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The conservative Rabbi of a small Massachusetts town inserts himself into the secular and criminal affairs of his congregation, illustrating that the same hypocracies, connivances and plots have been at work in American Jewry since at least 1960….

19 Years of Reviews

At what point can one say that a man is a cheat? When he buys a house from you, when he tells you how to avoid paying income tax, when you help him misrepresent himself, when he helps you find a woman you can marry, when he callsGood Faith by Jane Smiley read by Richard Poe

Utterly charming tale of British advertising executive fed up with the petty hysteria of bosses, clients and ex-wives. He quits. He drives to the south of France, meets a beautiful real estate agent, and opens a hotel. But things are not so simple...Hotel Pastis by Peter Mayle read by John Franklyn-Robbins

A delightful, witty murder mystery about a small-town gated-community studded with the usual sociopathic suspects, albeit wealthy, and gorgeous social commentary. Waldorf Pines is an exclusive ex-1920's ex-golf-course on which marbled kitchens and bathrooms have been built, bricked over with Tudorish frontage and populated by odd, classless, moneyed characters badlyBlood in the Water by Jane Haddam read by David Collacci

At what point are you willing to pay for an audiobook? When you encounter a quote by Kipling that you have never heard before, and you want to memorize it ... When the reader has such a faraway voice, with a thousand ligatures, selective, discretionary accents, which gives a dDavid Ignatius, Bloodmoney, read by Firdous Bamji

There is something annoying, something unsettling, something demoralizing about a story in which all the women are either murder victims, embittered but useless mothers, faithful, ineffectual wives, or sexually charged students with dancers' bodies. Annoying, too, is witnessing an entire small town turn against an innocent man and his brainyThe Bone House by Brian Freeman read by Joe Barrett

Wed Sep 08, 2004 After P. Cornwell it is impossible or almost impossible to fob off a respectable forensic report, fake a fictional autopsy, or counterfeit the routine day to day life of an imaginary female coroner. If you want to be taken seriously, that is. The rather silly scene thatBlindsided by Karen Slaughter

Adorable series that begins, improbably, with a scene from Pearl Buck's The Good Earth -- a seraglio of men sitting looking at a series of photos or paintings of women who are too beautiful to be real. But they are real. And they have a price. In this case, theCora Seton, Issued to the Bride, (books 1-4)

It is not obvious that what happens to English in L.A. is natural, because what is natural in California is not natural anywhere else. But if nature is not local, what is? What localizes language? Why does Hollywood Nate understand another cop who asks him whether an Indian girl isHollywood Moon by Joseph Wambaugh

Jackson slugs a bully and saves a small dog. Hence Jackson, ex military man, ex husband (twice), having been familiar with violence his whole life has now finally found a good use for it. Now on the other side of the law, but otherwise non-localizable: "when heStarted Early Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson read by Graeme Malcolm

Disgraced, crazed, outlawed for his goodie goodieness, ex-prosecutor for the Justice Department is given one last project: investigate the disappearance of Martin Green, an aide on the intelligence committee. J is coupled with a Southern belle-neophyte FBI agent, and instructed to find nothing.Law of Gravity by Stephen Horn read by Dylan Baker

This short sharp tale of a dominant woman D.A. who loves political office far too well adds new personae to the genealogy of Cornwell's anger. Monique Lamonte, a moneyed, manipulative, Harvardy alpha female; Winn, her cop investigator pretty boy with a tarot-reading grandmother and a taste for Hugo Boss andAt Risk by Patricia Cornwell read by Kate Reading

Even little old Canadian villages have murders, and artists. Jane Neal lived and painted in a big house and kept both her canvases and her home private. Except for the kitchen. To it she invited her circle of friends and fellow-artists, poor and English speaking. TheyStill Life by Louise Penny read by Ralph Cosham

Forget Harley Street. The latest design in shrinks is a six foot 250 pound lesbian weight lifter who runs a pub with her bosomy girlfriend, and offers bed, morning after breakfast, and laundry service. This is what the 21st century male patient wants: a powerful, intuitive M.D. who canThe Chameleon's Shadow by Minette Walters read by Simon Vance

"Your cigar fell down. You told me how good it was and how all the women liked your big cigar. We hardly started smoking and your cigar fell down." It is Havana radio. The whores are called hinateras, jockeys, to describe the way a girl might ride a pig.Havana Bay by Martin Cruz Smith read by Frank Muller

It takes you by the throat and starts squeezing from line 1. The Irish voice muscles out a story about post-bank crash Ireland: an out of work family living in an Unfinished family development when the money and the economy run out. And why the economic woes of the Irish alwaysBroken Harbor by Tana French read by Stephen Hogan

Tag: rabbi

Thursday the rabbi Walked Out by Harry Kemelman read by George Guidall