Feminist Mystery Reviews
A BITTER SWEET
S.J. Rozan
St. Martin's, Sep 1998, $23.95, 320 pp.
ASIN: 0-312-19259-2
Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Private Investigator Lydia Chin has been hired to find a missing
person, who disappeared in the middle of New York's Chinatown. The
seemingly simple case begins when she works undercover as a waitress
in a Chinatown restaurant, a place where allegedly four illegal
aliens vanished without a trace.
However, her inquiries are slowed down by the demographic change
in the local community. Apparently, the newly arrived Fukiense-speaking
Chinese are more and more taking over from the previous generation
Cantonese immigrants. This makes it more difficult on Lydia, who
has lived her entire life in the neighborhood, to obtain information.
Still, with the help of her professional and growing personal partner
Bill Smith, and shockingly (at least to this reviewer) her mother,
Lydia plows ahead with her investigation.
This series is more of a movable feast rather than A BITTER FEAST
because of the wonderful reoccurring characters and the insiders
look into Manhattan, especially Chinatown. The ethnic foods (not
just Chinese) add a fabulous taste to a great who-done-it. Award
winning S.J. Rozan has scribed another winning entry to a triumphant
mystery series.
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