#1 - Trail of Blood
A LETHAL INHERITANCE...
China, 1938. Eighteen-year-old Rosalie Gilder flees Nazi-occupied Austria with her younger brother. Hidden among their belongings are a few precious family heirlooms, their only protection against the hard times that await them as they join Shanghai's growing population of Jewish refugees.
New York, present day. Chinese-American detective Lydia Chin is hired by an old friend to investigate the recent theft of a cache of holocaust assets, thought to once belong to the Gilders.
However, before she makes much headway, her friend is shot dead. Neither Lydia nor her partner, Bill, believe the NYPD's theory that his death was a robbery gone bad. Both fear they are no longer looking for a thief but a ruthless killer who will stop at nothing to reclaim the past...
Please note: this novel was originally published in the US as THE SHANGHAI MOON
China, 1938. Eighteen-year-old Rosalie Gilder flees Nazi-occupied Austria with her younger brother. Hidden among their belongings are a few precious family heirlooms, their only protection against the hard times that await them as they join Shanghai's growing population of Jewish refugees.
New York, present day. Chinese-American detective Lydia Chin is hired by an old friend to investigate the recent theft of a cache of holocaust assets, thought to once belong to the Gilders.
However, before she makes much headway, her friend is shot dead. Neither Lydia nor her partner, Bill, believe the NYPD's theory that his death was a robbery gone bad. Both fear they are no longer looking for a thief but a ruthless killer who will stop at nothing to reclaim the past...
Please note: this novel was originally published in the US as THE SHANGHAI MOON
#2 - Blood Ties
Some crimes strike too close to home...
Private detective Bill Smith is hurtled headlong into the most provocative - and personal - case of his career when he receives a chilling late night telephone call from the NYPD. They're holding his fifteen-year-old nephew Gary. But before he can find out what's going on, Gary escapes Bill's custody and disappears into the dark and unfamiliar streets...
With his partner, Lydia Chin, Bill tries to find the missing teen and uncover what it is that has led him so far from home. Their search takes them to Gary's family in a small town in New Jersey, where they discover that one of Gary's classmates was murdered. Bill and Lydia delve into the crime-only to find it eerily similar to a decades-old murder-suicide...
Please note: this novel is published in the US as WINTER AND NIGHT
Private detective Bill Smith is hurtled headlong into the most provocative - and personal - case of his career when he receives a chilling late night telephone call from the NYPD. They're holding his fifteen-year-old nephew Gary. But before he can find out what's going on, Gary escapes Bill's custody and disappears into the dark and unfamiliar streets...
With his partner, Lydia Chin, Bill tries to find the missing teen and uncover what it is that has led him so far from home. Their search takes them to Gary's family in a small town in New Jersey, where they discover that one of Gary's classmates was murdered. Bill and Lydia delve into the crime-only to find it eerily similar to a decades-old murder-suicide...
Please note: this novel is published in the US as WINTER AND NIGHT
#3 - Out For Blood
'In twelve hours Lydia Chin will be dead...'
The phone call comes in the early hours. A cold, electronic voice informs detective Bill Smith that his best friend is being held hostage. And the clock is ticking...
If Bill wants his partner back he'll have to play the kidnapper's sadistic game to find her - and find her fast - before the psycho makes good his promise to kill her...
Please note this novel is called ON THE LINE in the US.
The phone call comes in the early hours. A cold, electronic voice informs detective Bill Smith that his best friend is being held hostage. And the clock is ticking...
If Bill wants his partner back he'll have to play the kidnapper's sadistic game to find her - and find her fast - before the psycho makes good his promise to kill her...
Please note this novel is called ON THE LINE in the US.
#4 - Blood Rites
Lydia Chin and Bill Smith have been hired by one of the most respected figures in New York City's Chinatown, for what appears to be a simple task - deliver a family heirloom to the young grandson of the recently deceased business colleague of Grandfather Gao.
Before they can deliver the heirloom, the grandson is kidnapped and two separate ransom demands are made. While the family of the kidnapped boy tries to freeze them out, Lydia and Bill must quickly learn their way around a city where the rules are different, the stakes are high, and the cost of failure is too dire to imagine.
Note: originally published as REFLECTING THE SKY in the US
Before they can deliver the heirloom, the grandson is kidnapped and two separate ransom demands are made. While the family of the kidnapped boy tries to freeze them out, Lydia and Bill must quickly learn their way around a city where the rules are different, the stakes are high, and the cost of failure is too dire to imagine.
Note: originally published as REFLECTING THE SKY in the US
#5 - Ghost Hero
They call him the Ghost Hero.
Chau Chun is a renowned artist and controversial painter. And rumours of new work by him has the media in a frenzy – and sees Lydia Chin and Bill Smith hired to follow the whispers to their source.
They soon discover that Chau has been officially dead for over twenty years, killed in the Tianamen Square uprising.
Are Lydia and Bill really chasing a ghost?
Chau Chun is a renowned artist and controversial painter. And rumours of new work by him has the media in a frenzy – and sees Lydia Chin and Bill Smith hired to follow the whispers to their source.
They soon discover that Chau has been officially dead for over twenty years, killed in the Tianamen Square uprising.
Are Lydia and Bill really chasing a ghost?
#6 - Bad Blood
Most people believe Jimmy Antonelli is bad to the bone…
New York detective – and an old friend of the family – Bill Smith is one of the few people who has ever been willing to give Jimmy a second chance. Given his own brushes with the law, Bill has an unsurprising sympathy for the youngest Antonelli brother.
But this time Jimmy has gone too far. There’s a corpse of a local gangster in the cellar of Antonelli’s bar and Jimmy has disappeared...
But finding Jimmy is going to be a whole lot easier than proving his innocence...
A Bill Smith/Lydia Chin Crime Novel
New York detective – and an old friend of the family – Bill Smith is one of the few people who has ever been willing to give Jimmy a second chance. Given his own brushes with the law, Bill has an unsurprising sympathy for the youngest Antonelli brother.
But this time Jimmy has gone too far. There’s a corpse of a local gangster in the cellar of Antonelli’s bar and Jimmy has disappeared...
But finding Jimmy is going to be a whole lot easier than proving his innocence...
A Bill Smith/Lydia Chin Crime Novel