Mandarin Plaid

By: S. J. Rozan

Narrated by: Cindy Cheung

Lydia Chin, a Chinese-American P.I. who lives in New York City's Chinatown, is hired for a simple job. She's to deliver the ransom for a set of stolen sketches that comprise the inaugural collection of fashion designer Genna Jing and her new label, Mandarin Plaid. But everything on this simple job goes terribly wrong. The ransom is stolen out from under Lydia, her sometimes partner, Bill Smith, is arrested, and just as she is trying to sort out exactly what is really going on, the client fires her. Lydia, however, isn't about to just let it go.

Determined to find answers and preserve her pride, Lydia and Bill follow a confusing trail that leads from the sweatshops of Chinatown to the drawing rooms of Manhattan's wealthy Upper East Side and into a dark underworld of prostitution, drugs, and murder. All they need to uncover is: who stole the sketches, who hijacked the ransom payment, and, most important, who would kill to keep them from the truth.

©1996 S. J. Rozan (P)2008 BBC Audiobooks America

Awesome

The acting was really good. the story is a little dated but great. reminded me of the late 90s.

Enjoyable mystery with a refreshing detective

I really liked this book and have gone on to listen to the others in the series available through Audible. The series involves a pair of PIs who occasionally help each other out but are not actual partners, and the books alternate between their two perspectives. This one is from the Chinese-American female PIs perspective and has some interesting cultural elements thrown in that ring true. I only wish more of the series had been recorded! #FemaleProtagonist #NewYork #Tagsgiving #Sweepstakes

A little too elementary

elementary, filled with the beginnings of feminist learning traits and awareness; immature female characters

Good

Dated but it stands up. Interesting bad guys, convoluted plot that may or may not stand up to scrutiny. But I liked the main characters and their relationship enough to want to listen to more.

Ouch

It is a sign of my regard for author Rozan that I have suffered through 7.5 hours of the incredibly painful narration of this book and will likely persist through the remaining 2.5. I first read this series many years ago and was delighted to find it here, looking forward to revisiting the partnership of Chin and Smith. I like both characters and their unconventional partnership.

However, when each and every word is E-NUN-CI-AT-ED and EMPHASIZED, when characters' voices have absolutely no nuance and convey the same emotional content with every word they speak... Gah.

I recommend reading rather than listening to this book. The story is well worth it, but the narration is awful.

Entertaining story

Entertaining story, the pacing was good (most of the time), the stakes were raised at the right times and you could never tell what going to happen next. Although some spots were unnecessarily long and drawn-out, the overall plot was interesting enough for me to wait for the conversation to finally get to the point.

The performance, however, was terrible. The reader's strong accent and the terribly overdone character voices were distracting.