Stone Quarry - Hardcover

Rozan, S. J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312209126 ISBN 13: 9780312209124

Publisher: Minotaur Books, 1999

Synopsis

Traveling upstate to recover stolen paintings for a reclusive artist, private investigator Bill Smith soon finds his services needed when a hoodlum turns up dead and two teenagers disappear

About this title

About the Author

S.J. Rozan is the author of the Lydia Chin/Bill Smith Series including her most recent critically acclaimed work A Bitter Feast and the other four in the series: No Colder Place (1998 Shamus and Anthony Nominee for Best Novel), Mandarin Plaid, Concourse (Shamus Award for Best Novel) and China Trade. The series also includes a number of short stories, including "Hoops", a 1997 Edgar nominee.

Born and brought up in the Bronx, Rozan is an architect in a New York firm whose practice includes police stations, firehouses, zoo buildings, and the largest terra cotta restoration project in the world. A Knicks fan and a lousy but dogged point guard herself, Rozan has worked as a self-defense instructor, jewelry saleswoman and janitor. S.J. Rozan runs an on-going series of panels on the subject of "Crime Writing and The American Imagination" at New York's 92nd Street Y. She has a BA from Oberlin College and a M.Arch from SUNY/Buffalo and lives in a tiny but sunny apartment in Greenwich Village.

Reviews

Rozan's highly regarded traversal of p.i. subgenres leaves the city for the poisoned arcadia of upstate Schoharie, where Bill Smith's been vacationing for 18 years without disturbing any dust. Now, all of a sudden, he's up to his .38 in three very different cases. First, reclusive farmer Eve Colgate wants him to recover six paintings that were stolen from her placepaintings whose theft she can't afford to report to the police. Second, local baby-food magnate Mark Sanderson, a man who doesn't take no for an answer, wants Bill to find his missing daughter Ginny, 15. And third, Frank Grice, the crook whose hold over young Jimmy Antonelli Bill helped to keep secret when Jimmy was arrested a few months ago, wants to pound Bill to a pulp after Bill helps Jimmy's brother Tony fight off a couple of musclemen Grice sent to intimidate Tony. Despite all these cases, though, what keeps Bill busiest is Wally Gould, a Grice lieutenant who's a lot more trouble dead than alive, especially when his corpse turns up in the basement of Tony's bar with Jimmy's keys nearby. Obviously, Gould's murder is connected to at least one of Bill's cases. But it isn't until after he's talked his partner Lydia Chin into coming up to help him that he realizes it's tied in to all three. Though Rozan only borrows from the best, Bill and Lydia's sixth features a few too many echoes of The Big Sleep (the constant shootings and beatings, the tangled mystery, the last buried secret) to scale the heights of No Colder Place (1997) and A Bitter Feast (1998). -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

The superlatives keep coming for the detective duo of Lydia Chin and Bill Smith, now clearly established as one of the best PI parings in contemporary mystery fiction. This sixth adventure provides yet more proof of that assessment, as Rozan demonstrates again the superior plotting, deft characterizations, and beautiful use of setting that distinguish her series. The action this time moves from Manhattan to upper New York state, where Smith (taking his turn as narrator) owns a secluded country cabin; events are put in motion when Bill is hired by an eccentric local dairy farmer, Eve Colgate, to recover some stolen paintings. There's a catch, of course: Eve is, in fact, the famous reclusive artist, Eva Nouvel, and the paintings are early canvases never before seen. The situation becomes complicated when the theft seems to be related to the disappearance of Jimmy Antonelli, kid brother to Smith's long-time acquaintance, local bar owner Tony. When the murder of a local thug is linked to Jimmy, Smith has his hands full--and calls Lydia for help--trying to recover the paintings, protect Eve's true identity, and find Jimmy before the trigger-happy sheriff does. Rozan handles the complicated plot elegantly, keeping the reader guessing up to the end. And for those interested in Bill and Lydia's personal relationship, there are some tiny steps forward. Crime fiction fans of all kinds--from the coziest to the most hard-boiled--sing the praises of this series; recommend it highly to any mystery readers who aren't yet hooked. Those that are will be standing in line. Stuart Miller

While visiting his country retreat, series private investigator Bill Smith (A Bitter Feast) gets involved in another case: he promises to find several unsigned paintings stolen from a reclusive celebrated artist who wishes to remain incognito. Back in New York City, partner Lydia Chin assists as usual, offering her trademark banter along with news of any unexpected appearances on the New York art scene. Smith's investigation, which impinges upon a murder at his friend's barAblamed on his friend's missing sonAultimately leads to a prize local scumbag and beyond. Solid plotting, exceptional characters, and well-crafted prose recommend this to most collections.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312209126
• ISBN 13: 9780312209124
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 276