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.Ashley, Mike (Ed.) Mammoth Encyclopedia of Modern Crime Fiction, Constable & Robinson, 2002, p. 424. Lindsay, Elizabeth Blakesley "Great Women Mystery Writers" (2nd ed.), Greenwood Press, 2007, p. 227.
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.Nichols, Victoria & Thompson, Susan (Eds.) Silk Stalkings: More Women Write of Murder, Scarecrow Press, 2000, p. 247. 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:Kaufman, Thomas Steal the Show, St. Martin's Minotaur, 2011. Knutson, Andrea American Spaces of Conversion: The Conductive Imaginaries of Edwards, Emerson, and James, Oxford University Press, 2010. Zelvin, Elizabeth Death Will Help You Leave Him, Minotaur, 2009. Cohen, Gabriel. Storms Can't Hurt the Sky: A Buddhist Path Through Divorce, Da Capo Press, 2008. Harris, Charlaine All Together Dead, Ace, 2007. Qiu Xiaolong A Case of Two Cities, St. Martin's Minotaur, 2006. Torres, Steven. Missing in Precinct Puerto Rico: Book Four, St. Martin's Minotaur, 2006. Hughes, Robert J. Late and Soon: A Novel, Carroll & Graf, 2005. Santlofer, Jonathan Color Blind: A Novel of Suspense, William Morrow, 2004. Bowen, Rhys For the Love of Mike, St. Martin's Minotaur, 2003. Raphael, Lawrence W. Criminal Kabbalah, Jewish Lights Pub, 2001. Savage, Tom The Inheritance, Dutton Adult, 1998.
Awards and honors In 2016, Rozan received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America. +Awards for Rozan's writingYearTitleAwardResult1996ConcourseShamus Award for Best P. I. Hardcover NovelWinner1997Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Short StoryFinalist1998No Colder Place Anthony Award for Best NovelWinnerBarry Award for Best NovelFinalistSobin, Roger M. (Ed.) The Essential Mystery Lists: For Readers, Collectors, and Librarians (2007 ed.), Poisoned Pen Press, 2007, p. 59. Shamus Award for Best NovelFinalist2000Stone QuarryShamus Award for Best NovelFinalist2002Anthony Award for Best Short StoryFinalistEdgar Allan Poe Award for Best Short StoryFinalistReflecting the Sky Anthony Award for Best NovelFinalistEdgar Allan Poe Award for Best NovelFinalistShamus Award for Best P. I. Hardcover NovelWinner2003Winter and NightAnthony Award for Best NovelFinalistBarry Award for Best NovelFinalistEdgar Allan Poe Award for Best NovelWinnerMacavity Award for Best NovelWinnerNero AwardWinnerShamus Award for Best NovelFinalist2004Absent FriendsGumshoe Award for Best NovelFinalist2007Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Short StoryFinalist2008Audie Award for Audiobook of the YearWinnerIn this Rain Nero AwardFinalist2009Winter and NightMaltese Falcon AwardWinner2010Anthony Award for Best NovelFinalistBarry Award for Best NovelFinalistDilys AwardFinalistMacavity Award for Best Mystery NovelFinalist2012Ghost HeroDilys AwardWinner2018Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Short StoryFinalist2022Family BusinessShamus Award for Best P. I. Hardcover NovelWinnerG. P. Putnam's Sons Sue Grafton Memorial AwardFinalist2023Paper SonMaltese Falcon AwardWinner
Publications
Lydia Chin / Bill Smith series China Trade (1994), St. Martin's. Concourse (1995), St. Martin's. Mandarin Plaid (1996), St. Martin's. No Colder Place (1997), St. Martin's. A Bitter Feast (1998), St. Martin's. Stone Quarry (1999), St. Martin's. Reflecting the Sky (2001), St. Martin's. Winter and Night (2002), St. Martin's. The Shanghai Moon (2009), St. Martin's. On the Line (2010), St. Martin's. Ghost Hero (2011), St. Martin's. Paper Son (2019), Pegasus Crime. The Art of Violence (2020). Pegasus Crime. Family Business (2021). Pegasus Crime. The Mayors of New York (2023). Pegasus Crime.
