Bouchercon 2009 Toastmaster author S.J. Rozan
Estranged for months from
fellow P.I. Bill Smith, Chinese-American private
investigator Lydia Chin is brought in by colleague and
former mentor Joel Pilarsky to help with a case that crosses
continents, cultures, and decades. In Shanghai, excavation
has unearthed a cache of European jewelry dating back
to World War II, when Shanghai was an open city providing
safe haven for thousands of Jewish refugees. The jewelry,
identified as having belonged to one such refugee -
Rosalie Gilder - was immediately stolen by a Chinese
official who fled to New York City. Hired by a
lawyer specializing in the recovery of Holocaust assets,
Chin and Pilarsky are to find any and all leads to the
missing jewels. However, Lydia soon learns that there is much
more to the story than they've been told: The Shanghai Moon,
one of the world's most sought after missing jewels, reputed
to be worth millions, is believed to have been part of the
same stash. Before Lydia can act on this new information,
Joel Pilarsky is murdered, Lydia is fired from the case, and
Bill Smith finally reappears on the scene. Now Lydia and
Bill must unravel the truth about the Shanghai Moon and the
events that surrounded its disappearance sixty years ago
during the chaos of war and revolution, if they are to stop
more killings and uncover the truth of what is going on today.
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