Dark Tapestry: Colin and Leora Mysteries

by Ruthie Pearlman, Miriam Stark Zakon (Illustrator)

A crime thriller set in the Orthodox Jewish Community in North West London. 8 yr old Josh Hardman,an only child, is abducted from his room one night. The kidnapper, who keeps in touch by apparently untraceable e-mails, isn't after money, so the motive is as much of a mystery as who has taken the kid, and is he alive or dead? Hard bitten Detective Inspector Colin Sommers, himself an assimilated Jew, finds himself reluctantly sucked back in to his roots to find Josh, and possibly another lost son, himself.

Genres: Jewish, Childrens

384 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2000

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I spent hours this past Shabbos reading DARK TAPESTRY and its sequel THE MOVEMENT:

In order to best appreciate this book, you've gotta be in the right mindset. Picture a cozy sofa or bed on a chilly Shabbos evening or long chol hamoed afternoon. You're snug and cozy and all you want is a fun story with lots of suspense.

If you are in that headspace DARK TAPESTRY may be perfect.

The book follows a young detective in Golders Green, Colin Sommers, on his attempt to discover who kidnapped a missing Jewish child from a local home. The case forces Colin to face his childhood as an Orthodox Jew living in the neighborhood (or possibly the next neighborhood over). Along the way, he meets Leora, an Orthodox woman who specializes in forensic science.

DARK TAPESTRY entertained me for hours. While the book is over 20 years old, it's held up pretty well.

[karel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book

It’s such a pleasure to sit down with a well written book!
This is a page turner with a surprise at the end. I highly recommend.
Can’t wait to read the next book in this series

[Kenya Cagle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only a veteran writer could handle a crime story as well as Ms. Pearlman's Dark Trapestry. Up until I read this book, I was unaware of the power and style of this veteran author. She took a crime story and placed it in a Jewish neighborhood. This was a fresh mix. Now it didn't have to be in a jewish neighborhood. It could have been anywhere but in doing we get a peek into Jewish customs and traditions and see them working in the real world. Her story was a smooth read and had a very comfortable feel to it. I was under the impression that somehow she was there and experienced what she was taking us through as readers. The book starts out like a race car. The moment it is on go it seems like it will never stop until it reaches the finish line. From the first page on the intrigue, suspense and mystery grabs you. At first you think it is just a kidnapping case but before long you find out that you are in the midsts of something much bigger, much different. By time you think you have it figured out, the author is able to pull the rug from under us and hit us out of nowhere with something else. The twists and turns provided for a lot of fun reading. As a former private investigator, I thought I had figured out where things where going. In many detective stories and mysteries, I have the plot figured out way before the ending. Not in this book. I found myself on edge and thinking things thoroughly through. A very good read. I recommend you become a fan of Ms. Pearlman because I certainly am.

[Philippa Lodge · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plot of this is very, very good. I felt we really got into Colin's head as he dealt with his estrangement from his culture and his family because he decided as a teen to not be Jewish anymore. I didn't feel like we really got to know Leora very well. She was pretty flat to me, but still as an observer of the situation from outside, she was intriguing. The mother's depth of despair and hysteria (almost to the point of insanity) was truly heart-wrenching. The dad came across as fairly cold; who really expected the parents to go straight back to work when their son was missing?

The Jewish elements were intriguing and only occasionally overwhelming when the sentence had a bit too much Hebrew in it and I didn't know what all the words were. It had the same sort of feel that many Christian inspirational romance novels have, with a secondary plot line that deals with religion on top of whatever else is going on.

I figured out who the bad guy was fairly early with my crack knowledge of what Renard means, though I didn't see the link to who he was in real life. I felt like the police failed to follow up on a lot of clues, especially when asking the parents about who might hate them. There was a bit too much repetition and the book could have benefited from some tighter editing. For example, when a character was introduced, we got their whole past and then they repeated the whole past in dialogue through out the story.

Overall, a really great read!

[Yuliya I Litvak]

Engaging and suspenseful

Believable characters, likeable detectives, and crime waiting to be solved. I love the way the story unfolds, and the way the detective becomes involved in a much more personal way. I also love the sprinkling of classics, as well as science. Page turner that leaves you wanting to see the characters again.