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Lily Wu and Janice Cameron #1
The Chinese Chop
It's 1949 and the postwar housing shortage in New York City forces 27-year-old novelist Janice Cameron, newly arrived from Honolulu, to share a bedroom in a Washington Square rooming house with Lily Wu, a comparative stranger.Lily needs Janice to front for her because she's afraid that the other roomers might not be willing to rent to a young Chinese-American woman. But it soon becomes apparent to Janice that Lily has an ulterior motive for wanting to live in this converted old mansion.
No sooner do Janice and Lily move in than the building superintendent is found dead in the basement of cardiac arrest, Foul play is suspected and suspicion falls on the other residents of the house.
Among the suspects are Bela Palyi, an artist who knows too well that "no man works harder for his money that the man who marries it; " Evelyn Sayre, a writer of children's books; Henri Ledoux, a French refugee; Doris Manning, who loves Henri; Jarvis Lloyd, a frustrated musician who works in a music store; and Louise Kane, a radio actress desperate to conceal her past.
And then there's the mysterious Lily Wu, a self-assured 25-year-old who can assume whatever demeanor best suits her purposes. Critic Anthony Boucher (for whom Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention, is named) proclaimed her as one of the best female sleuths of the era -- and the only he was devotedly in love with, citing his respect for her professional skills and delight in her personal charms.
No sooner do Janice and Lily move in than the building superintendent is found dead in the basement of cardiac arrest, Foul play is suspected and suspicion falls on the other residents of the house.
Among the suspects are Bela Palyi, an artist who knows too well that "no man works harder for his money that the man who marries it; " Evelyn Sayre, a writer of children's books; Henri Ledoux, a French refugee; Doris Manning, who loves Henri; Jarvis Lloyd, a frustrated musician who works in a music store; and Louise Kane, a radio actress desperate to conceal her past.
And then there's the mysterious Lily Wu, a self-assured 25-year-old who can assume whatever demeanor best suits her purposes. Critic Anthony Boucher (for whom Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention, is named) proclaimed her as one of the best female sleuths of the era -- and the only he was devotedly in love with, citing his respect for her professional skills and delight in her personal charms.
155 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1949
3 people are currently reading
88 people want to read
About the author
Juanita Sheridan
15 books7 followersBorn Juanita Lorraine Light in Oklahoma on November 15, 1906, Sheridan claimed in a lengthy letter to her editor at the Doubleday, Doran Crime Club that she came by her knack for murder naturally since her maternal grandfather was killed by Pancho Villa in a holdup while her own father may possibly have been poisoned by a political rival.
After her father’s death, Sheridan and her mother hit the road, touring the American West. When she was on vacation from boarding school, Sheridan was often put by her mother on a train “with a tag around my neck which told my name and destination. I was never afraid, and never lost.”
That self-reliance came in handy years later when at the height of the Depression (ca. 1930) Sheridan, with an infant son in arms, found herself dropped off at the corner of 7th and Broadway in Los Angeles with only two suitcases and five cents to her name. She used the nickel to telephone a friend, who loaned her five dollars, and went out and got a job as a script girl for $20 a week. Her son Ross went to live with a rich Beverly Hills foster family and at about the age of six was legally adopted by his maternal grandmother. After the adoption, Sheridan, who had by then sold a couple of original screenplays, headed for Hawaii to begin her writing career.
Life wasn’t all that easy in Hawaii and once again she hit the pawnshops, although, as usual, “the typewriter was the last to go.” Sheridan said these tough times taught her that “it isn’t the smugly prosperous who offer to help. It’s the poor little guys who know what it’s like; it’s the landlady, worrying over her mortgage, who lets you sleep in her garage when you owe three months’ rent. It’s the tired counter man, seeing you order black coffee and soup when your neck bones look like coat hangers, who says, ‘Why don’t you take the roast beef, kid? It’s on the house.’ It’s the shabby girl behind you in line waiting for a job addressing envelopes at $3.50 per day, who catches you when your knees buckle and says, ‘Here’s a buck, honey. I can spare it. Gotta boy friend.’ ” No doubt these years of deprivation are why Sheridan filled her books with detailed descriptions of sumptuous surroundings and with characters like Louise in The Chinese Chop, who longed for luxury and admitted that the slogan of a popular ad campaign of the time, “because you like nice things,” was aimed at her.
Though Lily and Janice are not without money when the series begins, both had known hard times (Janice’s description of her early writing career echoes the author’s own experiences) and were familiar with the kinds of things a young woman had to put up with when she was on her own. “I once spent a hectic evening being chased around a suite of offices by a boss who was trying to prove that the best position for a woman was horizontal,” Sheridan wrote. “It was a difficult situation because I didn’t dare lose that job: I was behind on my rent.”
