S. J. Rozan


S. J. Rozan is an American architect and writer of detective fiction and thrillers, based in New York City. She also co-writes a paranormal thriller series under the pseudonym Sam Cabot with Carlos Dews.
WWW sjrozan.net𝕏 sjrozan

Life

S.J. Rozan was born in 1950 in the Bronx, New York. She grew up with two sisters and a brother, and has a passion for basketball. She graduated from Oberlin College with a bachelor's degree, and received a master's in architecture from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She is a lifelong New Yorker and currently lives in Lower Manhattan.
Before her career as an architect, Rozan also worked as a janitor, in jewelry sales, painting houses, book sales, bread baking, as an advertising copywriter, and as a self-defense instructor. As an architect, she became project manager for a New York firm working on socially useful projects. She said, "That life was exactly what I wanted, but it wasn't making me happy.... So I decided to go back to this idea I'd had of writing a crime novel."
Rozan's books are set in New York City or start out there. Her P.I. series features Lydia Chin and Bill Smith, and the books alternate point of view between the two characters. About them she has revealed, "Lydia is me as I was when I was her age. She’s optimistic and full of energy. She believes that the world can be saved.... Bill, on the other hand, is me as I am now—on a bad day. He’s been through enough bad stuff in his life that he knows what can’t be done."
In 2013 she co-authored a book with Carlos Dews under the name Sam Cabot. This book was set in Rome and is the first in a series of historical thrillers. In addition to crime novels, since 2004, Rozan has written haiku that she posts each weekend to her blog. They are composed as she makes observations, but aren't written down until she gets home.
Rozan speaks, lectures, and teaches widely, including in January 2003 as an invited speaker at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland; as a Master Artist at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in Fall 2006; at the 2009 National Book Festival; speaking about "Every Story Is a Mystery" at the Central Library in Indianapolis in October 2009; as keynote speaker at the California Crime Writers Conference in June 2011; in Fall 2011 as an instructor at the New York Crime Fiction Academy; as a Writer-in-Residence at Singapore Management University in February 2014; as Author-in-Residence & Guest Instructor at 2014 Novel-In-Progress Bookcamp; and during summers in Assisi, Italy at Art Workshop International as a Writing Instructor. She gives freely of her time to other writers as shown by acknowledgments in, among others, the following referenced books:

Awards and honors

In 2016, Rozan received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America.
YearTitleAwardResult
1996ConcourseShamus Award for Best P. I. Hardcover NovelWinner
1997Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Short StoryFinalist
1998No Colder PlaceAnthony Award for Best NovelWinner
1998No Colder PlaceBarry Award for Best NovelFinalist
1998No Colder PlaceShamus Award for Best NovelFinalist
2000Stone QuarryShamus Award for Best NovelFinalist
2002Anthony Award for Best Short StoryFinalist
2002Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Short StoryFinalist
2002Reflecting the SkyAnthony Award for Best NovelFinalist
2002Reflecting the SkyEdgar Allan Poe Award for Best NovelFinalist
2002Reflecting the SkyShamus Award for Best P. I. Hardcover NovelWinner
2003Winter and NightAnthony Award for Best NovelFinalist
2003Winter and NightBarry Award for Best NovelFinalist
2003Winter and NightEdgar Allan Poe Award for Best NovelWinner
2003Winter and NightMacavity Award for Best NovelWinner
2003Winter and NightNero AwardWinner
2003Winter and NightShamus Award for Best NovelFinalist
2004Absent FriendsGumshoe Award for Best NovelFinalist
2007Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Short StoryFinalist
2008Audie Award for Audiobook of the YearWinner
2008In this RainNero AwardFinalist
2009Winter and NightMaltese Falcon AwardWinner
2010'Anthony Award for Best NovelFinalist
2010'Barry Award for Best NovelFinalist
2010'Dilys AwardFinalist
2010'Macavity Award for Best Mystery NovelFinalist
2012Ghost HeroDilys AwardWinner
2018Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Short StoryFinalist
2022Family BusinessShamus Award for Best P. I. Hardcover NovelWinner
2022Family BusinessG. P. Putnam's Sons Sue Grafton Memorial AwardFinalist
2023Paper SonMaltese Falcon AwardWinner

Publications

Lydia Chin / Bill Smith series

  • China Trade, St. Martin's.
  • Concourse, St. Martin's.
  • Mandarin Plaid, St. Martin's.
  • No Colder Place, St. Martin's.
  • A Bitter Feast, St. Martin's.
  • Stone Quarry, St. Martin's.
  • Reflecting the Sky, St. Martin's.
  • Winter and Night, St. Martin's.
  • The Shanghai Moon, St. Martin's.
  • On the Line, St. Martin's.
  • Ghost Hero, St. Martin's.
  • Paper Son, Pegasus Crime. The Art of Violence . Pegasus Crime. Family Business . Pegasus Crime. The Mayors of New York . Pegasus Crime.

Standalone novels/chapters

Center Point Publishing Large Print, pp. 69–77.
Part I, Watchlist: A Serial Thriller, Vanguard Press.
  • "Chapter 13", Inherit the Dead: A Novel, intro. Lee Child, Touchstone, pp. 171–180.

