Wednesday, July 16, 2014

To Kill A Matzo Ball-Delia Rosen

To Kill A Matzo Ball
Delia Rosen
Kensington, Jul 1 2014, $7.99
ISBN: 9780758282019

In Nashville, Gwen Katz consults with client martial arts teacher Ken Chan on a menu to honor his students following a belt test.  Shots are fired into Murray’s Pastrami Swami leaving Ken dead, but not before he protected Gwen with his body; no one else inside the deli was badly hurt though all are shook up.  A former New Yorker, Gwen tells NPD that Ken also came from the Big Apple, but left Manhattan’s Chinatown after Triad gang threats.

NPD reports the crime to the FBI who joins the investigation.  However, increasingly the murderous drive-by shooting begins to look as if the intended victim was not the black belt instructor but the “Nashville Katz”.  Not one to sit around and wait for a second assault, Gwen begins her own inquiry.

The latest Deadly Deli Mystery is an engaging twisting whodunit as the amateur sleuth competes with several levels of law enforcement.  As always with this entertaining series (see From Herring to Eternity, A Killer in the Rye, One Foot in the Gravy and A Brisket, A Casket), the fun comes from the culture clash of New York shtick in the heart of Music City more so than the good mystery and enhanced by mouthwatering food that has me craving for pastrami and a knish at The Kosher Gourmet on Atlanta’s Northside. 

Harriet Klausner

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