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Ruby Rothman, once married to the Rabbi in the small Texas Hill Country town of Eternal, Texas, has made a career out of solving murders. This is her fourth case and Eternal is beginning to look like Cabot Cove, Maine. This time the victim is Herman Gunther, a retired lox cutter who has done some catering work since he moved from New York to Texas, more to keep his hand in than anything else. He is found with his slicing knife in his back. This becomes Rubyıs problem primarily because Essie Sue, her bete noir, has decided to give a bar mitzvah for her twin cousins, who are impossible children by the way, and Herman was going to do the lox arranging. Herman leaves a daughter Rose and a granddaughter, Jackie, who is also having a bat mitzvah with the two boys. Herman had written some threatening letters to a distributor who, he said, was overcharging him and that may have been the reason for his murder. On the other hand, curious details of his past emerge from family papers found when Rose cleans out his house and the answer may lie there. Ruby just canıt stop herself from investigating. Ruby has love-life problems, with her two gentlemen friends, newspaper reporter Ed and policeman Paul, both apparently interested in her. Ed, however, is always off on assignment just when she needs him most. The love dilemma provides a rather innocuous subplot for the book. The characters are stereotypical, from the two boys Lester and Larry who intimidate the Rabbi and ignore any attempts to make them presentable, to Essie Sue who knows the world revolves around her and cannot understand it when people do not cater to her every desire. She knows the value of bargaining and believes acquaintance confers discounts. Ruby is a little better developed, but rather too giddy about her love life. The best part of the book is the section which takes place in Alaska. Rubyıs best friend Nan has a series of meetings in Alaska in November and talks Ruby into going with her, Ruby thinking she can find out about the threatening distributor at the same time. Instead as the two of them stay at a nearly snowed-in gold mine resort and are the only two guests there, the icy night, the aurora borealis, and intimidating events conspire to frighten everyone. The plot is rather thin in places and I find the motive for murder a bit weak. The journey was more interesting than the arrival. One of the more singular devices used to tell the story is frequent e-mails between Ruby and Nan. In fact much of the denouement is laid out in a series of e-mails. This is a very traditional mystery, undemanding, lightly humorous, enjoyable to read on a cold afternoon when nothing better presents itself.
Reviewed by Sally A. Fellows, December 2002
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