S.J. Rozan’s latest mystery “The Mayors of New York” explores the lives of the real powerbrokers of the Big Apple

Two years ago, almost to the day, your friendly correspondents discovered S.J. Rozan's Lydia Chin/Bill Smith mystery series. We were a little late to the party - Rozan began the series in 1994 and the book we read, “Family Business,” was its 13th installment. But better late than never! We were hooked. The 14th book in the series was released yesterday and of course we had to read it immediately.

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"The Mayors of New York" (told from Bill's POV), finds Lydia and Bill working for NYC's first female mayor, whose teenage son has abruptly disappeared. Obviously a mayor's missing son would be big news if it were to get out, so the mayor's chief aide - also Bill's ex-girlfriend - calls them in to find him as quickly and discreetly as possible.

The timing couldn't be worse for the mayor: she's in the middle of negotiations with the NYPD union, her daughter (the twin of the missing son) has recently given a press conference skewering her mother, and her asshole ex-husband is working on a high-profile divorce case. Bill and Lydia find themselves crossing the five boroughs on the trail of a boy who doesn't seem to want to be found, and meeting the city's unofficial "mayors" along the way.

Lydia, meanwhile, has been asked to look into the apparent suicide of a high-achieving, Chinese American, teen whose parents are convinced there was foul play. Soon the PIs are asking themselves whether the cases could be connected, and what the mayor's son is running from.

We received access to digital review copies of “The Mayors of New York” from the good people at Pegasus Crime. You can purchase your own copy here. 

Asha: S.J. Rozan's Lydia Chin/Bill Smith books are always a fun look into various aspects of NYC

Lakshmi: This mystery was super zany. We meet a lot of New Yorkers from all backgrounds!

Asha: Yes!

Lakshmi: Do you remember when we read "Family Business" and a subscriber mentioned that she had been reading the series for years and that it was super interesting to see how the characters/settings keep evolving with the time?

Asha: I do!

Lakshmi: Because obviously if Lydia and Bill were aging in real time, they'd be 55-60 now! 

Asha: Right! They've been going strong for 30 years and they've barely aged a day.

Lakshmi: They are certainly not 55-60, they are an ambiguous 32ish…

Asha: Well Lydia is an ambiguous 32, I think Bill is supposed to be like 50…maybe 45 if I'm generous.

Lakshmi: But I kept thinking of that while I was reading because even though this book is contemporary — there are references to COVID and masking, they text and look at the Mayor's son's social media accounts – but SJ Rozan still maintains a timeless tone here. Like it still sounds like an old-timey potboiler? Did you think so?

Asha: I do. And not just because Bill refuses to get a computer! 

Lakshmi: We've said this a couple of times, but contemporary mysteries are so tricky because of things like texting/TikTok.

Asha: I think it's the fact that they do a lot of "boots on the ground" investigation that makes it feel timeless. They have Lydia's cousin for their tech needs, but they mostly get their info from actually talking to people.

Lakshmi: Yessss, because in the end- nothing beats seeing the world firsthand and looking at the scene and hearing gossip, and there is so much gossip in this book.

Asha: SO MUCH gossip.

Lakshmi: Can't be the "Mayor" of a neighborhood without knowing all kinds of stuff.

Asha: Or without building relationships and trust.

Lakshmi: That's the best part about these books. The Kirkus review I think mentioned that the actual resolution wasn't THAT much of a surprise-- but you don't read this series for that

you just want to hang out with these peeps:

As usual, Rozan is less interested in hiding the culprits than in providing a consistently brisk and illuminating tour of the city, gently probing the underside of any number of rocks, and supplying a triple-barreled climax that will answer all your questions and then some.

Asha: Her characters are so vivid, that you can immediately picture them

Lakshmi: And she really does hammer home that New York-- at its core-- is a series of super unique and weird neighborhoods.

Asha: And communities! Even the characters in Times Square are a community, run by a "mayor"

Lakshmi: The opening of the book is so funny:

I don’t like the mayor,” I said. “Or her kids.” 

“Oh, I didn’t realize you were acquainted.” 