To those people, editors included, who thought her plots contained more than a touch of melodrama, Sheridan said she was only writing from life, having been clubbed by a gun, choked into unconsciousness by a man she never saw, and on two occasions “awakened from a sound sleep to find a pair of strange hands reaching for me through the dark...”
And she claimed to know at least one murderer who got away with it. “I know a woman,” she said, “who murdered her husband as surely as if she held the gun with which he shot himself. He was a warm-hearted guy with a great talent; what he created is still enjoyed by the movie-going public. She is a sweet-faced, triple-plated bitch. But he’s dead and she’s thriving.”
Sheridan never used much of the material she gleaned from real life, figuring that no one would believe it: “One of my most interesting friends in Hawaii was the madame of a ‘house.’ She looked like a schoolteacher, wore glasses and spoke New England. She had a record collection and a library. She was 26 and her annual net wa
After her father’s death, Sheridan and her mother hit the road, touring the American West. When she was on vacation from boarding school, Sheridan was often put by her mother on a train “with a tag around my neck which told my name and destination. I was never afraid, and never lost.”
That self-reliance came in handy years later when at the height of the Depression (ca. 1930) Sheridan, with an infant son in arms, found herself dropped off at the corner of 7th and Broadway in Los Angeles with only two suitcases and five cents to her name. She used the nickel to telephone a friend, who loaned her five dollars, and went out and got a job as a script girl for $20 a week. Her son Ross went to live with a rich Beverly Hills foster family and at about the age of six was legally adopted by his maternal grandmother. After the adoption, Sheridan, who had by then sold a couple of original screenplays, headed for Hawaii to begin her writing career.
Life wasn’t all that easy in Hawaii and once again she hit the pawnshops, although, as usual, “the typewriter was the last to go.” Sheridan said these tough times taught her that “it isn’t the smugly prosperous who offer to help. It’s the poor little guys who know what it’s like; it’s the landlady, worrying over her mortgage, who lets you sleep in her garage when you owe three months’ rent. It’s the tired counter man, seeing you order black coffee and soup when your neck bones look like coat hangers, who says, ‘Why don’t you take the roast beef, kid? It’s on the house.’ It’s the shabby girl behind you in line waiting for a job addressing envelopes at $3.50 per day, who catches you when your knees buckle and says, ‘Here’s a buck, honey. I can spare it. Gotta boy friend.’ ” No doubt these years of deprivation are why Sheridan filled her books with detailed descriptions of sumptuous surroundings and with characters like Louise in The Chinese Chop, who longed for luxury and admitted that the slogan of a popular ad campaign of the time, “because you like nice things,” was aimed at her.
Though Lily and Janice are not without money when the series begins, both had known hard times (Janice’s description of her early writing career echoes the author’s own experiences) and were familiar with the kinds of things a young woman had to put up with when she was on her own. “I once spent a hectic evening being chased around a suite of offices by a boss who was trying to prove that the best position for a woman was horizontal,” Sheridan wrote. “It was a difficult situation because I didn’t dare lose that job: I was behind on my rent.”
To those people, editors included, who thought her plots contained more than a touch of melodrama, Sheridan said she was only writing from life, having been clubbed by a gun, choked into unconsciousness by a man she never saw, and on two occasions “awakened from a sound sleep to find a pair of strange hands reaching for me through the dark...”
And she claimed to know at least one murderer who got away with it. “I know a woman,” she said, “who murdered her husband as surely as if she held the gun with which he shot himself. He was a warm-hearted guy with a great talent; what he created is still enjoyed by the movie-going public. She is a sweet-faced, triple-plated bitch. But he’s dead and she’s thriving.”
Sheridan never used much of the material she gleaned from real life, figuring that no one would believe it: “One of my most interesting friends in Hawaii was the madame of a ‘house.’ She looked like a schoolteacher, wore glasses and spoke New England. She had a record collection and a library. She was 26 and her annual net wa
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 28, 2012
A fun book to read. Two women, both from Hawaii, one white and the other Chinese meet in New York, 1949. The mystery part is OK but the real fun in the book (written in 1949) was that it didn't accept the racial and gender restrictions of the time. They end up in the middle of a murder investigation and solve it. This was the first of four books with the characters that Juanita Sheridan created. The next 3 books do a pretty good job of showing life in Hawaii in the 1950's and Janice and Lily Wu maintain their independence of the constraints that women and racial minorities faced in the 1950's.
May 25, 2021
2021 bk 106. The narrator of the story, Janice Cameron, is the Watson to fellow Hawaiian, Lily Wu in the start of this four book mystery series. Janice has written a novel, one with a hefty advance and nice royalty checks, and has traveled to New York City from her home in Hawaiian for a change of scene. However, she had not counted on the housing shortage in 1949 NYC. When she places an add in the newspaper and old school acquaintance comes to her rescue. That rescue has a price - Lily needs someone as a cover for moving into a mansion formerly lived in by the man who had stolen her father's chop (signature block). Their first night there, Lily is attacked. This is one boarding house/mansion filled with tension and a lot of secrets. Murders occur, secrets are uncovered and Lily and Janice learn to work together to solve this mystery. Excellent.
