Rampage on Rogers Avenue Begins New Favorite Series, for moi, by David Y. B. Kaufmann

When I had the chance to read Assault in Forgotten Alley and realize there was a novella that started the series, A Scotch and Herring Mystery, I immediately downloaded Rampage on Rogers Avenue to meet the main characters right from the beginning. I am certainly happy I did! 

As soon as I started reading, I was reminded of two of my favorite long-time authors, Jonathan and Faye Kellerman... Jonathan is know for his Alex Delaware series, with two men as a team, Alex being the outside "partner..." Where, in this case, the main character is the police officer and his outside "partner" is a Rabbi...

How did Faye's writing come into play? Well, the Rabbi's wife is a strong character and is the one who brings in the Jewish religious issues as part of the daily living of the group. 

Perhaps I was reaching to connect both authors, but I believe the merge of Jewish life is much more prominent in this new series, than that of Jonathan's series, so Faye's work had to be predominant in the comparison. If you enjoy one or both of these great writers, then I highly recommend you consider reading David Y. B. Kaufmann!

~~~

The parchment of the Mezuzah
~~~

“My husband prefers his Hebrew name now. Beryl.”

 “I’ll try to remember,” McCallum said, hoping he sounded sufficiently agreeable, yielding. “But I’ve known him as Drew since we were kids. Maybe I should stick with Rabbi Aldala.” He smiled, hoping she’d take it as a joke. 

“If that’s easier for you.” Had things gotten so bad that it mattered if he called his best friend by his English name rather than his Hebrew name? McCallum hadn’t known about this custom until Aldala’s Bar Mitzvah. Two names, one for insiders, one for outsiders. Sort of like a secret language. Or handshake. Had Drew ever used his Hebrew name - what was it again? - until he got married, until his wife insisted he use it?

 “Come in,” she said. He’d been standing there like some mindless robot. She opened the door and stepped back, allowing him to enter. He wiped his feet on the mat. He ignored the hat and coat rack on his left and followed her down the narrow hallway...

She was such a small woman, was Faigy Aldala, barely five foot. But she was a force to be reckoned with. Anyone who could keep up with Drew - keep ahead of him - had to be one strong woman...

He turned and smiled. Standing before him was his best friend - half an inch taller, twenty pounds lighter, with blondish hair and a beard. “How are you Drew?” He extended his hand. Drew Aldala ignored the hand and gave James a hug, but withdrew quickly. 
“Sorry,” James said, referring to the gun. “Even out of uniform, I have to wear it. Part of the job...”

Aldala half-smiled and his eyebrow went up. “What have you got?” McCallum relaxed, pulling the manila folder out from his trench coat. “Breaking and entering. Robbery. Assault and battery, possible attempted murder.” “Of Lazar Doninger, the pawnbroker.” McCallum nodded. “What have you got?” “One diamond cuff link, a gold plated switchblade that looks like a Swiss army knife, no cash to speak of, an unrifled cash register, a lot of broken trinkets, and a trashed establishment.”


Aldala scratched his eyebrow. “It’s Shabbat. I don’t work on Shabbat, unless it’s life or death. This isn’t.”
 “I know. But if you could take a detour on your way home and walk by the pawn shop...just to take a look before who knows who gets to it and makes a mess of the mess. I can’t cordon it off for twenty-four hours.” 
“You could...”

McCallum swallowed. “Well, the first thing I noticed was the door frame, of course.”
 “Really? What about the bubble gum machine?” “The bubble gum machine?” 
“Yes. It had stood outside the left-hand side of the store - there was a circle the size of the base that had a quarter inch of snow in it, compared to the several inches piled up around it haphazardly. It had been moved almost, but not quite, in front of the grocery store on the left.”
“I didn’t see a bubble gum machine...”

