One thing I've said (possibly too often) as I talk about this series is how much I enjoy the conversations between Lydia and Bill -- but I think one of the conversations between Lydia and her mother tops anything the partners have to say (until the last conversation, anyway), and the rest weren't far behind. We start off with Mrs. Chin telling Lydia that she has to go to Mississippi -- and take Bill along -- to investigate a murder. Long-time readers of this series will be forgiven the need to re-read that sentence, I assure you that it's correct. One of Lydia's cousins (yes, she has cousins in the Mississippi Delta -- she's as shocked as you are) is accused of murdering his father. Her mother wants Lydia to go down and prove his innocence. That he's innocent isn't ever in doubt for a moment -- he's related to Lydia's father, ergo, he's innocent. Lydia doesn't accept her mother's logic, but feels obligated to try to help this cousin she's never heard of before now, so she and Bill set off for the Delta. It's simply a dynamite first chapter, and the hook was set immediately.

Upon their arrival, Lydia and Bill find themselves neck deep in a tangled web of history, race, meth, gambling (both your more traditional varieties and purely 21st Century versions), politics and a even more race (it is Mississippi). Lydia's cousin Jefferson is in his mid-20's, a computer whiz of some sort with questionable ethics. He's called to come to his father's grocery store for some reason -- they argue, and Jefferson leaves to cool off. When he returns, he finds his father bleeding out from a knife wound. Naturally, that's when the police arrive, taking him into custody immediately. He's bloody, standing over the victim and weapon -- and sure, his fingerprints are all over the knife. Seems like an open and shut case, right?

Jefferson's uncle, Captain Pete, is at the front of the line of those who doubt this -- which is why he called his cousin's widow to get her PI daughter down to help. Pete's a professional gambler -- precisely the kind of person Mrs. Chin wouldn't like to acknowledge, but is friendly, hospitable and charming. Lydia and Bill warm to him quickly and he becomes a source of comfort as well as a source of information for the duo as they dive in to the investigation. Soon after arriving in Mississippi, they also meet another of Lydia's cousins -- a nephew to Pete, who is running in the Democratic gubernatorial primary.

Lydia can't believe she's related to a candidate for governor and she's never heard of him. What else has her mother been keeping from her? Just from her conversations with Pete and Raymond Tam (the candidate), Lydia's overwhelmed with family history that she didn't expect to exist, much less be able to understand it all. It doesn't derail the work that she and Bill are doing at all, but it threatens to distract her more than once. Adding the candidate into the mix guarantees that the water will get a lot muddier before it starts to become clear.

Lydia's voice is as strong, engaging and entertaining as ever -- possibly better than ever. I want to compare it to vintage Spenser, but that seems wrong (I'm not sure why I want to compare it to Parker at his best or why I shouldn't -- but that's where I am). She's funny, she's smart, she's insightful, she's in a very alien place and is doing her best to acclimate. Bill seemed under utilized a little bit this time around -- but (as he himself would point out), this was Lydia's family, her case -- he was just around for support. And he did come to her aid at pivotal moments -- laying his native Southern accent on a little thick to help pave the way with some of the locals and to diffuse tense situations. Captain Pete is a great character, and I wish he wasn't designed to be a one-and-done kind of guy, but I can't see him coming up to Chinatown anytime soon to have tea with Mrs. Chin. Actually, I could easily read another novel or two with this cast -- from the Public Defender staff to the people that hang out at the grocery store and all points in between. I'm not sure how Rozan could orchestrate those novels without feeling a bit contrived, but I'd be in for them.(*)

(*) Sure, I'd be in for Lydia and Bill Go Grocery Shopping or Bill and Lydia's Day at the Recycling Center, but that's beside the point..

I enjoy tea, but I'm no expert on it -- I'm no where near the tea aficionado that Lydia is (even keeping Bill's cupboards better stocked than he understands), but I loved her reaction to Sweet Tea (not just because I think she's right). Using food is a great shortcut to revealing character traits, and Rozan does a great job throughout this book, but particularly on this point, of using that peculiar Southern version of tea to show us sides of Lydia.

Rozan's at her strongest when in addition to the mystery, she's using the circumstances around it to have Lydia and/or Bill explore another culture/sub-culture. She's displayed this strength when helping her readers understand the Jewish refugees in the 1930's who fled to Shanghai (The Shanghai Moon), Hong Kong (in Reflecting the Sky), Small Town High School Football (Winter and Night), the Contemporary Chinese Art scene (Ghost Hero), and so on. Here we get a Yankee perspective on Mississippi black/white relations (and a glance or two at how it differs from neighboring states), as well as a fascinating look at the Chinese in the Mississippi Delta in the late Nineteenth Century (which left me almost as shocked as Lydia). You give us that kind of history and commentary while delivering a solid mystery? It's hard to ask for more.

