Thursday the Rabbi Walked Out

The whodunit is pretty solid and kept me guessing all along. But I do have to say that the theme of the rabbi's continual fight with the temple's board of directors is starting to get a little old. Every book there is a contingent of the board, or the congregation as whole, that is pushing for the rabbi's firing, or forcing him to resign, or threatening to not renew his contract. I'd just like to see some variety in the rabbi/congregation relationship front. Aside from that, I really liked this one.

I love books with Jewish characters (especially when written by Jews) and I enjoy indulging in pulp from time to time. Thursday the Rabbit Walked Out (the 7th of 7 books in this series, of which I've read them all) combines both. Although I don't love Rabbi Small (the crime solving, small town rabbi), nor do I have much in common with any of the other characters, these books always capture my attention.

A year from now I probably won't be able to tell any of the books apart, so I don't know where I'd rank this one in the series. As a stand-alone book it does just fine though. There's a murder, the police have trouble finding out who did it, and along comes David Small to solve the case, usually nonchalantly in the last few pages. show more Kimelman uses these books to teach about Judaism perhaps as much as he does to write about crime solving, and that's absolutely ok with me.

I think these books are for a very unique audience, but if you like Jewish pulp then I'd recommend checking them out. I think each one cost me like $2 or $3 used show less

I liked seeing women's lib from a conservative author's viewpoint. The 70's tend to be dismissed as silly and populated by cartoon characters. The Rabbi books have a nice sense of the time while still having real people with real worries.

Hmmm, not my favorite Rabbi book, but quite readable. I was able to pick out the killer before there was even a murder, but that might be because I'm on to the way Kemelman writes. The characters were interesting enough, but I found the harping on Women's Lib and the politics of the temple tedious. Could be my mood, could be because the 70's are long gone, could be because I've read too many Rabbi books, but you might like it. I didn't hate it, but I'm not keeping it, either.

Women's lib, congregation politics, murdered anti-Semite

murder of eccentric WASP milionaire by cousin who will inherit

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