Milk and Honey (Hardcover)

She is so strict about dietary laws, her clothing and hair covering, keeping the Sabbath....but she sleeps with Peter before marriage? I can't believe it.

It seems that in many of these books, Rina is more an accessory for Peter (she enhances his character) than a crime solver. I'd like to see Rina more involved with crime solving, like in Prayers for the Dead.

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I started with Jupiters Bones by accident, then moved on to read The Ritual Bath, which quickly told me that here is a writer who knows her onions when it comes to orthodox Jewry. So many writers about Judaism make cringe-making errors, but Faye knows her stuff. In Milk and Honey Peter Decker is making progress as a "Baal Teshuvah" (a born-again) and his relationship with Rina Lazarus is deepening towards marriage. We care about them and about his partners in the police department. My main gripe with this novel is that I personally could not find it in myself to care that much about the victims of the quadruple murder. The two year old daughter of one of them is well cared for and seems untraumatised. The victims themselves seem a most unpleasant bunch and my feelings (at time of writing having not quite finished the book) are that I could not control my apathy about their demise.

It is in the area of the growing relationship between Peter and Rina, which really makes this particular novel come to life, and also the scenes between the detectives themselves.

I do find Rina's indeterminate attitude towards extra marital sex a bit confusing. If she is supposed to be orthodox, then she would not entertain the idea of sleeping with Peter before marriage. Or maybe this is me being naive. Also orthodox women either cover their hair or don't, generally speaking. Once a woman uncovers her hair in public (and particularly in front of a strange man, as she did in front of Abel Atwater, a man who obviously had the hots for her) she is making a statement of intent, and it isn't usual for her to be hit-and-miss about this very important Jewish law. It's a bit like being "a little bit pregnant". You can't. You either are, or you aren't. So you either cover your hair in public, and in front of men, or you don't. How a woman covers her hair, that is the grey area; some will just use a beret or kerchief, some will wear wigs, some of Hassidic sects will wear wigs with hats on top and shave their own hair completely. Some too, would never show their own hair, even in a woman's only situation. Rina is not consistent and to me (an orthodox Jewess who wears a "sheitel" (wig) but not in front of just women) she doesn't add up.

However, most people would not notice these inconsistencies and the novels are gripping and realistic, and the main characters at least (see above, about the victims) arouse sympathy.

Ruthie Pearlman

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