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NYPD Detective Sergeant April Woo is a slender young woman with delicate features who defies the typical image of a cop, although she knows how to use the 9 mm she's packing. An ABC--American Born Chinese--April is quick to set straight anyone who underestimates her. And like millions of first generation Americans, she is torn between two powerful cultures: the old world of China that her parents left long before she was born, and the new world of America where she was born and raised, and whose values and culture are deeply her own. Bright and strong -- though in the minority both as a woman and an Asian in all the precinct detective squads where she has worked -- April is well on her way to becoming a top cop in a police department that employs over forty thousand officers serving the five boroughs of New York City. While her Chinatown upbringing may make her feel somewhat intimidated when face to face with a wealthy, confident, successful woman from the Upper East Side, there's no hesitation at all when she leaps from her cruiser to tackle a suspect on the street. In the beginning, as a precinct detective April catches every kind of incident and crime that occurs in her area, from lost pets and small misdemeanors to major cases. Her first cases test her mettle and prove that she can run with the big boys. Vulnerable, her authority constantly challenged because of who she is, she must rise above both her personal fears and other people's preconceptions and prejudices to succeed in her job. In Judging Time she is promoted to Detective Sergeant at the Midtown North Precinct and becomes a boss and supervisor. Her struggles intensify as she tries to balance her personal life with increased responsibility and round-the-clock shifts. In Tracking Time, which involves crime in New York's Central Park, she finds out how angry the big brass can be when a cop takes on a case outside of their jurisdiction. In A Killing Gift, April Woo struggles with a mystery that threatens everything she holds dear-her career, her family, her love, even her life itself. A Clean Kill finds her as Lieutenant and commanding officer of the Midtown North Detective Unit, adding responsibility for others to her need to be true to herself. In her professional life she is relentless in pursing "the correct path" and is determined to present herself as an independent success in her own right. In her personal life, with both her parents, Sai Yuan Woo (Skinny Dragon Mother), Ja Fa Woo and husband Precinct Captain Mike Sanchez, her needs, her ambitions and her heritage are engaged in an all-out war. Sai Yuan Woo (Skinny Dragon Mother) April calls her mother Skinny Dragon Mother. In the Chinese culture dragons play an important roll they are invisible and all-powerful--a lethal combination. Dragons fly around, watching the world day and night, making or breaking people's careers, love life, health, and fortunes with their interference and tricks for good or ill. Skinny Dragon Mother is four foot nine inches tall, weighs less than a hundred pounds, and dyes her short hair to look like freeze-dried seaweed. She's old world Chinese to the core and wears ancient peasant clothes around the house to fool the gods into thinking she's poor. Skinny Dragon Mother tries to exert a dragon's control over her only daughter April, whom she wants to marry a rich Chinese, and to have many children she can brag about, bully, and baby-sit during all her free time. When April doesn't behave as Skinny Dragon Mother (and all of the ancestors) would want her to, Sai tries to browbeat her by calling her "worm daughter". April often tries to sneak out of the house before Sai can engage her in yet another conversation about marriage. Sai no longer works, does not drive, and spends her days, and most of her nights, watching TV, brooding and waiting for her daughter and husband to return from their jobs in Manhattan. April's father is a chef in an upscale midtown Chinese restaurant. Very early every morning he takes the subway into Manhattan to prep for business account lunches and dinners and yell at the kitchen staff. Late every night he returns to Astoria, Queens. At home he hardly speaks at all but is a powerful authority figure to his wife and daughter. Jason Frank is a prominent New York City MD psychoanalyst with a busy private practice, a teaching position at the psychiatric institute where he trained, and many speaking engagements around the country. Jason's professional life leaves him very little time for anything else - except his wife, Emma Chapman, an actress. Emma's first film nearly destroyed their marriage, and also triggered a psychopath's violent revenge and her kidnapping, leading to Jason's involvement in police investigative work and his on-going relationship with April Woo and the NYPD. Psychiatrists cannot interfere with the lives of their patients. They sit in their chairs, listen and speak--very carefully. And they are forbidden from changing the outcome of events. In the series, as an unofficial police consultant on high profile crimes, Jason must get out of his chair and change the end of the story. In each case he must face confidentiality issues, but he must take action. In some ways, psychiatrists, like cops, are investigators. But shrinks must work within strict boundaries, exploring one psyche from its own point of view for only fifty minutes at a time. When the session's over, they have to wait until the next one to dig a little deeper. Time is important for Jason for many reasons. Time is the good medicine that heals many wounds, and it's the poison that deepens others. Time's effect on a devastating blow to the ego can turn a person into a victim, a sadist, and even a killer. Mediating time's impact on the psyche is a big part of Jason's job as a doctor. His hobby is a passionate interest in antique clocks that measure time in many quirky and inventive ways and require his constant attention. Through Jason, we can experience a psychiatrist evaluating suspects in violent crimes and how the actions he takes impact on law enforcement strategies. We also see behind closed doors, and glimpse what a psychiatrist's life is really like. In Tracking Time, Jason is personally involved, because it is a psychoanalytic candidate who has disappeared in Central Park. Though absent from The Silent Bride, Jason returns once again in A Killing Gift to lend a psychological perspective in yet another baffling case. Cops come in all sizes, and have as much internal baggage as they do weapons and clanking cop equipment. Mike Sanchez is Mexican American, and like April Woo, the offspring of a restaurant chef--Mike's father died of a heart attack three years ago in the restaurant where he worked. Mike is a complicated man with strong character and deeply ingrained street smarts. He has his scars and sorrows, but he is no angry burnout. He was one of those street kids who could easily have gotten sucked up in the gangs and never lived to see his twentieth birthday. As an adolescent, he was tough, he was a fighter, and he got in trouble. He was lucky, though. He didn't want to end up on the wrong side of the law, so he joined the police, went to college, and turned his life around. After a few years on the force, he settled down. In an attempt to keep his work separate from his private life, he married an unsophisticated girl from his parents' home town south of the border. The marriage was a disaster. Maria broke down from the stresses of living in New York with a cop who wasn't home much. After three years of weeping and profound depression, she went back to Mexico. Mike, who is good looking, with a luxuriant mustache, and an easy, sexy way that's attractive to women of all ages, responded to his loss by becoming something of a womanizer. In the department he is known for tenacity, for sticking with something until he can work it out. In the Two-O, Mike Sanchez was April's supervisor; he is now a part of her everyday life as her mentor, lover, irritator, and confidante. He sometimes calls her "querida", or "darling", which can infuriate April or make her melt, depending on the situation. With April, he's met his match--an intelligent and gifted cop, and a beautiful woman who's able to resist his usually-successful advances. The development of their relationship - working together - struggling with conflicting cultural issues - his increasing respect and love for April--all reflect Mike's growth as a man and a professional whose star is rising. The relationship between April and Mike, and how it evolves from book to book in the series is often remarked on by readers as a "romance novel" within a suspense novel. Now, in A Killing Gift, the two characters are engaged, opening a struggle between love and duty as the casework puts a strain on their relationship.
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