What do you think?
Rate this book
Mystery Midrash: An Anthology of Jewish Mystery & Detective Fiction
Confront murder, mayhem and your own mysteries of being.
From a corporate giant's kidnapping of a rabbi, to the disappearance of the clarinetist in a klezmer band, to four rabbis' use of their text interpretation skills to help a detective solve a murder that one of them has committed, this unique collection of mysteries will enlighten you at the same time it intrigues and entertains.
While featuring enough death and deception to keep the detective protagonists on their toes, each story presents the uncertainties that are a part of contemporary Jewish identity inviting us all to confront our own mysteries of being. Throughout the stories' tangled puzzles and suspenseful adventures, the characters solve not only the "whodunit"-type mysteries, but also struggle to solve the mystery of their spiritual lives.
"Mystery Midrash" will be a lasting delight for mystery buffs of all faith traditions.
From a corporate giant's kidnapping of a rabbi, to the disappearance of the clarinetist in a klezmer band, to four rabbis' use of their text interpretation skills to help a detective solve a murder that one of them has committed, this unique collection of mysteries will enlighten you at the same time it intrigues and entertains.
While featuring enough death and deception to keep the detective protagonists on their toes, each story presents the uncertainties that are a part of contemporary Jewish identity inviting us all to confront our own mysteries of being. Throughout the stories' tangled puzzles and suspenseful adventures, the characters solve not only the "whodunit"-type mysteries, but also struggle to solve the mystery of their spiritual lives.
"Mystery Midrash" will be a lasting delight for mystery buffs of all faith traditions.
304 pages, Paperback
First published July 31, 1999
13 people are currently reading
107 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 22, 2018
One star for a book I chose not to finish.
The introduction was the most interesting part. The stories were dull, and while each author had a different style, I couldn't bring myself to find any potential gems.
The editor describes 3 different "levels" of story Jewish-ness. If there had been more where Judaism actually drove the plot, and not incidental to the story, perhaps I would have stayed intrigued.
The introduction was the most interesting part. The stories were dull, and while each author had a different style, I couldn't bring myself to find any potential gems.
The editor describes 3 different "levels" of story Jewish-ness. If there had been more where Judaism actually drove the plot, and not incidental to the story, perhaps I would have stayed intrigued.
June 25, 2022
A mixed bag. The mysteries ranged from Aced it! to Meh. Every story in this volume has Jewish characters - by culture or religion or both - and that, not necessarily the quality of the story or the mystery, seems to have been enough for consideration.
A few of these stories really grabbed me, or made me feel 'at home' in my Jewish roots, and satisfied my crime fiction interest. Sadly, more of them did not (and worse). The wonderful thing about Judaism/Jewishness is that there are so many ways to be and experience as a Jew that others might have found themselves more in the stories that didn't work so well for me. (Shrug) I'm not sure if the 20+ years since publication has changed my perspective on what makes a good mystery. Some of the stories definitely seemed - of a period, shall we say. Made me want a new collection, something from the3rd decade of the 21st century. (And I'm no spring chicken, so it's not about age.)
A few of these stories really grabbed me, or made me feel 'at home' in my Jewish roots, and satisfied my crime fiction interest. Sadly, more of them did not (and worse). The wonderful thing about Judaism/Jewishness is that there are so many ways to be and experience as a Jew that others might have found themselves more in the stories that didn't work so well for me. (Shrug) I'm not sure if the 20+ years since publication has changed my perspective on what makes a good mystery. Some of the stories definitely seemed - of a period, shall we say. Made me want a new collection, something from the3rd decade of the 21st century. (And I'm no spring chicken, so it's not about age.)
December 4, 2021
An uneven anthology of mystery short stories with only a tangential connection to Judaism. For many of the stories, the connection is that the protagonist has a Jewish last name or can spout a Yiddish expression. Most are clueless to the tenets of their religion. Usually, but not always, the authors are more knowledgeable. I was particularly impressed with the submissions by Richard Fliegel and Michael Kahn. Richard Levitsky should know better that Jews don’t take the biblical injunction, “an eye for an eye” literally. And James Yaffe’s “Mom” stories dollops out the schmaltz like we haven’t seen since the broadcasts of “The Goldbergs.”
August 31, 2020
Eh...not my favorite.
Though each style is different, as other reviews mention, things get rather dull. I got about 3/4 through, then I stopped.
Also, as reviews mention, the Jewish aspect of the book is small, and is certainly not a root for any of the stories.
Not a great book... but if you want to read it, go ahead!
Though each style is different, as other reviews mention, things get rather dull. I got about 3/4 through, then I stopped.
Also, as reviews mention, the Jewish aspect of the book is small, and is certainly not a root for any of the stories.
Not a great book... but if you want to read it, go ahead!
April 29, 2018
A great anthology by various Jewish writers of the mystery genre. Some are well-known and others not so much. I kept adding to my list of authors to read books written by them. I would recommend this work.
September 30, 2018
This is a great collection of stories
October 23, 2018
3.5/3.75*
December 31, 2021
Very uneven anthology. Felt many of the stories weren't given the attention they deserved
January 4, 2017
I apologize for this review being less thoughtful, detailed, and content-warning-inclusive than usual, I'm pretty sure this book was the last thing I read before my husband left me last month so I was not up for writing a review when the stories were fresh in my mind. But I do think it's a quality collection for anyone who enjoys short-form mystery fiction, Jewish or otherwise, and the Jewishness just made it more fun and personally resonant for me, so I didn't want to abandon the idea of reviewing it entirely. It deserves better. So here goes.