“The door frame?” 
“I saw you examining it,” McCallum said, taking a fish cake - without horseradish. “The mezuzah was missing,” Aldala said. 
“Hmmm. The horseradish kills the taste. These are quite good plain. How do you know it was missing?”
 “The discolored wood, the splinters, the bent nail. It had been there and ripped out.”
 “So?” McCallum shrugged. “Maybe Doninger had a change of heart - you did. He just went in reverse. Or was embarrassed. From what I remember of the mezuzah, it doesn’t mix well with a pawn shop.”
 “A mezuzah belongs on every door of every Jewish house,” Aldala said earnestly.

~~~

Rampage on Rogers Avenue:
A Scotch & Herring Mystery

 by David Y. B. Kaufmann

There is a mystery within the mystery regarding the relationship between James and Drew. They had been friends since they were very young, but something had occurred within the past few years that caused their separation. This is an ongoing issue that continues into the next book, and perhaps will enter future novels. 

In this first mystery, we enjoy the first encounter of the two friends. Drew is now married and has become a Rabbi. His father was a police officer, killed in the line of duty... Although James had known about some of this, and had even attended events in the background, they had not spoken...

Eight forty-five. Good thing Drew had a late-start

 congregation. With luck, he’d have fifteen

 minutes with his friend - and partner of futures past.

 He hefted the manila folder. 

“Consulting with Sherlock Holmes.”

~~~

I wasn't quite sure whether James had taken advantage of the Jewish connection of his latest case in order to contact his old friend, and partner. Readers will begin to find little tidbits out that add a personal flavor to the series...Especially the development of Faigy, Drew's new wife...

Especially enjoyable is the interaction between the two friends as it relates to a case... James, by the way, had Drew's father as his mentor while Drew listened and observed his father in action as he handled his cases. Of the two, Drew is the Sherlock Holmes to his Watson, James McCallum... 

James has an interesting background which will be explored more fully in the novel--review coming next. Apparently, James' father was on the other side of the law, BUT, was very good Friends with Police Officer Aldala, allowing the two young boys to become close friends. However, James has yet to be totally accepted as the new, and only, detective in his precinct and creates some prickly situations when he refuses to condone any type of prejudicial slurs against the Jews living in the community...

Another little tidbit, quite surprising, is the Rabbi's interest and collection of hero action comic books! I look forward to seeing how this is worked into the upcoming books!

A pawn shop has been broken into, the owner beaten...normally I wouldn't do an excerpt about the victim, but in this case, it brought back a fun memory from my childhood...

McCallum watched the two leave, then entered the back room. It looked like an expanded closet. A desk, a wheeled chair, a folding chair, and a man slumped, half-sitting, face up against the back wall. Doninger was dressed in a suit, shoes shined,
thinning hair brylcreemed. 

McCallum knelt, felt the man’s chest, then the pulse in the neck. He listened to the man’s breathing. Steady. He scanned the body, checking for broken bones. Note to self, he thought, take the rest of that CPR course already. 
He felt around the man’s head, gently, and found the lump. His hand came away sticky. A surface cut, as far as he could tell. He tensed in frustration. The same frustration he felt every time he saw a victim, any victim. The same frustration that had fired him when he was ten and solving the mysteries of the Hardy Boys, Batman and Holmes, but always, always after someone had been hurt. Just once, he wanted Mike Barnett to open the door before the victim got machine gunned. It never happened. 
He knew detectives didn’t prevent crimes, they solved them. He’d become one anyway. Something else he owed Aldala’s father.

~~~

This mystery is not anywhere near the complexity of Assault in Forgotten Alley. It does a great job, however, of seeing  the clues gathered by James, then Drew, and then readers listen while the two regurgitate the details almost ad nauseum as is sometimes the case for difficult cases. I enjoyed the back-and-forth banter and quickly decided this author had a new fan! Actually, you see, readers will either being learning new things, or being reminded of the symbols of the Jewish Religion while working to solve a difficult mystery! Loved it!

GABixlerReviews

Lavina by Mary Marcus - Print Copy Out Today! Fiction Based on Author's Early Life...

The ordinary response to atrocities is to banish
them from consciousness. Certain violations of
the social compact are too terrible to utter
aloud: this is the meaning of the word
unspeakable.--Judith Herman
~~~

