One Fine Day the Rabbi Bought a Cross

of course trouble finds him even there. As this 9th volume of the Rabbi Small series opens the Smalls have just dropped their teenagers off at summer camp and decide on the spur of the moment to take an offer (one of several) to return to Jerusalem for a few weeks. Word quickly spreads through Barnard's Crossing of his departure and the Rabbi finds himself deluged with various errands, purchase a cross, check up on a son studying there etc. Before he even lands Rabbi Small finds himself being drawn in an international conspiracy, one that will bring him in conflict yet again with members of his own congregation, Orthodox Jews in Israel, the local police and Israeli secret service as he once again must extract a member of his community from trouble. The charm of this series of cozies lies more in the characters and their various problems and points of view rather than in the mystery. More than half the book elapses before the corpse even appears and most readers will not have much trouble figuring out the crime. It is still a most enjoyable read and for anyone who has read any of the previous books, wonderful to see what the Rabbi and his family are up to now.

This Rabbi Small mystery is truly absorbing; I couldn't put it down. It's not only a mystery novel, but partly a spy thriller: you get two for the price of one. Rabbi Small and his wife spend the summer in Israel, where a professor from their home town is murdered and a boy from their home town (now attending Yeshiva in Israel) is blamed. The murder, it turns out, is connected with a Druze conspiracy to steal a PLO weapons cache--which naturally brings the Mossad and Shin Bet into the picture. Simply gripping.At the same time, Harry Kemelman tries to use Rabbi Small as a foil to discuss the state of modern Judaism. He explains the Jewish customs which come up in his novel, by making Small explain them to his gentile friends--or argue about them with other Jews. And he doesn't just explain; he opines: Kemelman lets you know just what he thinks of ultra-orthodoxy, the "born again" baal-tshuvah movement, and a few other hot issues in modern judaism. American Jews especially are likely to enjoy the "home town" feel of the Rabbi Small mysteries.Non-Jews may find it eye-opening to catch the glimpses of Jewish culture, religion and ethics. As a tiny example, Small reminds his wife not to appear interested at an Israeli shop, because it would be wrong to raise the shopkeeper's hopes and then dash them. In addition, there are all the other issues mentioned above.Kemelman's explanations are at least as important as his plot, and there is a fair bit of it. You may find that a touch heavy-handed, but I think that Kemelman pulls it off pretty well. The book is really a gripping whodunit.Even better, it's the rare sort of whodunit with a complicated enough plot to keep your attention. Turning to the end won't help you; the mystery is solved, but there remain a few unanswered questions "for reasons of national security". I think that adds a satisfying realism.

I thought that this book was quite intersesting and enjoyable. I dont know if all the locations in Israel is as accurate.