January 27, 2010
Not a great mystery, but fantastic for the atmosphere and setting.
November 8, 2019
For my full review click on the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
March 5, 2020
THE CHINESE CHOP, Juanita Sheridan, 1949
The story takes place in New York City in 1949. There is a housing shortage in the city when 27-year-old novelist Janice Cameron arrives there from Honolulu. She agrees to share a room in a large mansion converted to a rooming house with a woman she knew back in Hawaii, Lily Wu. Lily explains that she needs Janice to take the room because she's afraid they would not rent to a Chinese-American woman. Soon after they move in the building super is found dead in the basement. The death is found to be suspicious, and the obvious suspects are the people rooming in the mansion. And what a diverse group they are!
Janice doesn't really know Lily Wu all that well, and everything about the woman is mysterious. Lily is a chameleon, she can assume any persona that is called for. She's very secretive, and Janice soon wonders if Lily has an ulterior motive for wanting to room in that particular house. Still, for some reason, Janice trusts her. Together they make a fascinating team and manage to solve mysteries while the police are getting nowhere.
This is the first of four books in the Lily Wu/Janice Cameron series, and the first to feature a female Asian sleuth in mystery fiction.
The story takes place in New York City in 1949. There is a housing shortage in the city when 27-year-old novelist Janice Cameron arrives there from Honolulu. She agrees to share a room in a large mansion converted to a rooming house with a woman she knew back in Hawaii, Lily Wu. Lily explains that she needs Janice to take the room because she's afraid they would not rent to a Chinese-American woman. Soon after they move in the building super is found dead in the basement. The death is found to be suspicious, and the obvious suspects are the people rooming in the mansion. And what a diverse group they are!
Janice doesn't really know Lily Wu all that well, and everything about the woman is mysterious. Lily is a chameleon, she can assume any persona that is called for. She's very secretive, and Janice soon wonders if Lily has an ulterior motive for wanting to room in that particular house. Still, for some reason, Janice trusts her. Together they make a fascinating team and manage to solve mysteries while the police are getting nowhere.
This is the first of four books in the Lily Wu/Janice Cameron series, and the first to feature a female Asian sleuth in mystery fiction.
January 31, 2025
A fun, and well paced mystery featuring Lily Wu and Janice Cameron. The events are told through Janice’s eyes. Janice needs a roommate to rent a room and it appears that Lily needs a roommate as well to rent a room at a nice old mansion turned into rooms rented out with communal areas. But what Janice doesn’t anticipate is murder. (And the story is off…)
The story is pretty fair play and there is certainly a great deal of danger. Will definitely be looking for other books in this series. (Luckily there are two more at my library… though more in the series.)
I read starting Chinese New Year (of this year) and wanted to read a mystery that contained a similar moment in time. And it was the year of the dragon during this story.
It’s sad that Sheridan wrote so few books, the times were changing and the change worked against her. (Sadly, women detectives weren’t in style so much.)
Rue Morgue has some great bio and story info at the start of the book. (A press I wish was still around as well.)
The story is pretty fair play and there is certainly a great deal of danger. Will definitely be looking for other books in this series. (Luckily there are two more at my library… though more in the series.)
I read starting Chinese New Year (of this year) and wanted to read a mystery that contained a similar moment in time. And it was the year of the dragon during this story.
It’s sad that Sheridan wrote so few books, the times were changing and the change worked against her. (Sadly, women detectives weren’t in style so much.)
Rue Morgue has some great bio and story info at the start of the book. (A press I wish was still around as well.)
November 25, 2024
At first you might be wary of stereotypical Asian culture in this novel featuring a female Chinese-Hawai'ian detective, but with patience it become clear that the character is aware of the Asian stereotypes and is not above deploying them for effect. For instance, in one case where she describes her actions as being necessary for her family to save face, she is telling the truth but very much concealing another very powerful motive. Another trope that can be annoying in mystery novels of this period is characters keeping secrets for no good reason; in this novel, there is very good reason for the detective to keep things from the narrator. The mystery element of this mystery story is not particularly tricky or surprising, but the character element is just fine, and the depiction of women and Asian culture is satisfactorily enlightened for the period in which this was written.
June 9, 2022
A very satisfying Golden Age mystery featuring a pair of sleuths who are not actually detectives, but find themselves investigating a death in their rooming house in order to protect themselves, and, in one of their cases, rectify an old grievance.