As interesting as that is, the heart of the novel is in the idea of family. It's a strong theme throughout the series, actually --- whether it be Lydia's strong sense of family, or the found family in the partnership of Bill and Lydia -- or the many damaged families they encounter in their work. In Paper Son family shapes the warp and woof of the narrative -- it's Mrs. Chin's confidence in the innocence of her husband's relations, and Captain Pete's call for help that brings the duo to the Delta. Lydia fights the impulse to believe Jefferson and Pete (and others) just because they're family, yet wants thing to be the way her mother believes they are (even when -- particularly when -- the facts don't seem to support it). Bill even encounters a fellow Smith, and while no one believes for a second they share anything beyond the name in common, there's a connection. At it's core, Paper Son is a story about the sacrifice, support, trust, and dysfunction that comes along from strong family (blood relation or found family) -- not to mention all of the unintended consequences of that sacrifice, support, trust and dysfunction. I'm tempted to keep going, but I'd end up revealing too much.

The mystery itself is up to Rozan's high standards -- you may guess the identity of the killer fairly early on (and you may not), but you will not see the motivation coming until it's past the point of inevitability. The ending feels a little rushed, but I can't think of a way to improve upon it -- and any rush was actually probably just me trying to discover how things would play out. The first half of the denouement with Lydia's family is heartwarming -- and, sure, borderline cheesy, but Rozan earned it. The second half is less cheesy and will fill even jaded readers with hope and joy. It's just a great way to close the book.

If Paper Son isn't S. J. Rozan and the series at their best, it's hard to tell. For book 12 in a series to be this good almost defies the odds, the years that separated this book from it's predecessor didn't slow her down a bit (I honestly was afraid we'd be looking at something like Lehane's return to Kenzie and Genarro in Moonlight Mile after 11 years). Long-time fans will be delighted in the return of this pair. I don't know that this is the best introduction to the series, but it'd work just fine -- you learn everything you need to know here. Fans of PI fiction starring smart, capable (and yes, mouthy) women will find a lot to reward them in these pages.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from W. W. Norton & Company via NetGalley in exchange for this post -- thanks to both for this.

So, Lydia Chin is approached by a potential client who is clearly lying about his identity about some paintings that are rumored to be in New York, and potentially on sale soon. This client really wants to establish a name for himself in Contemporary Chinese Art, and owning these paintings -- preferably before they go on sale -- will go a long way toward that. Here's the trick, no one knows if they really do exist, or where they might be. Still the rumors persist, and in the "where there's smoke, there's fire" kind of thinking, they've got to exist. The trick is that the artist was killed in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. The client wants her to find them, prove they're real (ideally), and help him get the leg up on the competition.

Like I said, Lydia doesn't trust the man, and doesn't understand why he picked her, but his cash is good and she's curious (about him, the paintings, why he might want the paintings). So she takes the case, but doesn't know where to start. Luckily, her partner, Bill Smith knows just the guy to talk to -- another Chinese PI. Second generation ABC, from the Midwest, Jack Lee has an art degree and mostly looks into stolen and questionable art. Really, he's the ideal PI to look for these paintings -- and it turns out that someone else thought so, too and already hired him to do that. The three decide to work together on this, each playing to their own strengths.

From there, they dive deep into the New York Art Scene -- at least those that brush up against Chinese Art -- there are people who care about art, people who care about influence and money, and those who really, really care about art. Some care so much that Jack Lee gets shot at more than once. There are other threats as well -- the idea that Chau might still be alive is a pretty hot political topic, and various governmental entities seem interested in what Lydia is up to.

The case is pretty interesting -- and the various people that the trio interacts with are so interesting, so colorful, occasionally so despicable. The solution that Lydia cooks up is worthy of Blackadder's Baldrick, but I kind of liked it. It works as a solution in a novel (I hope nothing like this would happen in real life). The ultimate reveal was a bit too obvious, but I still enjoyed it -- and the rest of the mystery made up for it.

I've said time and time again, I love reading the back-and-forth between Lydia and Bill -- adding Jack to that seems like a gamble. Thankfully, it worked wonderfully, he fits in with the two of them so wonderfully well that you wish he'd been around for a couple of novels previously to this. It almost doesn't matter if the plot behind the book was entertaining, just get the three of these guys around a beverage or two and it's worth it.