Read the lovely story about the author's decision to write Lavina... I suspect the main reason I ended up writing Lavina is on account of the fact that I lost my picture of Aline.

~~~

"Ladies and Gentlemen," he say, "I'm Matthew so and so." Right away, I took to the boy on account of the fact that he said Ladies and Gentlemen. I thought that was very polite of him. Anyway,he say, "I'm here tonight on behalf of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who can't come tonight because of legal problems."

Then somebody in the front say, "Thought they sprung M.L...Hew ain't still in jail, is he?" "No," Matthew say. But he can's leave Alabama on account of some legal whatchacallum and then somebody else said, "We all heard M.L. gonna be here. We gave our money to the defense fund." Then that Matthew...

I don' remember very much of what the boy said. If you want to know the truth I could hardly understand a word he say. Don' think the rest of us did neither... 

What he do is start telling us about some ray-she-oh which he say mean nothing more than we all knew;; that there were more colored than white in Murpheysfield. Then he starts tellin' us we is oh-pressed...

Guess it was then that he started talking 'bout the sit-in. He say Dr. King and him and two other folds from up North were comin' to Murpheysfield on August 17 to sit-in at the Woolworth's lunch counter and he was here tonight to ask two of us to sit down with them...

"Why, if we sat down at the Woolworth's counter, they'd call out the dogs. The Klan'd burn the place down...." 

"No colored ever say down at no white lunch counter in Murpheysfield." Matthew look stern, stern and say, "No black person has ever tried to sit down at a white lumch counter...."
Lord only know what made me do it, 'cause it was shortly thereafter that I stood up myself...  [then a child interrupted running to the white man, Matthew, and asking for Christmas gifts from Dr. King.]

That's when it came over me, a feelin' I never had before or since. I thought to myself, why that child she don't know black from white but when she do, why it gonna change that little face a hers. I felt the wrongness of it. The wrongness of it for her. The rest of us, we were used to the way things were, and I sat there tryin' to remember if I ever in my whole life go free and happy like that child in her pink dress who didn't know the difference of black and white. Well, I don't think I ever didn't remember. Seemed to me I knew it since the day I were born into this world..."

Everything still and quite in the church. I hear myself, but though it sound like me, it don't feel like my own feets standing in my old worn down shoes. "I'll do it!" I says. Everybody in the church turn round and look at me. Matthew, he come down the stairs and up the aisle heading toward me and he is smilin' and everybody singin' "Lord Laid His Hand on Me"...Lord, we were happy. Though that bluebird of happiness, it didn't last long. Fact near as soon as I say it, second it fly out of my mouth, I know I is making the biggest mistake of my life..."

~~~

Lavina

By Mary Marcus

Having just read Ruby, the latest Oprah Book Club selection, I found I was doing something I rarely do--a comparison... No, the author is not African-American and I understand the selection process. At the same time, I was much more touched by this book--felt the pain and anger of our Black brothers and sisters and want you to know that I highly recommend this book that is, in my opinion, just as valuable to Black History as is Ruby, for those who loved it--which I didn't (click over to read my review).

Lavina is based upon the real life of the author and her relationship to Aline, her beloved friend and mother-figure as she grew up... This is a story full of tragedy during the early years of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., but the connection is minor in comparison to the story of the two young children who were most affected by Lavina as they faced their own personal futures...

What I never understood to this day, to this very
day, was how white people could have black
people cook dinner for them, make them meals,
but wouldn't let them sit down at the table with
them. How can you dislike someone so much and
have them cook for you? Shoot, if I don't like
someone, you ain't cooking nothing for me, ever.
--Ray Charles

Mary Jacob was on her way home to Murpheysfield, Louisiana, to see her father who was very ill. Her sister had called from the Shumpert Hospital and put her father on the line..."Child, I want you to come home. I'm longin' to see you."

