Book: Ghost Hero
Author: S. J. Rozan
Year published: 2011
Rating: 8/10
Review: Ghost Hero is the 11th novel in the Lydia Chin-Bill Smith series of detective/mystery stories. While it might help to read the earlier ones, each also stands alone.
Lydia Chin is a Chinese private detective; her usual partner (in detective work and more) is Bill Smith. Chin doesn't specialize in art, so she is somewhat surprised when a new client wants to hire her to investigate the location of paintings done by a Chinese dissident named Chau Chun, but known as the Ghost Hero. However, her new client says he wants her for her "Chineseness" not any art expertise.
The paintings, if they exist, would be quite valuable; each might be worth half a million dollars. For one thing, the painter is dead (or so it seems). Chin takes the case. What seems to be a fairly simple matter quickly grows in complexity. For one thing, the painter is dead (or so it seems). For another, a surprising number of people seem interested in the ghost hero's paintings - including both Chinese and American diplomats, Chinese gangsters, professors and their daughters and more.
In a world they are unfamiliar with, Chin and Smith team up with a friend of Smith's: Jack Lee - an American born Chinese detective who does specialize in art. Together, they track the paintings through all sorts of complications.
Ghost Hero has several strengths: The plot is interesting; it introduce the readers to the world of Chines art; as usual with Rozan's novels, the background of New York City's Chinatown is finely drawn; the characters, both major and minor, are interesting and it's often funny (Lydia's mother is hysterical).
I recommend this book to anyone who likes mysteries. If you happen to be interested in Chinese-American culture, so much the better.
About the Author: S. J. Rozan was born in the Bronx. She worked as an architect for many years. She has won the Edgar, Anthony, Shamus, Nero and Macavity awards. In addition the Chin and Smith novels she has published dozens of short stories and two stand alone novels.
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