Writing as Sam Cabot

Sam Cabot books are co-written with Carlos Dews

Short story collections

  • A Tale About a Tiger and Other Mysterious Events, Crippen & Landru.. A volume of nine previously published short stories:
"Film at Eleven" · "Hoops" · "Seeing the Moon" · "Passline" · "Night Court" · "Subway" · "A Tale About a Tiger" · "Childhood" · "Double-Crossing Delancey"
  • Building and Other Stories. An e-book collection of seven previously published short stories:
"Building" · "Night Court" · "Going Home" · "Silverfish" · "Seeing the Moon" · "I Seen That" · "Sunset"

Short stories

In 2022, Rozan was recognized with the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement by the Short Mystery Fiction Society.
  • "Heartbreak"
P.I. Magazine, Winter 1990, Vol.3 No.1, pp. 16–21.
  • "Once Burned"
P.I. Magazine, Winter 1991, Vol.4 No.1, pp. 18–26.
Lethal Ladies, ed. Barbara Collins & Robert J. Randisi
  • "Prosperity Restaurant"
The Fourth Woman Sleuth Anthology, ed. Irene Zahava, pp. 111–135.
Lethal Ladies II, ed. Christine Matthews & Robert J. Randisi
  • "Hot Numbers"
P.I. Magazine, Spring 1992, Vol.5 No.1, pp. 16–23.
  • "Body English"
Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, December 1992, Vol.37 No.12, pp. 24–41.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine Presents Fifty Years of Crime and Suspense, ed. Linda Landrigan
Women of Mystery II, ed. Cynthia Manson
  • "Film at Eleven"
Deadly Allies II, ed. Robert J. Randisi & Susan Dunlap, pp. 202–229.
A Tale About a Tiger and Other Mysterious Events
  • "Birds of Paradise"
Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, December 1994, Vol.39 No.13, pp. 142–154.
Wild Crimes, ed. Dana Stabenow
  • "Hoops"
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, January 1996, Vol.107 No.1, pp. 40–68.
The Year’s 25 Finest Crime & Mystery Stories; Sixth Annual Ed, ed. Joan Hess, Ed Gorman & Martin H. Greenberg
The Best American Mystery Stories 1997, ed. Robert B. Parker & Otto Penzler
Crime After Crime, ed. Joan Hess, Martin H. Greenberg & Ed Gorman
Crème de La Crime, ed. Janet Hutchings
A Tale About a Tiger and Other Mysterious Events
  • "Subway"
Vengeance Is Hers, ed. Mickey Spillane & Max Allan Collins, pp. 225–252.
A Tale About a Tiger and Other Mysterious Events
  • "A Tale about a Tiger"
Sounds Like Murder, Vol VI, ed. Otto Penzler.
Criminal Records, ed. Otto Penzler
A Tale About a Tiger and Other Mysterious Events
  • "Cooking the Hounds"
Canine Crimes, presented by Jeffrey Marks, pp. 145–154.
  • "Hunting for Doyle"
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, May 1999, Vol.113 No.5, pp. 58–63.
  • "Childhood"
Compulsion, e-book; Mightywords.com,.
The World’s Finest Mystery & Crime Stories; Second Annual Collection, ed. Ed Gorman
  • "Marking the Boat"
The Shamus Game , ed. Robert J. Randisi, pp. 1–38.
  • "The Grift of the Magi"
commissioned by Otto Penzler, who gifted his bookshop clients. LCCN 2001281539
Christmas at the Mysterious Bookshop, ed. Otto Penzler
  • "Motormouth"
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, April 2001, Vol.117 No.4, pp. 60–61.
  • "Double-Crossing Delancey"
Mystery Street , ed. Robert J. Randisi, pp. 278–310.
The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories; Third Annual Collection ed. Ed Gorman & Martin H. Greenberg
A Tale About a Tiger and Other Mysterious Events
  • "Going Home"
The Mysterious North, ed. Dana Stabenow, pp. 169–175.
The Longman Anthology of Detective Fiction, ed. Deane Mansfield-Kelley & Lois A. Marchino
Death by Pen: The Longman Anthology of Detective Fiction from Poe to Paretsky, ed. Mansfield-Kelley & Marchino
Building and Other Stories
  • "The Last Kiss"
Dangerous Women, ed. Otto Penzler, pp. 281–290.
  • "Passline"
Murder in Vegas: New Crime Tales of Gambling and Desperation, ed. Michael Connelly, pp. 19–30.
A Tale About a Tiger and Other Mysterious Events
  • "Shots"
Murder at the Foul Line: Original Tales of Hoop Dreams and Deaths from Today’s Great Writers, ed. Otto Penzler, pp. 264–306.
  • "Building"
Manhattan Noir, ed. Lawrence Block, pp. 196–212.
Building and Other Stories
New York City Noir: The Five Borough Collection
  • "The Next Nice Day"
Deadly Housewives, ed. Christine Matthews, pp. 199–205, plus Afterword.
  • "Sunset"