The writing flows well and the main characters act intelligently and are likeable. The mystery is well thought-out and plausible. Most of the action takes place in the Washington Square mansion, but there is still a feeling for what New York was like right after the war.
Recommended for Golden Age mystery buffs.
The writing flows well and the main characters act intelligently and are likeable. The mystery is well thought-out and plausible. Most of the action takes place in the Washington Square mansion, but there is still a feeling for what New York was like right after the war.
Recommended for Golden Age mystery buffs.
June 3, 2021
Mystery novel set in the late 1940's published in 1949.
I discovered this was the first of the Lucy Lu mystery series. This is no intricately plotted, dark murder tale. The draw for me was visiting a time period interesting to me through a book written in real time. Well written snapshot of New York and societal thinking.
I discovered this was the first of the Lucy Lu mystery series. This is no intricately plotted, dark murder tale. The draw for me was visiting a time period interesting to me through a book written in real time. Well written snapshot of New York and societal thinking.
April 13, 2024
2 1/2 stars
October 22, 2024
I enjoyed the characters and the description of a time gone by. The mystery itself is a bit less satisfying.
August 17, 2014
I just finished this wonderful mystery by an author who is now my obsession. Juanita Sheridan, who created the world's first Asian-American female sleuth with her Lily Wu character, depicts an era that I have always been fascinated by...the immediate aftermath of WWII.
This is a supremely feminist book depicting working women required by Uncle Sam to "do their part" when the men went off to war but were immediately kicked to the curb when those men returned.
Lily Wu and Janice Cameron, two transplanted Hawaiian women meet in NYC and share a room at a time when housing is short in the city (some things don't change!!) in a large house in Washington Square.
A little of the history of the square is shared in Sheridan's clipped, memorable style. For example, I had no idea the square was once used as gallows to hang criminals!!
The details of life after the war and how women survived, is fascinating. Sheridan was there. She wrote the book in 1949, when the story is set.
She was an author who was frequently down on her luck...a kind of female George Orwell, who had to pawn her typewriter sometimes just to survive.
Her depiction of these two women and the mysterious inhabitants of the house they are living in resonate with clarity.
It's an interesting murder plot and I was pleased that I didn't spot the murderer until the end. I loved this book and the knowledge I gained. I'd never heard of a Chinese chop (a family stamp that is as good as a signature for Chinese businessman) and the small details of daily life were wonderful.
I loved the way Lily, Janice, and the other women explore new fashion and makeup trends now that the war is over.
The men too, seem to have their guilty pleasures such as buying records and cocktail shakers. A couple of them still live frugally. This is all very plausible.
Lily Wu is an intriguing, enigmatic character. I love Janice, who tells the story here. I have the remaining three Lily Wu mysteries that are all set in Honolulu...she and Janice return to the islands for stories set in the 50s. I am looking forward to reading and enjoying her exploration of the islands during that era - when everything began to change.
This is a supremely feminist book depicting working women required by Uncle Sam to "do their part" when the men went off to war but were immediately kicked to the curb when those men returned.
Lily Wu and Janice Cameron, two transplanted Hawaiian women meet in NYC and share a room at a time when housing is short in the city (some things don't change!!) in a large house in Washington Square.
A little of the history of the square is shared in Sheridan's clipped, memorable style. For example, I had no idea the square was once used as gallows to hang criminals!!
The details of life after the war and how women survived, is fascinating. Sheridan was there. She wrote the book in 1949, when the story is set.
She was an author who was frequently down on her luck...a kind of female George Orwell, who had to pawn her typewriter sometimes just to survive.
Her depiction of these two women and the mysterious inhabitants of the house they are living in resonate with clarity.
It's an interesting murder plot and I was pleased that I didn't spot the murderer until the end. I loved this book and the knowledge I gained. I'd never heard of a Chinese chop (a family stamp that is as good as a signature for Chinese businessman) and the small details of daily life were wonderful.
I loved the way Lily, Janice, and the other women explore new fashion and makeup trends now that the war is over.
The men too, seem to have their guilty pleasures such as buying records and cocktail shakers. A couple of them still live frugally. This is all very plausible.
Lily Wu is an intriguing, enigmatic character. I love Janice, who tells the story here. I have the remaining three Lily Wu mysteries that are all set in Honolulu...she and Janice return to the islands for stories set in the 50s. I am looking forward to reading and enjoying her exploration of the islands during that era - when everything began to change.
August 22, 2011
The mystery angle wasn't the most enthralling, but the book is a good set up for the Lily Wu series, as well as a portrait of postwar NYC. There's bigotry not only regarding Lily herself, but also an Italian-American character.
May 14, 2010
First of four mysteries by Juanita Sheridan featuring Lily Wu. I liked this one very much. I did have a difficult time finding a copy to read.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews