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Lydia Chin/Bill Smith Mysteries #13
by S.J. Rozan
In the latest mystery from S. J. Rozan, Bill Smith and Lydia Chin must track down a serial killer stalking women in New York's contemporary art scene.
Former client Sam Tabor, just out of Greenhaven after a five-year homicide stint, comes to Bill Smith with a strange request. A colossally talented painter whose parole was orchestrated by art world movers and shakers, Sam's convinced that since he's been out he's killed two women. He doesn't remember the killings but he wants Smith, one of the few people he trusts, to investigate and prove him either innocent or guilty.
NYPD detective Angela Grimaldi thinks Sam's "a weirdo." Smith has no argument with that: diagnosed with a number of mental disorders over the years, Sam self-medicates with alcohol, loses focus (except when he's painting), and has few friends. But Smith doesn't think that adds up to serial killer. He enlists Lydia Chin to help prove it.
Smith and Chin delve into the world surrounding Sam Tabor, including his brother, two NYPD detectives, and various other artists, dealers, collectors, curators, and art connoisseurs. No answers appear. Evidence is found and lost again. And more bodies turn up.
Sam Tabor might be just a crazy artist. But someone is killing people in his orbit. If not Sam, who? Why? And who will be next?
"Rozan brilliantly inverts a whodunit trope...As always, Rozan's intelligent, witty prose is a treat, and she justifies a choice made in the previous book regarding the relationship between her two leads. Newcomers as well as devotees will be enthralled." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"In addition to her formidable writing skills, Rozan's own endeavors as an architect of 20 years undoubtedly contribute to the novel's excellent structure." - Booklist (starred review)
"A rewardingly savvy tour of Manhattan's demented art scene with maybe one climax too many." - Kirkus Reviews
This information about The Art of Violence was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
SJ Rozan's real name is Shira Judith Rosan. She is a native New Yorker, is the author of eighteen novels and six dozen short stories. Her work has won the Edgar, Shamus, Anthony, Nero, and Macavity awards for Best Novel and the Edgar for Best Short Story. She's also the recipient of the Japanese Maltese Falcon Award and recently received the Life Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America. Bronx Noir, a short story anthology SJ edited, was chosen NAIBA "Notable Book of the Year." She also co-edited, with Jonathan Santlofer, the anthology Dark End of the Street. Spring 2022 will see Crime Hits Home, the Mystery Writers of America anthology, edited by SJ,
SJ has served on the National Boards of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, and is ex-President of the ...
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