From Publishers Weekly
Politics--religious and academic--inform this welcome encore from the always entertaining Kemelman ( Conversations with Rabbi Small ), whose previous Rabbi Small mysteries have won him a legion of fans. Twenty-five years after coming to the Boston suburb of Barnard's Crossing, Rabbi David Small is considering retirement. But before he can get so much as one foot out of the pulpit, a local college professor dies in a car accident and the weary clergyman finds himself once again drawn from his own everyday concerns into more serious matters. A known gigolo, the professor had recently wed the unattractive niece of a college benefactor in a bid to ensure his tenure. At first the authorities ascribe his death to drunk driving, but as the tawdry details of the man's life become known, police chief Hugh Lanigan suspects foul play and enlists the help of his old friend and partner in detection, Rabbi Small. Moving between scenes at the synagogue with its ever-squabbling board of directors and the fiercely competitive tenure-track tableaux at the college, the narrative never flags as clues and suspects accumulate. Lively dialogue, dry wit and wonderfully authentic detail make this a sure winner.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From School Library Journal
YA-- A revealing conversation between Rabbi Small and his wife at the beginning of the book invites readers right into their thoughts and feelings and gives a direction as to the man's future plans to teach in a college. Through little twists and turns in each succeeding chapter, the story becomes more complicated. The Rabbi himself seems incidental to the main plot well into the middle of the book, but it is actually he who puts his logical ``Talmudic'' mind to work to help solve the mystery of who has murdered Victor Joyce, college professor and husband of a devout Catholic. Many people have motives, and all, for a time, are suspects to Lanigan, Police Chief of sleepy little (but now wide awake) Barnard's Crossing. A convoluted, sometimes humorous mystery that makes for entertaining reading.
-Bunni Union, Geauga West Lib . , Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