That shook Mary Jacob! She hadn't been home for years and had no real desire to go. She and her sister had spoken maybe twice in five years.

She hadn't wanted to come and walked into her large home with trepidation, straight on into the kitchen. The woman with her back to her--she first thought it was Lavina, but, no, everything was now changed. 

Kathryn, her sister, made it quite clear why she was willing to call to get her home.

"I'm gonna need you to sit there with him. We can't even keep a nurse, Mary Jacob. He pinches the pretty ones and makes fun of the ugly ones and won't do what they say. He's a livin' breathin' terror. I was thinkin' why it's a good thing he's weak as a kitten, or we'd never be able to control him. I was lookin' at him just today, thinkin' Daddy's an old man now."
Strong Jack Long, weak as a kitten? It seemed impossible. Like God or the devil being ill. 
At a red light, I stopped and turned on the radio. Just a couple of notes let me know it was Billy Ray singing. There's nothing wrong with my musical memory. It was one of his very early hits...

[Billy Ray is a fictitious character so I've selected Charlie Pride as his character. I had the chance to meet him years ago as a first-row fan at Branson...I was thrilled, of course, so was the first singer/musician I thought of for the role! The song selected was based upon Billy Ray's early involvement in the Black church. By the time, though, that he had actually started to perform professionally, he no longer believed in, as he called him, the White God, who did nothing to help his people...]

The announcer on the radio was saying
Billy Ray would be playing tomorrow
night in Murpheysfield, L.A. like it was
Los Angeles, not Louisiana. Home of
the not so great Mary Jacob Long.
~~~

"I've always loved Billy Ray's music. I read somewhere a long time ago that, like me, he comes from Murpheysfield. We wouldn't have known each other. Those were the days of Jim Crow, yet the singer has always felt like someone close. At signings, people tell me all the time that they feel close to me on account of my books. Perfect strangers will hold out their hands and call me by name like they know me. And I'm not even remotely famous outside my tiny little children's lit circle. But Billy Ray's been famous forever. As long as I can remember anyway. I even dream about him. Sometimes we are children in the dream and sometimes all grown up. We're always kissing in the dream, kissing and holding on to each other like we'll never let each other go.

~~~

When Mary Jacob first went to see her father, she was, of course, shocked at how old he looked, but as they talked, there seemed to be a connection that she hadn't remembered. Could she even be having genuine feelings for him? She willingly began to help take care of him, which, of course, greatly pleased both he and her sister...

What nobody knew there in Murpheysfield was that Mary Jacob had lost most of the memories of her childhood... True, she remembered the music by Billy Ray, but she did not remember there had been a long connection between them--they hated each other... 

Billy Ray was trying to breath new life into his failing career and, with a new manager, was scheduled back in his home town and then on to New Orleans. Would all of his fans remember him?

But when he realized that Mary Jacob was also in town, he knew he must see her, he needed to know--he must know! By whom and how was his mother

murdered? Billy Ray had tried and failed to reach her and then one day he walked right up to the door of the Long home and rang the bell. He demanded to know what had happened and she was shocked and then frightened, claiming she didn't know anything...

Even though Mary Jacob had come to terms with her father, especially when he shared that Kathryn wanted to put him in a home. He also asked her to fulfill a dying wish. He wanted her to find Van, his second wife, and ask her to come... When she left him that night, she was more and more upset and went directly downstairs, past all the familiar things, staring at the guns behind glass, four of them... and through the kitchen into the only room in which she felt safe... She now sat in that rocking chair in the back corner of the laundry room...

I began to feel afraid then, like on the plane only worse: a pulse throbbing in my throat, a sinking feeling in the guts, pain running up and down my arm. Sweat.

I ran from the room, as though I were running away from a shower of bullets. Through another door, along the length of the dining room and through the swinging door of the butlery to the kitchen and once again, like I had done this afternoon, to the laundry room: sanctuary.