Standalone novels/chapters Absent Friends (2004). Delacorte Press. In This Rain (2006), Delacorte Press. "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) Center Point Publishing Large Print (2010), pp. 69–77. Part I, Watchlist: A Serial Thriller, Vanguard Press (2010). "Chapter 13", Inherit the Dead: A Novel (serial) (2013), intro. Lee Child, Touchstone, pp. 171–180.
Writing as Sam Cabot Blood of the Lamb: A Novel of Secrets (2013), Blue Rider. Skin of the Wolf: A Novel (2014), Blue Rider. Sam Cabot books are co-written with Carlos Dews
Short story collections A Tale About a Tiger and Other Mysterious Events (2009), 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 (2011). 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" (e-book single available)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 (1996), ed. Barbara Collins & Robert J. Randisi "Prosperity Restaurant" (e-book single available)The Fourth Woman Sleuth Anthology (1991), ed. Irene Zahava, pp. 111–135. Lethal Ladies II (1998), ed. Christine Matthews & Robert J. Randisi "Hot Numbers" P.I. Magazine, Spring 1992, Vol.5 No.1, pp. 16–23. "Body English" (e-book single available)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 "Film at Eleven" Deadly Allies II (1994), ed. Robert J. Randisi & Susan Dunlap, pp. 202–229. A Tale About a Tiger and Other Mysterious Events (collected stories) "Birds of Paradise" (e-book single available)Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, December 1994, Vol.39 No.13, pp. 142–154. Wild Crimes (2004), 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 (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) "Subway" Vengeance Is Hers (1997), ed. Mickey Spillane & Max Allan Collins, pp. 225–252. A Tale About a Tiger and Other Mysterious Events (collected stories) "A Tale about a Tiger" (e-book single available)Sounds Like Murder, Vol VI (1999), ed. Otto Penzler. (audio cassette) Criminal Records (2000), ed. Otto Penzler A Tale About a Tiger and Other Mysterious Events (collected stories) "Cooking the Hounds" (e-book single available)Canine Crimes (1998), presented by Jeffrey Marks, pp. 145–154. "Hunting for Doyle" (e-book single available)Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, May 1999, Vol.113 No.5, pp. 58–63. "Childhood" Compulsion, e-book; Mightywords.com, (Sept 2000). The World’s Finest Mystery & Crime Stories; Second Annual Collection (2001), ed. Ed Gorman "Marking the Boat" The Shamus Game (The Private Eye Writers of America Presents) (2000), 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 (2010), ed. Otto Penzler "Motormouth"Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, April 2001, Vol.117 No.4, pp. 60–61. "Double-Crossing Delancey" (e-book single available)Mystery Street (The Private Eye Writers of America Presents) (2001), ed. Robert J. Randisi, pp. 278–310. 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) "Going Home"The Mysterious North (2002), ed. Dana Stabenow, pp. 169–175. 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) "The Last Kiss"Dangerous Women (2005), ed. Otto Penzler, pp. 281–290. "Passline"Murder in Vegas: New Crime Tales of Gambling and Desperation (2005), ed. Michael Connelly, pp. 19–30. A Tale About a Tiger and Other Mysterious Events (collected stories) "Shots" Murder at the Foul Line: Original Tales of Hoop Dreams and Deaths from Today’s Great Writers (2006), ed. Otto Penzler, pp. 264–306. "Building"Manhattan Noir (2006), ed. Lawrence Block, pp. 196–212. Building and Other Stories (collection of stories) New York City Noir: The Five Borough Collection (2012) "The Next Nice Day"Deadly Housewives (2006), ed. Christine Matthews, pp. 199–205, plus Afterword. "Sunset"Hardboiled Brooklyn (2006), ed. Reed Farrel Coleman, pp. 85–96. Building and Other Stories (collection of stories)