Tikkun Olam Between Paper Covers

I confess. I enjoy mysteries.

They come in all shades and flavors. They keep you wondering, “What happens next?” Some capture a place like Raymond Chandler’s L.A. Some are noir. Some are comic. Some are cozy tales of meddling yentas.

In the end, mysteries are about truth, justice and just desserts.

Finding a good Jewish mystery – well, that’s just cream cheese and lox on the bagel.

Here are some of my favorite Jewish mystery writers:

Batya Gur. When she died in 2005, the New York Times described her as “almost single-handedly responsible for making the detective novel a flourishing genre in Israeli letters.”

In The Saturday Morning Murder (1992), Murder on a Kibbutz (1994), A Literary Murder (1993) and Murder Duet (1999), she focused on small worlds – a kibbutz, a psychoanalytic society, a university department or the world of professional musicians. In each case, a murder occurs where it’s unthinkable. Chief Supt. Michael Ohayon is left to sort the facts and face the shadows. All of her mysteries take place in Israel, often in Jerusalem.

Stuart Kaminsky. One of Kaminsky’s mystery series features Chicago cops Abe Lieberman and his Irish partner Bill Hanrahan (aka the Rabbi and the Priest). Lieberman is deeply Jewish. His wife Bess has served as president of their neighborhood Conservative shul. His brother Maish runs a delicatessen.

In Lieberman’s Day (1994), Abe investigates the shooting that kills his nephew and injures the nephew’s pregnant wife. Grieving himself, Lieberman responds to the needs of his brother, sister-in-law, wife, daughter and grandchildren throughout the day. He is also a policeman torn between finding his nephew’s killer and ongoing investigations. Each chapter brings new complications to a long, sad, difficult day. By the end, he has brought about a form of justice worthy of Moses.

The Kellermans. First there was Faye, then there was Jonathon, and now there is their son Jesse. Of the three, only Faye’s books focus on Jewish characters. Her Rina Lazarus/Peter Decker mystery series now runs to 18 books. My favorite remains the first, The Ritual Bath (1986) in which the Orthodox widow Rina meets Detective Decker during a murder investigation. The latest is Blindman’s Bluff, due out in August 2009.

Her book, Straight Into Darkness (2005) was inspired by her father’s stories about his U.S. Army experiences as a translator for concentration camp survivors. It is about one serial killer, in a Nazi society that made mass killings public policy.

Rochelle Mayer Krich. Ms. Krich has two series, each featuring a Jewish woman crime solver. Her first focuses on L.A. Homicide Detective Jessica Drake. Through Fair Game (1993), Angel of Death (1994), Blood Money (1999), Dead Air (2000) and Shadows of Sin (2001), the twin strands of Jessica’s cases and her growing relationship with her newly discovered Jewish heritage are dealt with.

The second series, begun in 2002, features true crime writer Molly Blume. Molly is Orthodox and unattached in Blues in the Night (2002). Through Dream House (2003), Grave Endings (2004) and Now You See Me (due in October), she falls in love with and marries a former high school flame, who has become a rabbi.

Daniel Silva. Silva is a former journalist who worked in the Middle East before joining CNN as executive producer of its talk show unit. His series features Gabriel Allon, an art restorer and sometime Israeli secret agent and assassin, whose son was killed in a 1991 Vienna bombing that also wounded his first wife.

The first Gabriel Allon book was The Unlikely Spy (1997). The latest book, The Defector, was due out in late July 2009. Silva’s books would be at home beside John Le Carre.

Jeannette M. Hartman, 2009