S. J. Rozan

S. J. Rozan (born 1950) 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.

Life
S.J. (Shira Judith) 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.

Lydia Chin / Bill Smith series

 * China Trade (1994), St. Martin's. ISBN 0-312-11254-8
 * Concourse (1995), St. Martin's. ISBN 0-312-13453-3
 * Mandarin Plaid (1996), St. Martin's. ISBN 0-312-14674-4
 * No Colder Place (1997), St. Martin's. ISBN 0-312-16811-X
 * A Bitter Feast (1998), St. Martin's. ISBN 0-312-19259-2
 * Stone Quarry (1999), St. Martin's. ISBN 0-312-20912-6
 * Reflecting the Sky (2001), St. Martin's. ISBN 0-312-24427-4
 * Winter and Night (2002), St. Martin's. ISBN 0-312-24555-6
 * The Shanghai Moon (2009), St. Martin's. ISBN 978-0-312-24556-6
 * On the Line (2010), St. Martin's. ISBN 978-0-312-54449-2
 * Ghost Hero (2011), St. Martin's. ISBN 978-0-312-54450-8
 * Paper Son (2019), Pegasus Crime. ISBN 978-1-643-13129-0
 * The Art of Violence (2020). Pegasus Crime. ISBN 978-1-643-13531-1
 * Family Business (2021). Pegasus Crime. ISBN 978-1-643-13829-9
 * The Mayors of New York (2023). Pegasus Crime. ISBN 978-1-639-36525-8

Standalone novels/chapters
Center Point Publishing Large Print (2010), pp. 69–77. ISBN 978-1-60285-676-9 Part I, Watchlist: A Serial Thriller, Vanguard Press (2010). ISBN 978-1593155599
 * Absent Friends (2004). Delacorte Press. ISBN 0-385-33803-1
 * In This Rain (2006), Delacorte Press. ISBN 978-0-385-33804-2
 * "Chapter 4", The Chopin Manuscript: A Serial Thriller, idea by Jeffery Deaver, audiobook: ITW & Audible.com (chapters originally delivered serially: Sept 25–Nov 13, 2007)
 * "Chapter 13", Inherit the Dead: A Novel (serial) (2013), intro. Lee Child, Touchstone, pp. 171–180. ISBN 978-1-4516-8475-9

Writing as Sam Cabot
Sam Cabot books are co-written with Carlos Dews
 * Blood of the Lamb: A Novel of Secrets (2013), Blue Rider. ISBN 978-0-399-16295-4
 * Skin of the Wolf: A Novel (2014), Blue Rider. ISBN 978-0-399-16296-1

Short story collections
"Film at Eleven" · "Hoops" · "Seeing the Moon" · "Passline" · "Night Court" · "Subway" · "A Tale About a Tiger" · "Childhood" · "Double-Crossing Delancey" "Building" · "Night Court" · "Going Home" · "Silverfish" · "Seeing the Moon" · "I Seen That" · "Sunset"
 * A Tale About a Tiger and Other Mysterious Events (2009), Crippen & Landru. ISBN 978-1-932009-89-7. A volume of nine previously published short stories:
 * Building and Other Stories (2011). An e-book collection of seven previously published short stories:

Short stories
In 2022, Rozan was recognized with the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement by the Short Mystery Fiction Society.

