Traditional Sleuthing with Jewish Touches, from Andy Weinberger

[Originally published at New York Journal of Books] 

“This fine traditional LA crime novel with its Jewish tang and its quandaries of the elderly provides enjoyable entertainment.”

Amos Parisman is feeling his age—he needs naps, he misses his wife (she’s in a care home with dementia), he has to be careful about remembering his keys. But that doesn’t mean he’s ready to quit the private eye work he’s done all his life. So when a “homeless lady” in is neighborhood is murdered and his police buddy Lieutenant Bill Malloy is open to his help, Andy’s eager to contribute. Anything that will dispel the fog of aimlessness and sorrow in his life is more than welcome.

The lieutenant half apologizes for the collaboration, and hopes Amos doesn’t mind. He’s blunt: “Mind? Are you kidding? This is exactly the kind of case I need.” He admits, “It’s a police matter. Only I happen to know a little bit about her. And besides, Bill—this retirement thing?—between you and me, I’d rather be dead.”

Although Amos is not religious, he’s 100 percent Jewish in heritage and outlook, and his thoughts and conversations are sprinkled with scraps of Yiddish and wry comments about his mixed neighborhood in Los Angeles.

And that’s the fun half of this old-fashioned PI tale, because the other half, getting acquainted with a lot of homeless people and the not always pure-minded folks who “help” them takes a lot of Amos’s energy. That energy drain is also part of why his gentle romance on the side with a wealthy Jewish woman is pretty low key, mostly holding hands, kissing, and sharing a bottle of wine (much more for her). Amos has a moral code and he’s still in love with his wife, absent though her mind has become—and yet this new “girlfriend,” Mara, wants him to move in with her, to save money and be less lonely.

This might not be great for Mara’s granddaughter, Amos considers: “She’s a smart girl and has figured out that I’m quietly shtupping her grandma. His effort to hold Mara back isn’t exactly working, since she can point to his efforts to assist the police as being unpaid, so somehow worth less. Amos, on the other hand, says “The pool old woman in the dumpster? The throwaway?” Mara is blunt: “She’s not going anywhere.”

Maybe his PI work soothes his conscience, which is not exactly happy with the situation. Or maybe he’s just stubborn and doesn’t want to let go, the way he hasn’t let go of his wife. But isn’t that a good think?

This fine traditional LA crime novel with its Jewish tang and its quandaries of the elderly provides enjoyable entertainment, and is the third in Andy Weinberger’s own late-life second career (he’s a bookseller first of all). By the time Amos figures out what’s actually going on in the crescendo of deaths of the homeless, he’s got himself into a risky situation that someone his age should have known better about.

Then again, who should be better at making moral choices than an old Jewish PI who wishes he could always figure out what’s right? When the case finally ends, Amos says, “It’s not a good thing. The only good thing is that it’s over."

PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

Fine Traditional Crime Fiction with Spice, from Caroline B. Cooney: BEFORE SHE WAS HELEN

What a delight to plunge into a well-spun story in the hands of a skilled and powerful storyteller: BEFORE SHE WAS HELEN is (at a rough count) book 64 from Caroline B. Cooney, and it has a polished flow that makes its creeping uneasiness all the more striking. And yet it's also an entertaining book, in the sense that any awareness of how our lives muddle along in our "golden years" had to make us either laugh or weep.

For Clemmie—that is, Clementine Lakefield, a resident in a senior development populated by nosy neighbors, golf carts, and planned activities—accidentally exploring a neighbor's home plunges her into the risks and dangers of both her own past and her neighbors'. She's been living a carefully fabricated and protected existence, where even her closest relatives don't know her exact address and haven't been to visit her. But her neatly constructed barriers are not enough to block a swift search for her by a drug-crime kingpin, once she casually shared a photo of an object she's spotted at her neighbor's residence.

The tastiest part of BEFORE SHE WAS HELEN is Cooney's clever entry into Clemmie's life as an elderly lady, hiding out:

Clemmie stared at herself in the bathroom mirror. When her beautiful black hair first began to go gray, she'd dyed it, but when it got so sparse that her scalp showed, she'd started wearing a wig. Latin students were always the best kids, and classes were always small, so behavior was rarely a problem, but the fact was, you needed every weapon at your disposal when you were in charge of teenagers. Clemmie tried not to show weakness, even if the weakness was just thinning hair. ...

It was crucial to be calm. She knew from way too many encounters that panic was the deciding factor in failure. Looking her best would help her keep her poise. ... She crept out of Blue Lilac, the shivers starting in her gut but not yet visible on her body.

There's a familiar classic flavor to Cooney's writing, even as the suspense continues to ramp up. How powerful are the forces arrayed against Clemmie? Even if she survives this conflict with a crime network, will she still have any familiar, safe life to return to? Or will all the shame and horror she's carefully hidden be exposed?

A good fat traditional mystery of about 300 pages, with spicy insight, and a perfect distraction from the stresses beyond the doors. Take the passenger seat with this remarkable lady under fire. Published under the Poisoned Pen Press, by Sourcebooks.

PS:  Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.