On the one hand, I'm kind of with Lydia in not understanding why someone would come to her to look for this -- art isn't her thing. On the other hand, she dealt with art dealers in China Trade, Chinese heirlooms in Reflecting the Sky, missing jewels in The Shanghai Moon (which yeah, is sort of precious minerals, but the art aspect of the Moon seems as/more important than the gems). So it's not like she's an utter novice. Sure, going to Bill Smith or Matt Scudder would seem like a bad move -- but Lydia's a good choice for this case (not as obvious a choice as Jack Lee, I grant you). And how could I not think of another PI in New York?

There was one thing I was disappointed in: I was truly hoping/expecting that this book would contain a clue (if not more) about why this was the last book to be published in the series -- and given the 6 years that have passed since then, it seems pretty likely that this was it for the series. I'm assuming that it wasn't planned, but can't find any information about it (which means that someone's going to come along in half an hour with a link to 15,000 words about the reason for this.) Update: A few hours after posting this on my blog, Rozan assured me that the series is not over, which is great to hear

A fun, fast-paced read that is enjoyable, engaging and all around entertaining -- which is pretty much a great way to describe any novel from Lydia Chin's point of view. Give this one a shot and then pick up the others (or pick up the others, and then this one -- either way).

Okay, it's Bill Smith's turn as the POV character -- and that's a good thing, because this would be a very short book if it wasn't. A figure from Bill's past is back, looking for revenge. The electronically altered voice on the phone belongs to someone that was sent to prison, in part due to Bill's work, and now he's out and is ready for Bill to pay what he's due. He's demanding that Bill play this game he's devised in order to keep his hostage alive for the next 12 hours (or so).

The hostage, of course, is Lydia Chin. This is what makes this book different from all the other books where the hero is racing against the clock to play the twisted game of the psychopath in order to save the hostage. The hostage isn't someone created just to be in peril, this is someone we've become attached to over the last 9 books (half the time being in her brain, I should add) -- and Bill's got a lot more history with and affection for her than any of us readers do. Again, this is stuff we know, not something manufactured for the purposes of this plot. So the stakes are higher for Bill than most heroes in this plot, and we believe it, too.

Without Lydia to work with, Bill has to get help from others -- there's just no way that he can do this on his own. Enter Lydia's friend Mary, the NYPD detective; and her cousin Linus, the hacker/computer guru. Even with these two replacing Lydia, Bill spends a lot of the time seemingly over-matched. Now that I think about it, he's so distracted by worry that a lot of the thinking is left to others, Bill mostly reacts to things in anger and fear. All believably, I should add.

The kidnapper/tormentor isn't some psychopathic genius, some criminal mastermind -- he's a smart, committed criminal who has spent a lot of time planning. This means that the reader can see why he'd go off the bend like he does, why Bill can defeat him -- and yet spend so many pages clueless. He is clever, I shouldn't downplay that -- the game he's set up, the clues (and what he does with them) show that this is no slouch that Bill's up against. Thankfully, neither are Bill's allies -- for 2010, one of the solutions involves a ingenious use of social media (actually, it'd be a pretty sly use in 2017, too).

The conversations between Lydia and Bill are what I'm always saying are the highlight of these books -- in this book, their chats are brief proof of life kind of things. This means that every word, every nuance counts -- and it's primarily in what these two don't have to say to communicate that is the winning element.

I enjoyed this one so much -- even if Bill wasn't as sharp as he should've been, even if Lydia is practically a non-factor throughout (but when she gets involved, it counts). Rozan knows these two, their world, so well that this story seems effortless (which it just couldn't be).

It seems effortless for her, I should say, the reader is left hanging on every development, every twist, every detail, just hoping that Bill can save the day. One of Rozan's best.

Oh, man . . . things got away from me and I haven't been able to reconnect with Lydia or Bill for too long now (14 months between books I think) -- I missed them. Thankfully, it took no time at all to get back in the groove.

Speaking of breaks, following the shattering events of Winter and Night, Bill Smith pretty much took a break from everything -- including Lydia. She understood that but didn't like it one bit. So when he does come back into he life early on in this book, she doesn't exactly welcome him with open arms, and makes him jump through a few hoops to get back into her good graces (but not nearly as many hoops as she intended).