Aubrey Hamilton, in a familiar move, tossed her golden hair back off her brow. For the brief time, centuries ago, when we were together, that honey color had come out of a bottle. Now it was no doubt the result of a three-hundred-dollar-every-three-week touchup at some exclusive salon.

“I’m a New Yorker. I have a God-given right to dislike politicians. Personal experience is unnecessary.”

Asha: What a paragraph.

Lakshmi: AND SO TRUE

Asha: 100% true

Lakshmi: And the descriptions really are so great:

Mark McCann, the dark-haired, brooding male half of the mayor’s unmatched-in-every-way twins, had, as far as I knew, never held a press conference. His public presence was, generously put, negligible. But his ash-blond drama queen sister Madison Guilder—she still used their father’s name, while her brother had switched sides—had summoned journalists to an event simultaneous with their mother’s inauguration last winter as New York’s mayor. To those who showed—and every news outlet sent someone—she denounced New York City’s woeful lack of leadership on the world stage in seeking solutions to the existential threat of climate change and expressed an urgent hope that the new administration would do better. It was great political theater and one of the biggest birds I’d ever seen a child flip a parent, even including myself.

Mark is the son who has run away and who Bill and Lydia are determined to find.

But we need to talk about Times Square and our boy Ashok Sundari. Lydia and Bill get a tip that they need to talk to a Spider-Man in Times Square, so they go and become entangled in costume character politics. Those scenes were so funny

Did you know,” Lydia asked me, “that the first Statue of Liberty mime on the New York streets was a Chinese immigrant circus acrobat in the 1980’s? And so were the next half-dozen because he taught other Chinese immigrants how to do it?”

This was not the random comment it might have been at some other time. Reaching the top of the subway stairs in Times Square, Lydia and I had become a two-person spring flowing into a churning sea of tourists, hustlers, vendors, and costumed characters. Including the Statue of Liberty. 

As we're told, in addition to Spider-Man, our duo needs to talk to "Ashok Sundari. Está un Goofy." 

As an aside, as two South Indians, we have to note that SUNDARI is such a funny name for a fictional character! (It translates to “beautiful,” but usually is followed by something-- as the surname of my fellow chatter indicates!)

Asha: Usually it's Sundaram, because just Sundari is actually a girl's name!

Lakshmi: Right, and not usually a surname – so I was like "where did she get this name from" to SJ Rozan in my head.

Asha: That's an excellent question...

Lakshmi: Did I tell you when I saw Tina Fey and Maulik Pancholy discuss his book she said she was taken aback Indian people stop her to lecture her that Kevin G 's last name Gnapoor is fake?

Asha: You didn't!

Lakshmi: That is such a Tina Fey story – like just look up a real name! But we don't know what happened here…

Asha: Maybe it was symbolism on purpose....but that seems unlikely?

Lakshmi: It’s a puzzler. But I did like the character of Ashok and his aunt — a tax accountant who is pretty frustrated that she is dragged into an investigation!

Asha: They were both great! She's another unofficial "mayor" of NYC: the "Boss Lady" of her neighborhood.

Lakshmi: Again, Maalini Sundari is "a heavy, warm woman in an embroidered turquoise tunic and loose white trousers." We all know someone like that.

Asha: I love that she's part of the "Grandparents' Guild.”

Lakshmi: OK, so that's also something I wanted to mention. There is a lot of civic engagement in this book! which makes sense because it revolves around City Hall-- but we hear about people pushing for better subways, people fighting for immigrant rights, etc, and that is very much part of the NYC ethnic neighborhood experience!

Asha: Yes! Every "mayor" they come across asks Lydia and Bill for something for their neighborhood, or their community. Maalini, for example, wants the subway in Queens to run on time (everyone who's lived in an outer borough can relate to this)

Lakshmi: She takes the 7! I RELATE TO THIS IN PARTICULAR

Asha: At least it's not the N/W!!! It seems like they're constantly shutting down that line in Queens…

Lakshmi: Anyway, this book was fun!

Asha: As S.J. Rozan's books always are 🙂

Lakshmi: Yes, for sure!  And the two teens at the center of it and their secrets were also so interesting to dive into.

Asha: Those poor teens! So many secrets...so many secret social media accounts...

Lakshmi: SO MUCH DRAMA. Just like New York City!

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