2 0 2 0 TO P N O TA B L E I N D I E S NOTABLE
MRS. KAPLAN AND THE MATZOH BALL OF DEATH by Mark Reutlinger Move over, Miss Marple—Mark Reutlinger’s charming cozy debut introduces readers to the unforgettable amateur sleuth Rose Kaplan and her loyal sidekick, Ida. Everyone knows that Rose Kaplan makes the best matzoh ball soup around—she’s a regular matzoh ball maven—so it’s no surprise at the Julius and Rebecca Cohen Home for Jewish Seniors when, once again, Mrs. K wins the honor of preparing the beloved dish for the Home’s seder on the first night of Passover. But when Bertha Finkelstein is discovered facedown in her bowl of soup, her death puts a bit of a pall on the rest of the seder. And things go really meshugge when it comes out that Bertha choked on a diamond earring earlier stolen from resident Daisy Goldfarb. Suddenly Mrs. K is the prime suspect in the police investigation of both theft and murder. Oy vey—it’s a recipe for disaster, unless Rose and her dear friend Ida can summon up the chutzpah to face down the police and solve the mystery themselves.
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DECEMBER / JANUARY 2021
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AT THE CROSSROAD by Olfet Agrama AT THE CROSSROAD The decisions we take at every crossroad in our lives shape our destiny. Egypt, after the Second World War, was torn between the East and West. Occupied by the British and ruled by a corrupt King, it was inevitable that by 1952 the country would be convulsed by a military revolution. We follow four young people born during the occupation and learn how their lives and loves intertwine with the political events of their country. Nadia lives a western lifestyle, but suffers the intellectual and physical repressions imposed upon her by a conservative Moslem father. Melanie, whose mother is British, enjoys the semblance of a free and emancipated life in a world that never completely accepts her. Sammy, brought up in England, is still a product of the Middle East. He succeeds in escaping from the political restrictions of the military regime, but cannot escape his macho culture. Hassan is the victim of his ideals. His belief in the revolution is shattered when he perceives the corruption of the new government and when the Egyptian Army is defeated in the Suez Canal War. Through the adventure, romance, joy, and tragedy of our four protagonists, we get a glimpse of life in the Middle East in the fifties and sixties.