Monday, November 20, 2023

Six notable Jewish crime thrillers

Lee Matthew Goldberg is the author and screenwriter of over one dozen novels including The Ancestor, Slow Down, The Mentor, Stalker Stalked, Orange City, the five-book Desire Card series, and the young adult trilogy Runaway Train, Grenade Bouquets, and Vanish Me, currently with actress Raegan Revord from TV's Young Sheldon attached to develop.

His new novel is The Great Gimmelmans.

At CrimeReads Goldberg tagged six favorite Jewish crime thrillers, including:
Michael Chabon, The Yiddish Policeman’s Union

In The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, Michael Chabon imagines an alternate historical reality. He creates a safe haven for Jews in Sitka, Alaska after the Holocaust instead of the state of Israel, but now the District is being reverted back to Alaskan control. When a homicide detective investigates the murder of his neighbor, the book becomes less a who-done-it and more about the fear of the Jewish people in their last days before they become displaced and how they ban together to survive. Mixing Yiddish humor with a dark aura, the novel is a stunning noir crime drama and even more topical today fifteen years after its release.
Read about the other entries on the list.

The Yiddish Policemen's Union is among Melissa Ragsdale's eight books to read during Hanukkah, Jeff Somers's five best oddball detective novels, J.D. Taylor's ten top counter-factual novels, and Molly Driscoll's top six alternate-history novels.

--Marshal Zeringue