Howard Engel (1931–2019)

Engel describes wakening one morning, getting his newspaper off the front step and wondering why it was printed in what appeared to be Cyrillic or Greek. Fortunately he realized he must have had a stroke and, accompanied by his twelve year-old son Jacob, went to emergency at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto where he was diagnosed with alexia sine agraphia caused by the stroke. Although he was still able to write to some extent, he could not read, not even what he had just written. There were show more other memory problems too and he spent months in rehabilitation where he learned tricks to find his way around the hospital and his life.

As an author and lifelong book lover, the diagnosis was understandably devastating but he was protected from worry in some way by the brain injury itself. Meanwhile, the care for his young son (Engel was a widower) was shared among other family members meaning Jacob had to live out of a backpack for months. Eventually Engel was able to read extremely slowly and with difficulty, but was it enough to re-write and edit the books from which he made a living? When he came up with a plot for a new novel featuring his sweet, humble detective Benny Cooperman, he jumped right in giving Benny a head injury with the same symptoms in Memory Book. Encouraged by Oliver Sacks and with much assistance he successfully published the book, as well as another one since then (East of Suez) when Benny is recovering. Engel describes his condition and rehabilitation without any sign of self pity but with good humour and grace, making this both entertaining and interesting. show less

’Twas in the month of Liverpool
In a city called July,
The snow was raining heavily,
The streets were very dry.
The flowers were sweetly singing,
The birds were in full bloom,
As I went down the cellar
To sweep an upstairs room.
— English skipping rhyme

Rabbi Melter and Mr Tepperman, president of the B’nai Shalom congregation come calling on private investigator Benny Cooperman to find out if he can trace Larry Geller, a lawyer who has filched 2.6 million dollars from members of the show more community. They don’t want to report it to the police, just find Geller or the money. But Geller is missing.

I always enjoy Engel’s Benny Cooperman mysteries that are set in Grantham (actually Engel’s home town of St. Catherine’s, Ontario in the Niagara region). Benny is a likeable, amiable sort, who treats everyone with the same respect whether they are local worthies or homeless veterans. And I love his typically Canadian humour. show less

I thoroughly enjoyed this mild mystery penned by two Canadian authors using their famous sleuths, Howard Engel's gentle private investigator Benny Cooperman and Eric Wright's more refined detective Charlie Salter. Benny's help has been sought by his brother Sam, a doctor in a Toronto hospital while Charlie Salter is doing the official police investigation of a high-ranking doctor who has been reported missing. Their progress of he case is given in alternate chapters, while they are unaware show more of each other. Although the cover looks like a "plain brown wrapper" it shows an appealing illustration by Greg McEvoy with more inside. show less

I’ve enjoyed all of Engel’s mystery novels featuring private investigator Benny Cooperman. Some time ago, Engel suffered a stroke without realizing it, leaving him unable to read although his ability to write was unimpaired, a condition known as Alexia sine agraphia. In this mystery Engel used it as part of the story, where Benny was attacked and left for dead in a dumpster only to waken up with no memory of the event or what led to it. While recovering slowly in a Toronto hospital, he show more successfully solved the mystery of what was behind the attack. Benny Cooperman is a delightful character, lighthearted and amiable and I was glad to hear the author’s stroke did not prevent him from writing more Cooperman mysteries, although only one was ever published.

There is an interesting afterword by Oliver Sacks, MD, that provides information on the illness, as well as Engel’s experience and condition. show less