There in the dark, simple things shined. The luminous dials on the washer and dryer and the moonlight that beamed in the window above the sink. A shaft of light ran across the maple rocker where I sat down and without thinking, began to rock, as if the chair was waiting for me, the firm slats against my back--safe--in the one place in this house where I belonged...

Memories had been triggered and Mary Jacob started her own investigation...until she remembered...all of it... And the majority of the book is her memories of what had actually occurred...an unwanted child loved by only the housekeeper, who she loved more than anybody; the son of that housekeeper who hated her because his mother spent the major part of her time with Mary Jacob, while at the same time, she jealously hated that he actually lived in a home with her and was there during the night... the rise of Billy Ray's career while Mary Jacob was subjected to seeing her mother dying, and finally overhearing a plan to kill Martin Luther King... An interesting side bar is about her father's hatred of Blacks and Jews in the same sentence and a surprising twist that connects them in reality...

The actual, life-like events were explosive, tragic, and a result of King's leadership to seek freedom...with one important loss to two young children who loved...Lavina... A heartbreaking story that will stay with you forever... about the power of...love...

GABixlerReviews

I was born and raised in Louisiana, but left for New York after graduating from Tulane. I worked very hard to get rid of my southern accent, and now I wish I hadn’t. For many years, I worked in the advertising and fashion industries for Neiman Marcus, Vogue, Lancome, Faberge and San Rio Toys where I worked on the Hello Kitty Brand. My short fiction has appeared in North Atlantic Review, Fiction, Jewish Women’s Literary Journal and others.

My husband, Joel Goodman and I live in Los Angeles and East Hampton, New York. We have a grown son, Amos Goodman.

Book Readers Heaven Welcomes Ron Balson, Author of Once We Were Brothers! With Giveaway!

The gripping tale about two boys, once as close as brothers, who find themselves on opposite sides of the Holocaust.

Elliot Rosenzweig, a respected civic leader and wealthy philanthropist, is attending a fundraiser when he is suddenly accosted and accused of being a former Nazi SS officer named Otto Piatek, "the butcher of Zamosc." Although the charges are denounced as preposterous, his accuser, Ben Solomon, is convinced he is right. Solomon persuades attorney Catherine Lockhart to take his case, revealing that the true Piatek was abandoned as a child and raised by Solomon's family only to betray them during the Nazi occupation. But has he accused the right man?

Once We Were Brothers is Ronald H. Balson's compelling tale of two boys and a family who struggle to survive in war-torn Poland and a young love that incredibly endures through the unspeakable cruelty of the Holocaust. Two lives, two worlds, and sixty years converge in an explosive race to redemption that makes for an enthralling tale of love, survival, and ultimately the triumph of the human spirit.

Welcome! I'm so happy to have the author of Once We Were Brothers, Ronald H. Balson, at Book Reader's Heaven today. The author has graciously provided for a giveaway of his book, which is out this month, so those interested should feel free to leave a comment with contact information!

Ron  I think you already know that your book is touching many lives. In fact, I have over one thousand visitors from Poland last month, so I'm looking forward to giving those individuals a chance to learn about your book!

I am honored.  Thank you. 

Ronald H. Balson is an attorney practicing with the firm of Stone, Pogrund and Korey in Chicago. The demands of his trial practice have taken him into courts across the United States and into international venues.

An adjunct professor of business law at the University of Chicago for twenty-five years, he now lectures on trial advocacy in federal trial bar courses.

Travels to Warsaw and southern Poland in connection with a complex telecommunications case inspired Once We Were Brothers, his first novel.

I understand that you first self-published your book. How did you decide to go that route--and then what happened to have St. Martin's picked it up?

           

I submitted it through an agent to several publishers and was rejected several times.  Becoming impatient, my son and I formed our own publishing company.  We sold the book through our website, various bookstores, Barnes and Noble and Amazon.  After we sold 100,000 copies, St. Martins offered to publish a new edition, which is coming out on October 8th. 

You mentioned you traveled to Poland for work and got interested--but do you also have any personal interest in what happened historically? In Poland? During the War?

