- Hardcover: 256 pages
- Publisher: Scribner (Aug 10 1998)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 068484737X
- ISBN-13: 978-0684847375
- Product Dimensions: 22.3 x 14.9 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 422 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,137,708 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
You gotta love Ruby Rothman, the Eternal, Texas, rebbitzen (rabbi's wife) with a craving for bagels. Actually, she's the rabbi's widow when this engaging mystery begins, but it isn't until days after a member of the congregation pushes in front of Ruby in line at the Hot Bagel and bites off more than she can chew--a little cyanide--that Ruby begins to wonder if there's a connection between the poisoned bagel and her husband's death a year ago in a hit-and-run accident. But right now she's got more immediate things to think about--like clearing the cloud of suspicion that's settled like flour on her friend Milt, the bagel baker, and avoiding the clutches of Essie Sue, the temple yenta, who's determined to make a shiddach (match) between Ruby and the new rabbi of Temple Rita (don't ask). The action moves from East Texas to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, connected by a family feud and a cunning killer who's out to give Ruby more than a minor case of heartburn. Fax Me a Bagel has some structural problems--too many plot points are worked out in a series of e-mails between Ruby and her friend Nan instead of being explicated in action and narrative; and Kahn has a tendency to tell instead of show. But Ruby is an appealing heroine, and this debut mystery has "series" written all over it. --Jane Adams
From Publishers Weekly
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.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Mediocre,
By
This review is from: Fax Me A Bagel (Paperback)
I decided to give this series another shot after I read and disliked one of the author's other books. I hate to pile on but this series really does fall flat. Ruby is an unappealing character and the plot seems farfetched and convoluted.That is the kiss of death in a series that hopes to have any staying power. The supporting characters are very irritating .It would be so great to have a cozy mystery series with a strong Jewish female protagonist but Ruby is not in the running.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fun Read, But Not Great Book,
By
This review is from: Fax Me A Bagel (Paperback)
Overall, the book is a quick fun read.I was not disposed to like Ruby Rothman after her flippant email at the very beginning, but as I kept reading, I began to like her as a character. But, why does she have to send incomplete email because phone is ringing? Can't she save it as a draft, take call, finish email and then send? Also, why not be more assertive in defending herself? Essie Sue complains about Ruby having red hair & green eyes. Ruby tells her lots of biblical figures were redheads. Why not just say that if Jews weren't supposed to have green eyes and red hair, God wouldn't have made her that way. Why doesn't she tell Essie Sue that she wasn't a rabbi's wife; she was Stu's wife and Stu happened to be a rabbi. Rabbi Kapstein is the rabbi from hell. What kind of a rabbi, or other clergyman, comes on so strong to another woman so soon after his wife leaves him? Doesn't he need to do any grieving for his failed marriage? I loved it when Yvonne Copeland, Buster's wife, asked the rabbi if his wife had to call him Rabbi Kapstein in those "wifely" moments. She should have pushed for an answer. I loved the part about the installation service for Rabbi Kapstein. I would like to have seen more of Ruby's son, Joshie. Isn't he a little old to be called Joshie? But maybe this is a Texas thing or a southern thing. I got tired of emails between Ruby & Nan. Would have liked more expository writing.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Weak, weak, weak,
By Mark B. Wieder (Dumont, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Fax Me A Bagel (Paperback)
Mystery novels with Jewish themes are somewhat rare, but if you're looking for a good one, this is not it. It was worth a quick read to "kill an evening," but is far from a classic. The developments and conclusion were very predictable. You may prefer the earlier books in Faye Kellerman's Peter Drucker/Rina Lazarus series. If you just want a female detective, Sue Grafton's series (A is for Alibi, etc.) also gives a quick read but is much better.
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