P.I. Magazine, Winter 1990, Vol.3 No.1, pp. 16–21. P.I. Magazine, Winter 1991, Vol.4 No.1, pp. 18–26. Lethal Ladies (1996), ed. Barbara Collins & Robert J. Randisi The Fourth Woman Sleuth Anthology (1991), ed. Irene Zahava, pp. 111–135. ISBN 0-89594-521-5 Lethal Ladies II (1998), ed. Christine Matthews & Robert J. Randisi P.I. Magazine, Spring 1992, Vol.5 No.1, pp. 16–23. 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 (2006), ed. Linda Landrigan Women of Mystery II (1994), ed. Cynthia Manson Deadly Allies II (1994), ed. Robert J. Randisi & Susan Dunlap, pp. 202–229. ISBN 0-385-42468-X A Tale About a Tiger and Other Mysterious Events (collected stories) Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, December 1994, Vol.39 No.13, pp. 142–154. Wild Crimes (2004), ed. Dana Stabenow Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, January 1996, Vol.107 No.1, pp. 40–68. The Year’s 25 Finest Crime & Mystery Stories; Sixth Annual Ed (1997), ed. Joan Hess, Ed Gorman & Martin H. Greenberg The Best American Mystery Stories 1997, ed. Robert B. Parker & Otto Penzler Crime After Crime (1999), ed. Joan Hess, Martin H. Greenberg & Ed Gorman Crème de La Crime (2000), ed. Janet Hutchings A Tale About a Tiger and Other Mysterious Events (collected stories) Vengeance Is Hers (1997), ed. Mickey Spillane & Max Allan Collins, pp. 225–252. ISBN 0-451-19198-6 A Tale About a Tiger and Other Mysterious Events (collected stories) Sounds Like Murder, Vol VI (1999), ed. Otto Penzler. (audio cassette) ISBN 0375402063 Criminal Records (2000), ed. Otto Penzler A Tale About a Tiger and Other Mysterious Events (collected stories) Canine Crimes (1998), presented by Jeffrey Marks, pp. 145–154. ISBN 0-345-42411-5 Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, May 1999, Vol.113 No.5, pp. 58–63. Compulsion, e-book; Mightywords.com, (Sept 2000). The World’s Finest Mystery & Crime Stories; Second Annual Collection (2001), ed. Ed Gorman The Shamus Game (The Private Eye Writers of America Presents) (2000), ed. Robert J. Randisi, pp. 1–38. ISBN 0-451-20129-9 commissioned by Otto Penzler, who gifted his bookshop clients. LCCN 2001281539 Christmas at the Mysterious Bookshop (2010), ed. Otto Penzler Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, April 2001, Vol.117 No.4, pp. 60–61. Mystery Street (The Private Eye Writers of America Presents) (2001), ed. Robert J. Randisi, pp. 278–310. ISBN 0-451-20436-0 The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories; Third Annual Collection (2002) ed. Ed Gorman & Martin H. Greenberg A Tale About a Tiger and Other Mysterious Events (collected stories) The Mysterious North (2002), ed. Dana Stabenow, pp. 169–175. ISBN 0-451-20742-4 The Longman Anthology of Detective Fiction (2004), ed. Deane Mansfield-Kelley & Lois A. Marchino Death by Pen: The Longman Anthology of Detective Fiction from Poe to Paretsky (2007), ed. Mansfield-Kelley & Marchino Building and Other Stories (collection of stories) Dangerous Women (2005), ed. Otto Penzler, pp. 281–290. ISBN 0-89296-004-3 Murder in Vegas: New Crime Tales of Gambling and Desperation (2005), ed. Michael Connelly, pp. 19–30. ISBN 0-765-30739-1 A Tale About a Tiger and Other Mysterious Events (collected stories) Murder at the Foul Line: Original Tales of Hoop Dreams and Deaths from Today’s Great Writers (2006), ed. Otto Penzler, pp. 264–306. ISBN 0-89296-016-7 Manhattan Noir (2006), ed. Lawrence Block, pp. 196–212. ISBN 1-888451-95-5 Building and Other Stories (collection of stories) New York City Noir: The Five Borough Collection (2012) Deadly Housewives (2006), ed. Christine Matthews, pp. 199–205, plus Afterword. ISBN 0-06-085327-1 Hardboiled Brooklyn (2006), ed. Reed Farrel Coleman, pp. 85–96. ISBN 1-932557-17-2 Building and Other Stories (collection of stories) Bronx Noir (2007), edited SJR, pp. 177–190. ISBN 978-1-933354-25-5 The Best American Mystery Stories 2008, ed. George Pelecanos & Otto Penzler New York City Noir: The Five Borough Collection (2012) A Hell of a Woman: An Anthology of Female Noir (2007), ed. Megan Abbott, pp. 288–298. ISBN 978-0-9792709-9-4 On a Raven’s Wing: New Tales in Honor of Edgar Allan Poe (2009), ed. Stuart M. Kaminsky, pp. 303–327. ISBN 978-0-06-169042-6 A Tale About a Tiger and Other Mysterious Events (collected stories) By Hook or By Crook and 27 More of the Best Crime + Mystery Stories of the Year (2010), ed. Ed Gorman & Martin H. Greenberg Building and Other Stories (collection of stories) Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, March/April 2009, Vol.133 Nos.3&4, pp. 76–83. Building and Other Stories (collection of stories) The Crooked Road, Vol. 2 (2013), ed. Janet Hutchings MWA Presents The Prosecution Rests: New Stories about Courtrooms, Criminals, and