            

None of my family was personally involved in the Holocaust.

Ben Solomon, by the way, is such an endearing character. Few would not agree that he had a right to seek revenge... Do you believe this desire runs through most individuals who were affected by the Nazis?

I can’t speak for them.  My character was...

Are there real-life examples of others trying to regain their losses from that time? What would you do if you discover a similar situation in your own family's background?

There are real life stories of people who sought the return of property or money taken from them.  With very few exceptions, those lawsuits are now barred.  There are cases, mentioned in the book, where people have brought suit to recover art works.

  

My mother would always clarify to me that "we were Americans" rather than German immigrants. I never asked but wondered if German-Americans must have felt shame (I know I do) for the actions of Nazi officers... Are you able to have any sympathy toward those German officers who tried to change their names and get away from the condemnation they would face?

I guess it would depend on what the German officers did during the war.  If they were active participants in the Nazi persecution, I would have no sympathy.  If they tried to change their names and sneak into the country under false identities to escape prosecution, I have no sympathy and think they should be deported for trial.  If they were just soldiers, I guess it would be different.  People forgive the Japanese, the Vietnamese.

Yes, I agree... You had Ben working with a lower-level lawyer rather than with the U.S. Attorney. Was there a reason behind that decision?

Ben thought that the U. S. Attorney’s office would not take on a case against such a prominent man without conclusive evidence.  He sought a civil lawyer (not a lower level) rather than the Justice Department.

Oops! I was thinking of "level" referring to hierarchy of legal system, but excuse my own confusion... 

You also had Ben's father tell Otto to go to the job his mother had arranged--and then later Otto seemed to blame that decision for what he'd done. Can you share a little of your thinking on these twists in your novel?

I leave that to the reader.

Now that's an interesting response... I would think most writers have a specific thought in mind and want the readers to catch it...LOL  

Because of my reading recently a book by Declan Finn, A Pius Man, I picked up your comments about meeting with the cardinal in Poland and his commenting that the Pope was fearful of antagonizing Hitler... yet later a local Father was helping with credentials, etc., to help the Jews out of the country. Could you clarify how you perceive the present-day feelings for Catholics and other faiths are today? 

            

There were many who helped the Jews at great personal risk.  Yad VaShem recognizes many of them as the Righteous Among the Nations.  As to the present day feelings of other faiths, I assume they all condemn the Holocaust and its perpetrators.

You had Ben believing that the Nazis were demons. Do you see the supernatural involvement in the Holocaust?

            

Ben does.

OK, you've convinced me that Ben took control of your book, just like he took control over Catherine's life and actions...LOL! 

You indicated that the Nazi persecution didn't limit itself to race. "Religion, national origin, alternative lifestyles, persons with disabilities--all were targets." Would it be safe to say that any individuals within those categories were included in the "count/number" for Jews...or is there information about those groups as well, if researched? 

            

No.  The count for Jews was six million.  Gypsies, Polish Intelligentsia, Polish Christians, Blacks, people with alternative lifestyles totaled another five million.

Wow! I had not known that additional number...Certainly makes me happy that writers such as yourself are incorporating this important information within enjoyable fiction novels so that more individuals have an opportunity to learn through them...

Do you truly believe "The Holocaust was not God's will. It was the will of those who had become infused of the devil...It is why we must remain diligent and relentlessly pursue men like Piatek. Evil is contagious. Much like a pathogen. It must be snuffed out at the source."?

            

Those are Ben’s views. 

You know, I'm beginning to think Ben and I have much in common, while the writer of this terrific novel is...a lawyer... No offense, Ron...That's a compliment for creating such wonderful characters that I wanted to get to know them better...LOL  Readers be sure to check out my review in a separate article! 

Thank you for your time! 

You’re very welcome.

Thanks again for visiting Book Readers Heaven...The newly published novel by St. Martins will be out October 8th... Don't forget to leave your name and contact information for a chance at the Giveaway copy!

BRH Review Coming Next!