Title: Who Killed the Rabbi’s Wife? A Frank Wolf Mystery
By: Saul Golubcow
Wildside Press
With the perspicacity of a Talmud scholar, and venerable old-world charm, rabbi, holocaust survivor, and private detective Frank Wolf, helps the police solve the murder of one of his co-religionists in New York of the 1970s. Aided by his grandson Joel, and Joel’s wife Aliya, Mr. Wolf joins the ranks of the super-sleuths of the genre, giving us a window into Jewish culture and introducing a complex array of suspects.
This is Golubcow’s second book featuring Detective Wolf. His first is a collection of three novellas called The Cost of Living and Other Mysteries, which involves three previous cases solved by Wolf and Joel.
There is a nice interplay between the characters’ relationships, the mystery at hand, and the Jewish context, as the following excerpt illustrates:
Grandfather was beaming. “Joel, does not your kallah have good instincts?”
I quickly agreed, but my racing mind had fixated on the “deal” Grandfather made with Brennan. “Zaida,” I asked, “I don’t get your wanting Brennan to publish personal information about you including a picture. What was that about?”
“Good, Yoeli, your question is of course expected, and had Ms. Brennan not arrived early, I would have prepared you for my tactic. It has been a long day. I will give you a brief, but I hope, satisfactory explanation. It involves what my fictional predecessors Sherlock Holmes to Sam Spade and Lew Archer might term “flushing out the suspect.” I believe a planned murder took place. Whether one person or more committed the heinous act, the responsibility lies hidden within the Jewish community. Just as with our previous cases, the otherwise excellent New York Police Department does not possess the history, the language for communication, or the knowledge of the culture to extract the requisite information for analyses. I am, whether famously or infamously, known to Mrs. Flaum’s community. I want to arouse nervousness that someone who has achieved success in those other cases where secrets were cloaked within Jewish life is now involved. My hope is that such a threat causes impulsive behavior, compromising testimony, or other errors in judgment as we proceed with our investigation. Joel, this explanation is satisfactory, yes?”
For baby boomers, it has a nostalgic feel, giving us a glimpse into the forgotten world when technology was in its infancy.
A book is successful if you care about the characters and you’re caught up in the plot. This book meets those and many other qualifications for a gripping mystery and a wonderful read!
The book is available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and from the publisher’s website.