Many of the stories are good, old-fashioned whodunits: "The Reading" is set in the publishing world, "A Final Midrash" in a shul, "Lost Polars" in a high school reunion, "Wailing Reed" centering around the world of klezmer music, "Mom Remembers" in the immigrant communities of probably-New-York-but-I-read-it-a-month-ago, and "Kaddish" among our Orthodox, starring a Jewish MC who doesn't participate anymore and finds himself doing it anyway. (This last one comes with a TW for discussion of suicide.) Within each of these settings, the various authors give us a riddle and then a clever MC to sleuth out the solution. I found the punchlines of "A Final Midrash" and "Mom Remembers" particularly clever.
"O! Little Town of Bedlam" would have counted as one of these, except for the fact that the solution to the mystery was more sad than suspenseful, and family gossip and drama kept me involved in the story rather than the cleverness of the puzzle. The value in this one lies in the final two pages, in its frank confrontation of why interfaith relationships don't work for some people, which is what I suppose I should have expected from a Christmas story with a Jewish lead. This one has a double case of Tragic Heterosexuals.
"Holy Water" makes a point rather amusingly rather than being a puzzle--the rabbi responsible for passing kosher approval on Coke (not really) is kidnapped by a henchman from Pepsi (not really) to reveal the secret formula. It's halfway between literary fiction and humor, I guess. Along the more serious vein of literary fiction are "Confession" and "The Good Rabbi", the latter of which is about how our ability to perceive the truth can be hampered by our subjective biases.
"The Bread of Affliction" is a puzzle about a coded will, the contents of which will pay out to white supremacist second-cousin in-laws (or something) if the leads can't figure out what the deceased man really meant. Yes, it has a happy ending, and the riddle's solution is steeped in Jewish history and tradition. It's neat to see a mystery collection include a will puzzle, since both Christie and Asimov (who was in his short-form mystery writing inspired BY Christie) have their examples of these.
"Poison" would be a mystery except for the way it ends. The criminal goes unpunished because the victim was unlikeable, so it seems more like noir to me. And finally, "Jacob's Voice" is suspense and I feel like it came with some pretty serious TW's, but again, I read the book a month ago so I can't even really remember which (although I have my suspicions it might have been off-screen child sexual abuse and other violence.)
Personally, I think it's worth checking out for the whodunits alone, and consider the other ones an extra/bonus.
Many of the stories are good, old-fashioned whodunits: "The Reading" is set in the publishing world, "A Final Midrash" in a shul, "Lost Polars" in a high school reunion, "Wailing Reed" centering around the world of klezmer music, "Mom Remembers" in the immigrant communities of probably-New-York-but-I-read-it-a-month-ago, and "Kaddish" among our Orthodox, starring a Jewish MC who doesn't participate anymore and finds himself doing it anyway. (This last one comes with a TW for discussion of suicide.) Within each of these settings, the various authors give us a riddle and then a clever MC to sleuth out the solution. I found the punchlines of "A Final Midrash" and "Mom Remembers" particularly clever.
"O! Little Town of Bedlam" would have counted as one of these, except for the fact that the solution to the mystery was more sad than suspenseful, and family gossip and drama kept me involved in the story rather than the cleverness of the puzzle. The value in this one lies in the final two pages, in its frank confrontation of why interfaith relationships don't work for some people, which is what I suppose I should have expected from a Christmas story with a Jewish lead. This one has a double case of Tragic Heterosexuals.
"Holy Water" makes a point rather amusingly rather than being a puzzle--the rabbi responsible for passing kosher approval on Coke (not really) is kidnapped by a henchman from Pepsi (not really) to reveal the secret formula. It's halfway between literary fiction and humor, I guess. Along the more serious vein of literary fiction are "Confession" and "The Good Rabbi", the latter of which is about how our ability to perceive the truth can be hampered by our subjective biases.
"The Bread of Affliction" is a puzzle about a coded will, the contents of which will pay out to white supremacist second-cousin in-laws (or something) if the leads can't figure out what the deceased man really meant. Yes, it has a happy ending, and the riddle's solution is steeped in Jewish history and tradition. It's neat to see a mystery collection include a will puzzle, since both Christie and Asimov (who was in his short-form mystery writing inspired BY Christie) have their examples of these.
"Poison" would be a mystery except for the way it ends. The criminal goes unpunished because the victim was unlikeable, so it seems more like noir to me. And finally, "Jacob's Voice" is suspense and I feel like it came with some pretty serious TW's, but again, I read the book a month ago so I can't even really remember which (although I have my suspicions it might have been off-screen child sexual abuse and other violence.)
Personally, I think it's worth checking out for the whodunits alone, and consider the other ones an extra/bonus.
May 31, 2015
An interesting theme with only moderately interesting results. Most anthologies tend to be something of a mixed bag. This is an exception in that the stories are across-the-board mediocre and non-compelling. There was nothing that makes me want to seek out other work by any of these authors.
September 6, 2010
This had some good stories and some silly ones. Not as good as the Wandering Stars series, by a long shot.
January 9, 2015
Interesting mix of stories. In a couple, there is only marginal Jewish content, but several use Jewish texts and traditions to solve the crime.
June 29, 2017
Despite the fact that I'm mildly miffed that all the rabbis in this collection are men and Orthodox, it's still a fun read.
December 4, 2016
Fair to middling collection of short stories.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews