, and her father worked for him for a time as cook. Uses ‘thugs’ to keep people in line… his name used to keep children in line.

Duke aka Lo Da-Qi – new ways – gangster in China, making a name for himself in Chinatown… smuggling illegal immigrants and drugs in Yang’s boats – pleased to be duping Yang, politicizing to make Yang look bad and to step into his shoes.

Peter aka Lee Bi-Da – Lydia’s friend since grade school. A liberal lawyer. Working with Warren Tan to organize unions in Chinatown. He asks for Lydia to bear witness to a strike at one of Yang’s restaurants, but nothing bad happens.

Warren Tan – of the neighborhood – he has a heart something since a child and is living on borrowed time. He is educated, and he is working to start unions for the Chinese workers in Chinatown. He is disappointed the main unions won’t back the.

Plot –
4 recent immigrants, roommates, and coworkers at Yang’s restaurant disappear – two are union. Peter talks to Lydia about it, and she volunteers to look into it. Then Yang hires her to look into it. And the state department is looking into it.

Bit by bit Lydia and Bill figure out what’s going on… along the way Peter is in an explosion in the union basement room, and though he survives, one of the 4 immigrants dies; Lydia is tied up & threatened to stop looking;

The 4 came over together, and one found the hidden bag of drugs and takes it off the ship… When Duke finds out, he threatens them and they go into hiding (in Yang’s basement, without Yang’s knowledge)… the one killed in the explosion was going to Peter to find a way out of their dilemma.

Lydia finds them, takes them to safety, and with Bill and Mary (her detective friend and Peter’s girlfriend) ‘trap’ Duke in his lies… and most comes out okay. Duke sent back to China, drugs retrieved, the men safe. But the explosion was set by Warren, who planned it for a time the room would be empty so no one would get hurt, but in trying to get the main union’s support – and it worked. But when Lydia and Mary figure it out and confront him, he has taken an herb in his tea that causes his weak heart to stop beating.

And Lydia has allowed Bill to kiss her quite passionately, and she contemplates staying in his apartment (though not his bed) when she is quite tired, and calls Bill her partner, not her employee. Hmmmm