Hardboiled Brooklyn, ed. Reed Farrel Coleman, pp. 85–96.
Building and Other Stories
  • "Hothouse"
Bronx Noir, edited SJR, pp. 177–190.
The Best American Mystery Stories 2008, ed. George Pelecanos & Otto Penzler
New York City Noir: The Five Borough Collection
  • "Undocumented"
A Hell of a Woman: An Anthology of Female Noir, ed. Megan Abbott, pp. 288–298.
  • "Seeing the Moon"
On a Raven’s Wing: New Tales in Honor of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Stuart M. Kaminsky, pp. 303–327.
A Tale About a Tiger and Other Mysterious Events
By Hook or By Crook and 27 More of the Best Crime + Mystery Stories of the Year, ed. Ed Gorman & Martin H. Greenberg
Building and Other Stories
  • "Silverfish"
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, March/April 2009, Vol.133 Nos.3&4, pp. 76–83.
Building and Other Stories
The Crooked Road, Vol. 2, ed. Janet Hutchings
  • "Night Court"
MWA Presents The Prosecution Rests: New Stories about Courtrooms, Criminals, and the Law, ed. Linda Fairstein, pp. 326–332.
A Tale About a Tiger and Other Mysterious Events
Building and Other Stories
  • "Cold, Hard Facts"
Two of the Deadliest: New Tales of Lust, Greed, and Murder, ed. Elizabeth George, pp. 313–325.
  • "I Seen That"
Once Upon a Crime: An Anthology of Murder, Mayhem and Suspense, ed. Gary R. Bush & Chris Everheart, pp. 243–245.
Building and Other Stories
  • "Daybreak"
The Dark End of the Street: New Stories of Sex and Crime, co-edited with Jonathan Santlofer, pp. 247–257.
  • "Chin Yong-Yun Takes a Case"
Damn Near Dead 2, ed. Bill Crider, pp. 229–240.
The Best American Mystery Stories 2011, ed. Harlan Coben & Otto Penzler
  • "Iterations"
MWA Presents The Rich and the Dead, ed. Nelson DeMille, pp. 295–308.
  • "The Path"
Home Improvement: Undead Edition - All-new tales of hauned home repair and surreal estates, ed. Charlaine Harris & Toni L.P. Kelner, pp. 211–236.
  • "The Men with the Twisted Lips"
A Study in Sherlock: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon, ed. Laurie R. King & Leslie S. Klinger, pp. 44–59.
  • "New Day Newark"
New Jersey Noir, ed. Joyce Carol Oates, pp. 61–75.
  • "Occupy This!"
Scoundrels: Tales of Greed, Murder and Financial Crimes, ed. Gary Phillips, pp. 85–94.
  • "Hero"
The Green Hornet: Still At Large!, ed. Joe Gentile, Win Scott Eckert & Matthew Baugh, pp. 1–13.
  • "Lighthouse"
Staten Island Noir, ed. Patricia Smith, pp. 233–252.
New York City Noir: The Five Borough Collection
USA Noir: The Best of the Akashic Noir Series, ed. Johnny Temple
  • "Golden Chance"
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, December 2012, Vol.140 No.6, pp. 2–17.
EQMM's Fiction Podcasts, Episode 44, posted April 1, 2013, read by author
  • "Escape Velocity"
Ride 2: More short fiction about bicycles, ed. Keith Snyder, pp. 1–13.
  • "Falconer"
Mondays Are Murder. Akashic Books website, May 6, 2013.
  • "Kena Sai"
Singapore Noir, ed. Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, pp. 109–122.
  • "Wet Dog on a Rainy Day"
Dark City Lights: New York Stories, ed. Lawrence Block, pp. 324–328.
  • "Chin Yong-Yun Makes a Shiddach"
Manhattan Mayhem: New Crime Stories from Mystery Writers of America, ed. Mary Higgins Clark, pp. 281–294.
  • "Chin Yong-Yun Helps a Fool"
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, September/October 2018, Vol.152 No.3&4, pp. 2–18.
: 2019 Shamus Award, Best Short Story

Poetry

  • 211 Haiku - An e-book collection of 211 selected works, from 2004–2011, that follows a calendar year cycle

Non-fiction essays and articles

  • "The Private Eye: An American Hero", Crippen & Landru, 8 p. pamphlet. OCLC 672293661
From inside back cover: "Two hundred twenty-five copies were printed to accompany the limited edition of A Tale About a Tiger and Other Mysterious Events, and are not for sale separately."
  • "Who Is Silverman, What Is She?", In Pursuit of Spenser: Mystery Writers on Robert B. Parker and the Creation of an American Hero, ed. Otto Penzler, Smart Pop, pp. 163–172.
  • "Part 2: Tips and Tales: Categorisation and its discontents", The Arvon Book of Crime and Thriller Writing, eds. Michelle Spring & Laurie R. King, Bloomsbury Publishing, pp. 150–153.
  • "True confessions by John Gregory Dunne ", Books to Die For, eds. John Connolly & Declan Burke, Hodder & Stoughton, pp. 421–426.