Zaddik

by David Rosenbaum

Overview

Dov Taylor, an unhappy former cop, is summoned by a local rabbi to help solve a murder in the Hassidic community. Why Dov? Some hundred-odd years ago, his ancestor was a famous Polish mystic, and the rabbi believes this ancestry might help Dov see what others cannot. This is a very unusual job for Dov, but it's not like he has a lot going on in his life. This extraordinary, deeply unusual mystery was shortlisted for the Edgar in 1994.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781631940385
Publisher:	Felony & Mayhem Press
Publication date:	12/15/2016
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	552
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

David Rosenbaum is a longtime journalist, and the author of two thrillers. The first, Zaddik, was shortlisted for an Edgar award for Best Mystery Novel. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts. 

Editorial Reviews

Rosenbaum is a writer to watch. His first thriller is big, bright and successfully old-fashioned, bringing to life worlds unfamiliar to most readers. Manhattan's bustling West 47th St. jewelry district and a Hasidic neighborhood in Brooklyn are the smartly described settings into which alcoholic ex-NYPD detective Dov Taylor must delve to find a stolen 72-carat diamond intended as the dowry of the Satmarer rebbe's daughter, who will unite two long-feuding clans when she marries the son of the Lubavitcher rebbe. For both the spirit and the clues to solve the crime, Dov reaches back to his 19th-century Polish ancestor, the zaddik (righteous man) of Orlik, in a lengthy digression involving the diamond's provenance and a disastrous plot to win Napoleon's protection for the Jews. The present-day disposal of the jewel in the finale will strike some as contrived, but the book has many compensations. Rosenbaum's West 47th St. is as authentic as Gerald Browne's 11 Harrowhouse (located in a similar district in London); the villains are nasty on a grand, gory scale; and Dov's struggle with booze is as gritty as Matt Scudder's is in Lawrence Block's A Ticket to the Boneyard . For goyim , there's a glossary of Yiddish and Hebrew. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The 72-carat Seer's stone, intended as the dowry for a marriage uniting two Hasidic sects, has been stolen. Three members of the Hasidic community have been ritualistically murdered. To recover the diamond, Rabbi Jacob Kalman, a Lubavitcher, enlists reluctant Dov Taylor, a former New York police officer, recovering alcoholic, and descendant of 19th-century Hasidic zaddik (holyman) Hirsh Lieb of Orlik. Taylor fights against becoming too involved, but in solving the mystery, he rediscovers and accepts his heritage. The setting for this well-written and well-researched story is fascinating; the author takes the reader to New York's diamond district and delves inside the world of the Hasidim, revealing its rituals, beliefs, mysticism, and history. A short glossary is included, though many Yiddish and Hebrew words are defined in the text. Recommended for readers who enjoy unusual thrillers.-- Karen Stewart, Colorado Legislative Council Lib., Denver

Library Journal

The setting for this well-written and well-researched story is fascinating . . . recommended for readers who enjoy unusual thrillers.” —Library Journal



“A smart mystery that invites readers to consider The Big Mysteries: Why are we here? How do ends and means ever get justified? Is human history really on grand, interlocking story?” —Anita Diamant, author, The Red Tent

From the Publisher