The Gostynin Shul

by Kris Langman

The Gostynin Shul - A Yiddish history mystery Dr. Joanna Adelman leads a quiet life. She takes walks with her seeing-eye dog, Delilah, and tries to survive her Grandmother's cooking. Her work as a Yiddish translator adds small details to the story of Jewish immigration to Boston, but has never been the most exciting of careers. Until the Zielinski documents. They arrive in her office one morning – a jumble of handwritten pages in a cardboard box. Suddenly Joanna finds herself fending off an enraged Hasidic group intent on preserving its reputation, and a Boston society matron desperate to preserve her family's wealth and status. With the help of Ming Leibowitz, her Chinese-Israeli assistant, and Dr. Phillipa Henderson, a colleague specializing in African-American culture, Joanna delves into the layered history of Boston’s Beacon Hill and the fight over a small plot of land once owned by former slaves. The centuries-old struggle of Boston’s marginalized Jews and African-Americans to find a place to call home reignites in modern-day Boston, and old hatreds threaten to break a community apart.

Genres: Mystery

220 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 29, 2011

About the author

Author of the Logic to the Rescue series.

Reviews

[Roz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dr. Joanna Adelman, a blind 40-something researcher of Yiddish documents with a Chinese-Israeli-American assistant and an African-American colleague become involved with a mystery surrounding the ownership of the property where the Gostynin shul (synagogue) in Boston once stood. Her Beacon Hill employer and her son claim the property is theirs, an African-American senator claims his family is the true owner, and an eccentric member of the Gostynin community wants all investigations into the whole matter to be dropped to cover up its history. Joanna almost gets herself killed several times by beating, drowning and fire. One would think this would be quite the thriller, but it left me a little flat. It had its moments and I did find the historical references interesting, but when the end came the reader still didn't know who really owns the property or the full, true history of the shul and it's members. It felt incomplete and abrupt or maybe the author just lost her way and focus.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was more than intrigued by this story. I grew up in that neighborhood. I know of a synagogue, that had been a church used as a stop on the Underground Railroad, which later became a museum...but it's not the location of the Gostynin Shul in the book. I enjoyed the story, and revisiting my childhood haunts from over half a century ago. I don't know if I'd've enjoyed the story as much had I not known the neighborhood so intimately, but it had the requisite twists and turns to keep a good mystery going. Is there going to be a sequel?

[Maureen Doyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has everything—Boston’s minorities, wonderful characters, thrills

Once I started reading this unusual mystery, I couldn’t put it down. This should have been on a top ten list. Old money with Mayflower social standing. An insulated Jewish sect from the old country. African American settlements. A determined Jewish/Yiddish scholar. A loyal guide dog. A thrilling page turner.

[Sari · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is one of the most poorly written novels I have ever read. The plot was unresolved, the characters were not believable, and cultural details were so wrong as to be insulting to the reader. Don’t waste your time.

[Jessica Bronder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joanna works in the Archives of The Boston Archive and Research Library. She specializes in the Jewish immigration in the Boston area. Recently, a bunch of diaries and letters were donated to the Library that she was working on until the head the library, Catherine Lowell, decided that they were not important and shipped them to New York. But before they were gone, Joanna learns that there is a dead for some property that Catherine owns.

The property was a Jewish temple before it was sold to a black gentleman in 1930. How the property became part of Catherine’s family is under question. But when Joanna starts to look into the property, she is under attack. Delilah, her seeing eye dog is poisoned, an elderly Jewish gentlemen, Micah Levy, is determined to stop her from learning what really happened, then a restorations archive is set on fire with Joanna and her friends inside. When Joanna’s assistant, Ming, is kidnapped, things start getting really strange.

I really liked the story. There is great potential for a series. It was interesting learning about the different ethnic groups in Boston. The only thing that I was not impressed with is the ending. I won’t ruin it for everyone but I will say that it was blunt and a let down. Beyond that, I will be keeping my eyes out for other stories from Kris Langman.

I received this book for free from Book Rooster in exchange for an honest review. I'm sorry that I took so long to get to it.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, enjoyable, but some issues

The author creates some fun and endearing characters. Joanna, Phil, Ming, Pam are all interesting people who would be welcome friends. They each have enough quirks to be believable. The Gostynin and their shul actually function as characters as well, giving the author a chance to make some interesting comments on that fine line between culture and cults. The story also makes some good points about the difference between respecting history and rewriting history to protect your self image. Delilah made a great comic relief character.
My issues with book are in regards to the rather one dimensional and rather irrational villains. I really struggled see them and their motivations. Perhaps it is the author's way of making a point about the nature of greed/pride, but it seemed more like those characters and their actions received very little thought. Joanne's guide dog (Delilah) seemed to be more fleshed out. My second issue was one that would not bother most people, but there is a factual error that should bother any physical scientist. Light elements such as carbon are formed in the core of mainline stars. Only the elements heavier than iron require the immense amount of energy in a supernova to form. It is a minor point, but it really bothered me that Joanna made a lengthy comment based on an erroneous fact.
Despite these issues I truly enjoyed the story, the background information and most of the characters.

[Ilene · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Gsotynin Shul is about a shul (synagogue) and its history. The heroine in the story is a blind historian on Judaism and its artifacts. the story starts with some papers delivered to the historical society in Boston, MA that come to her. (the Zielinski papers) that speak about the Gostynin people and the shul. The papers say that the shul is not owned by the people who say they own it and are going to start a construction project there.

I was left hanging by the book. It seems to me that Langman let the story get away from her. It turns from a historical book about a building and its story to a mystery about who is going to kill whom and how it is going to happen.

All of this happens because of the shul but you are not given more information about its history. I liked the book but think that it could have used a little more "story."

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

A blind historian makes an unusual protagonist for a thriller, but author Kris Langman makes Dr. Joanna Adelman believable. The story is told from Joanna's viewpoint, and her adjustments to her blindness give more depth to the character and the plot. Many of the other characters are equally interesting. I also appreciated the history and geography of Boston that were brought out in the story. The last half of the book was heavy on action, only some of which logically followed from the events of the first half. All in all, though, it was a fun book.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in order to review it

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

An improbable but highly engaging story of an unlikely trio of women (a Chinese, Hebrew speaking Jew, a blind historical researcher and a strong willed Afro American historian) discover the secret of the Gostynin Shul and manage to save their own lives in the process. Although the book is 500 pages I zipped through it unable to stop reading until all were safe and the evil doer and his/her motivations revealed.

[JudyG · Rating 4 out of 5]

I Love This Book !

[Velvetink]

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[Andrea Stoeckel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great read. Jewish history, Boston mysteries, wonderful characters. It kept me reading far longer than I should have last night. I will read other books by this author

[Pat Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad mystery/suspense tale.

[Lorri · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 is my actual rating.

[Lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed the storyline. Easy to follow. Will most likely read more books by Kris Langman.

[Patty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed, but was not crazy at how it ended. A bit to abruptly. Would have liked a epilogue.

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't tend to like mystery books but because of the religious connection I decided to give this one a shot and I am glad I did. I really enjoyed this book and would actually love to see it made into movie. The only thing is that I wish there was more of an ending. It just abruptly ends and left me wondering if I had missed a whole chapter or accidentally flipped ahead.