I Recommend: S. J. Rozan, China Trade

S. J Rozan, China Trade (start of the Lydia Chin/Bill Smith series)

S. J. Rozan’s detective series is about an unlikely couple of detectives: lively Lydia Chin, born in Chinatown in Manhattan and immersed in its subculture; and jaded Bill Smith, a world-weary tough guy. As they take on the business of uncovering the truth, they become more than business partners. Their connection, business and otherwise, plays out in a pitch-perfect setting of lower Manhattan in the 1990s, before its seaminess was lost forever to gentrification. This is the first book of the series, but the rest of it is great, too.