ISBN: 0-7887-2507-6 Order from: Recorded Books
An average mystery, this cozy novel concentrates on the quiet investigation of human nature in a small town.
Reviewed by David on June 10, 2000
Genre: Mystery (Amateur Sleuth)
Synopsis: When a cantankerous, anti-Semitic man is murdered in a small Massachusets town, the Rabbi of the local Jewish congregation gets involved in the ensuing investigation, as it starts to affect the people in or around his community.
Full Review: While under threat by local politics, and almost fatalistic in his acceptance of events, the Rabbi's warm, humanistic intelligence is quite effective when he intervenes to spare police suspicion of the innocent and the threatened.
As the police investigation looks at a young, friendless boy, a habitual drunk, a young woman without an alibi, and a hostile, arrogant man, the Rabbi and his wife bring their compassion and perception to clarify the events on the night of the murder, and to prove the innocence of the suspects.
Somewhat superficial in its portrayal of the small-town personalities and the issues discussed, this novel concentrates on characters, and the combination of foibles and innate decency posessed by nearly everyone in the town.
Warm and cozy, the somewhat monotonous development, multiple viewpoints and several improbable character traits, deprive this novel of suspense and clarity that distinguish the best mysteries.
Sources: RecordedBooks.com|57208
Overall: 5; Plot: 4; Characters: 5.5; Style: 5.5; World-building: 5; Originality: 5;
Copyright date 1978, Recorded Books, 1998, Audio Cassette, 5 cassettes
ISBN: 0-7887-2507-6 Order from: Recorded Books