PAPER SON by S.J. Rozan

I'm a longtime fan of S.J. Rozan's Lydia Chin and Bill Smith private eye novels, each of which she writes from the viewpoint of either twentysomething American-born Chinese Lydia or fortysomething white ex-Navy man Bill. As soon as I heard Rozan was returning to the series after eight years, I pre-ordered Paper Son, published July 2 by Pegasus Books.

On her mother's orders, Lydia and Bill leave their home base of New York City for the Mississippi Delta to help a cousin Lydia didn't know she had, who's been arrested on suspicion of killing his father. The partners' investigation uncovers other families' secrets just as shocking.

Though Mississippi is uncharted territory for Lydia and Bill, Rozan reliably evokes place and its impact on character to refresh the series and push the hot buttons of immigration, identity politics, and fantasy sports betting.