But before we get to that, a one-time mentor and occasional colleague, Joel Pilarsky asks Lydia to help with an investigation. Some jewels have recently been uncovered in China, stolen and theoretically brought to New York to be sold. The client wants Pilarsky to track them down -- he suggests that he'll cover the Jewish jewelry shops that might buy them, and hires Lydia to do the same with Chinese jewelers. What makes these jewels special is that they belonged to Jewish refugees in the 1930's who fled to Shanghai, and were probably owned by the same person who owned a legendary piece of jewelry from that time -- The Shanghai Moon. Not that the client, a lawyer focused the recovery of Holocaust items, bothers to mention The Shanghai Moon (she has a lame excuse for that oversight when Lydia brings it up later).

Yes, I did say Jewish refugees in Shanghai. I felt bad about not knowing anything about that until Lydia confessed it was news to her, too. She's intrigued by this notion -- and the story of the owner of these jewels, much of which is preserved in letters she wrote to her mother after fleeing from Europe and are now part of a collection of Holocaust documents. We get these letters to, and read them with Lydia and slowly we're drawn in to the saga of this poor woman and the Chinese man she marries while Lydia and Joel search for her heirlooms.

The investigation soon focuses on The Shanghai Moon -- and the murders that appear to be connected to this crime. Bill returns to Lydia's life in time to help with this investigation. Before you know what's happening, we're immersed in a mystery that stretches over decades and involves Nazis, Communists, Japanese military, NYC Chinese gangs and much, much more. The threads that connect all these to the jewels and the family tied to them are so many in number and complex in nature, that I wouldn't try to explain it even if it wouldn't spoil the book.

I didn't get as invested in the historical material as Lydia did -- but i came close, and I think most readers will, too. If for no other reason than Bill and Lydia do. There's a history professor that the pair interview for some more context that I'd love to meet again (I can't imagine how that'd happen) -- he's a fun character that's much better developed than most characters filling his role would be in detective novels.

I don't know if I've liked Lydia's mom as much as I did in this book before (or enjoyed her as much) -- it took Lydia far too long to understand what her mother was doing throughout the novel, and the growth/change it represented, but I thought it was great. I'm actually looking forward to reading about her in the next novel (I've never disliked the character, just have never been that interested in her).

Best of all, as normal, was the banter and other types of conversation between Lydia and Bill. I've said it before, I'll probably say it again, but I'd read a couple hundred pages of them just talking over tea and snacks. There was a lot unsaid between them about the months between the novels, but Rozan had them not say it in a great way -- and what they said was as good as usual.

Throw in a juicy mystery, good characters and a missing treasure? You've got yourself a winner. No surprise that I liked the ninth novel in a series I've enjoyed the previous eight in -- but that doesn't make it any less good, it just means that Rozan's consistently on target. I strongly recommended The Shanghai Moon along with its predecessors.

On the whole, I enjoy the Lydia Chin novels in this series more than the Bill Smith ones, while I'd say the Bill Smith novels are better novels. Winter and Night was the best of both worlds -- it was probably the best written in the series, and I really enjoyed it.

Bill gets a call in the middle of the night to come help a teen that the NYPD has taken into custody. He does brings the kid, Gary, home with him and hears a vague sob story about how Gary's just trying to help, trying to do the right thing. And then he runs away. Bill gets Lydia to start looking for Gary in NYC while he goes to check out the kid's hometown.

There's more wrong in the small town Gary ran from than just a missing kid. This little town is football-crazy, I'm talking Texas football crazy, the kind of thing you think King of the Hill and Friday Night Lights is making too much of, but start to wonder if they're not. Then there's a dead high schooler. And seemingly every person in the town is telling Bill not to think that this had anything to do with a rape and murder over 20 years ago. Which, just gets him wondering, naturally.

This case gets under Bill's skin, hitting close to home, and worse. Lydia compares him to a patched-up furnace that's about to explode. He gets pretty close a couple of times, actually. Making this a rougher, more raw, more violent story (not that Bill's books are absent violence). Because this is so close to him, he makes some really dumb mistakes -- Bill, Lydia and the police spend a few chapters trying to prevent a crime that's just not going to happen, and I spent far too much time annoyed with them from not seeing things are clearly as I could.

How does Rozan do it? Seriously, you get the same two characters in two different novels or four different always know each taking the lead and is like it's two different series. You know, there's a certain feel when you read a Robert Crais book -- Elvis Cole book or a Joe Pike book, the books are different, and the two protagonists/narrative voiced are different. But you can tell they're by the same writer. Not the case here -- at all -- it's not even close. If you told me the two different people writing the series I'd absolutely believe you.

For my money, this is the best in the series (so far). Thoughtful, suspenseful, moody . . . everything you want in a P. I. novel.