Good story marred by pace, extraneous "travelogue" filler...We've been Lee Harris fans for quite a while, having read all fifteen of the prior ex-nun Christine Bennett mysteries. The series features Chris's introduction to the secular life after resigning from a nunnery after half her life at age 30. Over the course of the prior novels, she "ages" about half a year per book: she meets NYPD detective Jack (who's a handy official resource to her amateur sleuthing), becomes engaged and marries him, and has a baby, now four-year-old Eddie. The various yarns feature her solving mostly crimes from the past that never received adequate police work, allowing Chris to nose around with unlimited time and questioning until new facts appear in sufficient quantity to unravel long buried truths. The tales are clean family fare, with little or no violence, sex, swearing, or much other unpleasantness other than the crime that spawns the plot per se. This latest entry, "Bar Mitzvah", starts off so far-fetched, that we were irritated almost from the start. A rich older man, Gabe Gross, decides he wants a proper Bar Mitzvah, and takes 40 friends and relatives to Israel to do it up right. Included is Chris's best girlfriend, Gabe's relative Melanie Gross, who naturally is excited at her impending foreign experience. Just by coincidence (gulp!) Chris's hubby, now a rising star lawyer-officer in the NYPD HQ, gets a special two-week assignment to -- guess where ?!? -- Israel, to coincide with the big celebration. When Gabe first gets sick, then rushed away in an ambulance, only to be the victim of a kidnapping/murder, our favorite busybody gets into her act and beats the apparently inept local police to every clue and every development in solving the case. Just in case there might be a shard of suspense to this fiction, the main plot is interrupted in virtually every chapter with little side trips by all concerned throughout the wonderful landscape of modern Israel and its wonderful biblical settings, visits to the wonderful shops there, meals at the wonderful restaurants there, etc. Get the drift? By the time the whole story comes out, involving a falsified last will and testament and mysterious things found in Gabe's safe back at home in America, we're so tired of the whole thing we just want it over. Only the last 25 pages or so of this plodding 250-page account had us really turning pages out of anything but loyalty. This book smacks of something due to fulfill a contract, possibly as justification for author Syrell Rogovin Leahy traveling to Israel as "research" to write off her trip to the homeland of her ancestors. To us, an interesting travelogue it isn't; moreover, the now worldly Chris is getting to be a bit of a bore if you please. We note that Harris has turned to a new character for both the previously published "Murder in Hell's Kitchen" and her upcoming novel "Murder in Alphabet City", both featuring NYPD Detective Jane Bauer. Perhaps Lee herself realizes Christine may well have run her course. Although I see (from the author's web site) that at least one more entry is due in the set, we hope she returns to form with a story that grabs and holds our attention. "Mitzvah" wasn't wretched, just disappointing compared to the rest.
When I read my first Lee Harris novel, I put it in the predictable yet enjoyable category...you know, something to read when you don't want to tax a lot of brain cells. Needing some mindless enjoyment, I picked up The Bar Mitzvah Murder at the library last week. Blech! What a mistake! The book reads like Ms. Lee retelling the adventures of her last vacation. Jeez, this book was filled with great details for a travel brochure, but useless clutter for a mystery novel. And you know what really bugged me? Seriously?? HUMMUS. Yes, pulverized chickpeas and assorted spices! The author waxed lyrical about it nearly every freakin' chapter like it was oh, I don't know, something exotic found only in Israel instead of being available in regular grocery stores in the United States. And really? The police departments in New York *and* Israel let civilians investigate murders? And estate lawyers don't care if Jane Q. Public goes around notifying beneficiaries about inheritences? Wow. I feel bad about the two days of my life that I slogged through this book that I will never get back.
