Book club discusses "Ghost Hero"

In June, the book club selection was S.J. Rozan's mystery novel Ghost Hero.  It is the 11th of the "Lydia Chin/Bill Smith" series pairing the frequent private eye team in New York.  This is the second selection the book club made from this series (the October 2003 selection was Winter and Night).

S.J. Rozan
(photo from her website)

Set in the art world, PI Lyida Chin is hired to verify a rumor that a brilliant Chinese artist, Chau Chun, has new paintings available and circulating in the Manhattan area.  Known as "Ghost Hero Chau," the artist was a professor at the Beijing Art Institute while painting artwork valued at half a million apiece during the 1980s.  The work featured sly political messages--looked upon    disfavorably by the Chinese government--within classical and traditional-looking Chinese art.  The investigation should be considered a "shot in the dark" assignment as Ghost Hero Chau has been reportedly dead in China for twenty years. 

Bill joins Lydia in the investigation, mainly to shadow but also in the guise as a Russian mob associate with a big interest in the new art.  And to assist, Bill confers with another Chinese-American private investigator Jack Lee who is an actual art expert (unlike Lydia).  The three work together--a first, particularly as Lydia hasn't met Jack before--and in the while deal with difficult Chinese art contacts and attract the unwanted attention of a few shadowy, menacing types.

Comments about the book included the following:

• although the book is well into the "Lydia Chin/Bill Smith" series, it is a good title to start the series
• the novel handled a nice blend with good plotting for integration of a detective story in the art world "that a PI would handle"
• the meals the characters ate in the novel sounded appealing although only one entrée was familiar to one attendee
• Lydia has repeated trouble with her mother about potential romantic interests (as it was noted Chinese mothers are harsh critics in these matters)
• liked the introduction of Chinese-American Jack Lee to the book series.