One Red Bastard

Starred review from February 20, 2012
Tensions in America’s relationship with China and Taiwan form the backdrop for Lin’s compelling third mystery featuring Chinese-American Robert Chow of the NYPD (after 2010’s Snakes Can’t Run). By the fall of 1976, Chow has moved on from being the department’s token to real policing, but his personal and professional lives collide when his journalist girlfriend, Lonnie, becomes the prime suspect in a case with potential international repercussions. Chen Xiaochuan, the official representative for Mao Tse-tung’s daughter, who’s seeking asylum in the States, is bludgeoned to death in a Chinatown park, and Lonnie is the last person known to have seen him after interviewing him for her newspaper. Possible motives can be found all over the political spectrum, complicating the investigation. Lin offers a vivid picture of an earlier Manhattan Chinatown than S.J. Rozan, whose fans are likely to warm to the street-savvy Chow, still coming to grips with the horrors of his Vietnam War tour of duty. Author tour. Agent: Kirby Kim, William Morris.