Saturday, September 5, 2015

Review: Mrs. Kaplan and the Matzoh Ball of Death by Mark Reutlinger


Genre:
Cozy Mystery

Format:
E-Book

Publisher:
Alibi

Release Date:
November 2014





It’s Passover at the Julius and Rebecca Cohen Home for Jewish Seniors and everyone is at the seder meal on the first night. Rose Kaplan, “Mrs. K”, is given the great honor of making the matzoh ball soup. It’s going to be a great evening for everyone, but then tragedy strikes.

One of the residents, Bertha Finkelstein, sits alone at her table and suddenly is found with her face in the soup. She’s also not breathing and very much dead. It’s discovered that Bertha choked on a diamond earring that had been stolen from another resident. Mrs. K becomes the prime suspect as the police figure the earring must have been in the matzoh ball soup, which means not only did Mrs. K kill Bertha but she stole the valuable earring.

Mrs. K is more than a little insulted by these charges. With the help of her dear friend Ida Berkowitz and some professional thieves, they vow to catch the real killer. Of course they run into a few obstacles along the way – investigating murders is new to them.

The two senior sleuths remind me of Thelma and Louise or maybe even Lucy and Ethel or a combination of both. Mrs. K and Ida get themselves in the craziest situations and they don’t even realize they are doing it. They are sweet, funny and very clever. I’ve now become a huge fan of this new-to-me author.

To say this book is charming and delightful is putting it mildly. This was a pure joy for me to read. The narration is done by Ida.  Authentic Yiddish words are sprinkled throughout the book. The setting, the characters, the storyline…all of it mixed together for a fast-paced mystery that keeps you thinking and smiling at the same time with a great twist at the end. I can’t say enough good things about this book. My one regret is that I didn’t read this one sooner.

Great job and there’s another one to be released soon! I’m looking forward to reading it!



For reading challenges:
2015 NetGalley and Edelweiss Reading Challenge

FTC Disclosure: NetGalley provided me with a copy of this book to review. This did not influence my thoughts and opinions in any way. All opinions expressed are my own.


10 comments:

  1. Senior sleuths helped by professional thieves ? That looks really great, I'd love to read it, great review Yvonne :)

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  2. This sounds fun! I've seen this cover around but didn't know much about the book. I'll definitely have to add it to my TBR!

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  3. I read this a while back--it was a lot of fun! Nice to hear another one is coming!

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  4. I am not familiar with this author either, but it sound like a good read.

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  5. You and me both, Yvonne. I've always loved cozy titles and "Matzoh Ball of Death" ... well, it's just very evocative. :O)

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  6. I might have this one somewhere so I need to check and see if I do.

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  7. This sounds like an interesting book. :)

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  8. "Mrs. K is more than a little insulted by these charges." Snort, I'd be terrified or angry, not insulted. I like the sound of this, sounds deligthful.

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  9. Glad you enjoyed this - the use of a vernacular like Yiddish can be done well or become obnoxious and stereotyping. It sounds like this was done well. Sounds like fun.

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