the Law (2009), ed. Linda Fairstein, pp. 326–332. ISBN 978-0-316-01252-2 A Tale About a Tiger and Other Mysterious Events (collected stories) Building and Other Stories (collection of stories) Two of the Deadliest: New Tales of Lust, Greed, and Murder (2009), ed. Elizabeth George, pp. 313–325. ISBN 978-0-06-135033-7 Once Upon a Crime: An Anthology of Murder, Mayhem and Suspense (2009), ed. Gary R. Bush & Chris Everheart, pp. 243–245. ISBN 978-1-932472-85-1 Building and Other Stories (collection of stories) The Dark End of the Street: New Stories of Sex and Crime (2010), co-edited with Jonathan Santlofer, pp. 247–257. ISBN 978-1-59691-683-8 Damn Near Dead 2 (2010), ed. Bill Crider, pp. 229–240. ISBN 978-1-935415-40-4 The Best American Mystery Stories 2011, ed. Harlan Coben & Otto Penzler MWA Presents The Rich and the Dead (2011), ed. Nelson DeMille, pp. 295–308. ISBN 978-0-446-55587-6 Home Improvement: Undead Edition - All-new tales of hauned home repair and surreal estates (2011), ed. Charlaine Harris & Toni L.P. Kelner, pp. 211–236. ISBN 978-0-441-02035-5 A Study in Sherlock: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon (2011), ed. Laurie R. King & Leslie S. Klinger, pp. 44–59. ISBN 978-0-8129-8246-6 New Jersey Noir (2011), ed. Joyce Carol Oates, pp. 61–75. ISBN 978-1-61775-034-2 Scoundrels: Tales of Greed, Murder and Financial Crimes (2012), ed. Gary Phillips, pp. 85–94. ISBN 978-1-937495-22-0 The Green Hornet: Still At Large! (2012), ed. Joe Gentile, Win Scott Eckert & Matthew Baugh, pp. 1–13. ISBN 978-1-936814-30-5 Staten Island Noir (2012), ed. Patricia Smith, pp. 233–252. ISBN 978-1-61775-129-5 New York City Noir: The Five Borough Collection (2012) USA Noir: The Best of the Akashic Noir Series (2013), ed. Johnny Temple Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, December 2012, Vol.140 No.6, pp. 2–17. EQMM's Fiction Podcasts, Episode 44 (49:34), posted April 1, 2013, read by author  Ride 2: More short fiction about bicycles (2012), ed. Keith Snyder, pp. 1–13. ISBN 978-0-9835515-5-3 Mondays Are Murder. Akashic Books website, May 6, 2013. Singapore Noir (2014), ed. Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, pp. 109–122. ISBN 978-1-617752-35-3 Dark City Lights: New York Stories (2015), ed. Lawrence Block, pp. 324–328. ISBN 978-1-941110-21-8 Manhattan Mayhem: New Crime Stories from Mystery Writers of America (2015), ed. Mary Higgins Clark, pp. 281–294. ISBN 978-1-59474-761-8 Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, September/October 2018, Vol.152 No.3&4, pp. 2–18. : 2019 Shamus Award, Best Short Story
 * "Heartbreak"   (e-book single available)
 * "Once Burned"
 * "Prosperity Restaurant"  (e-book single available)
 * "Hot Numbers"
 * "Body English" (e-book single available)
 * "Film at Eleven"
 * "Birds of Paradise" (e-book single available)
 * "Hoops"
 * "Subway"
 * "A Tale about a Tiger" (e-book single available)
 * "Cooking the Hounds" (e-book single available)
 * "Hunting for Doyle" (e-book single available)
 * "Childhood"
 * "Marking the Boat"
 * "The Grift of the Magi"
 * "Motormouth"
 * "Double-Crossing Delancey" (e-book single available)
 * "Going Home"
 * "The Last Kiss"
 * "Passline"
 * "Shots"
 * "Building"
 * "The Next Nice Day"
 * "Sunset"
 * "Hothouse"
 * "Undocumented"
 * "Seeing the Moon" (e-book single available)
 * "Silverfish"
 * "Night Court"
 * "Cold, Hard Facts"
 * "I Seen That"
 * "Daybreak"
 * "Chin Yong-Yun Takes a Case" (e-book single available)
 * "Iterations"
 * "The Path"
 * "The Men with the Twisted Lips"
 * "New Day Newark"
 * "Occupy This!"
 * "Hero"
 * "Lighthouse"
 * "Golden Chance"
 * "Escape Velocity"
 * "Falconer"
 * "Kena Sai"
 * "Wet Dog on a Rainy Day"
 * "Chin Yong-Yun Makes a Shiddach"
 * "Chin Yong-Yun Helps a Fool"

Poetry

 * 211 Haiku (September 2012) - An e-book collection of 211 selected works, from 2004–2011, that follows a calendar year cycle

Non-fiction essays and articles
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."
 * "The Private Eye: An American Hero" (2009), Crippen & Landru, 8 p. pamphlet. OCLC 672293661 (Collection of three columns, edited, written for the Private Eye Writers of America)
 * "Who Is Silverman, What Is She?", In Pursuit of Spenser: Mystery Writers on Robert B. Parker and the Creation of an American Hero (2012), ed. Otto Penzler,  Smart Pop, pp. 163–172.  ISBN 978-1-935618-57-7
 * "Part 2: Tips and Tales: Categorisation and its discontents", The Arvon Book of Crime and Thriller Writing (2012), eds. Michelle Spring & Laurie R. King, Bloomsbury Publishing, pp. 150–153. ISBN 978-1-4081-3122-0
 * "True confessions by John Gregory Dunne (1977)", Books to Die For (2012), eds. John Connolly & Declan Burke, Hodder & Stoughton, pp. 421–426. ISBN 978-1-444-75650-0