Fax me a bagel : a Ruby, the rabbi's wife mystery

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Title:

Fax me a bagel : a Ruby, the rabbi's wife mystery

Author:

Kahn, Sharon, 1934- author.

Series:

Ruby, the Rabbi's wife ;

Series Number:

Summary:

In Eternal, Texas, a woman dies after eating a poisoned bagel and police arrest the baker. The baker's friend, Ruby Rothman, widow after the local rabbi, turns sleuth and discovers a family feud in the bagel business.

Physical Description:

255 p. ; 22 cm.

Genre:

Detective and mystery fiction.

Jewish fiction.

Subject Term:

Jewish women -- Fiction.

Rabbis' spouses -- Fiction.

Women detectives -- Fiction.

Jews -- Texas -- Fiction.

Rothman, Ruby (Fictitious character) -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

Texas -- Fiction.

Publisher:

Scribner,

Publication Date:

1998

ISBN:

9780684847375

Publication Information:

New York : Scribner, c1998.

Call Number:

KAHN

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607001627945	Adult Fiction	KAHN	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

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Summary

Follow the bagel crumbs as this savvy, heartwarming new series welcomes an enchanting sleuth, Ruby, the Rabbi's Wife, who dodges a cunning killer from her favorite bakery in Eternal, Texas, to the streets of New York's Lower East Side. Ruby has been a widow for more than a year now, since the hit-and-run death of her beloved husband, Stu. She should be free to start a new life, but once a rabbi's wife, always a rabbi's wife, at least in Eternal. You never graduate. Ruby can't even escape her least favorite member of the congregation, Essie Sue Margolis -- who wears designer clothes to take out the garbage. Ruby figures she should be safe from Essie Sue at eleven in the morning at The Hot Bagel. Wrong. Essie Sue is there in a white silk ensemble never touched by human hands. Ruby's smudged tee shirt does not impress. Still, The Hot Bagel makes the best baked goods west of the Hudson, and Ruby's not about to miss her favorite morning fix. It comes at a higher price than fashion embarrassment, however, as Ruby soon discovers that she has more on her proverbial plate than poppy seeds. Marla, sister of the much disliked Essie Sue, goes into a convulsion and dies, leaving not only her bagels on the table but more unanswered questions than Ruby could ever have imagined. Was Marla's death an accident? Was it part of a plan? How does it fit into other unexplained deaths in the small Texas community that straddles the worlds of the plantation South and the rugged West? In a romp through Jewish life filled with love and laughter, Ruby encounters more than mayhem. She watches in horror when the temple selection committee finally chooses a rabbi who thinks Essie Sue is the best thing since automated High Holy Day ticketing. Here comes double-trouble. Author Sharon Kahn, who spent thirty-one years as a rabbi's wife, captures that life in a novel that is genuine and original. Beneath the irony, mystery, and humor lies a cautionary tale in which Ruby's values come shining through, and her intrepid detective work ensures that she'll live to sleuth another day.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

In Eternal, Tex., Ruby Rothman, a 46-year-old rabbi's widow, calls upon her knowledge of the Jewish community and her skills as a savvy computer consultant in this entertaining debut. When the sister of the temple board's vice-chairman is fatally felled by a poisoned bagel, the police arrest the baker, Ruby's friend Milt. While filling in for him at the bakery and trying to figure out why anyone would want to kill the mousy woman, Ruby finds a note in her late husband's files warning him to stay away from Milt and his bakery. After she is almost hit by a car on her way home one night, she decides that her husband, who died in a hit-and-run, was murdered and that she's the next target. But why? She learns about two brothers who started in the cutthroat bagel business in New York in the 1930s and pieces together the family feud that brought Milt to Texas. Memories of older relatives and additional notes from her late husband's files suggest that his family may have been involved in the feud, and then the threats on her life get more serious. Although the direction of the plot is given away in the first chapter, the action unfolds at a smart pace as readers are given the inside scoop on rabbi selection and installation and the history of the bagel union in New York. With her low-key sense of humor and her perky inquisitiveness, Ruby is a welcome addition to the ranks of amateur female sleuths. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Library Journal Review

Amateur sleuth Ruby Rothman, a rabbi's widow who freelances as a computer consultant in Eternal, TX, witnesses a death-by-poison in her friend Milt's bagel shop. When circumstances point to Milt, Ruby digs into the New York bagel business, all the while E-mailing friend Nan in Seattle of her progress. Ruby dodges death herself as she helps with the bagel shop and uncovers evidence about her husband's hit-and-run death nearly two years previously. A lightweight first effort characterized by small-town bickering, preparations for a new rabbi, and a modicum of humor; for larger collections. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.