Hold the Cream Cheese, Kill the Lox

by Sharon Kahn

Book Overview

Ruby, the rabbi's wife, travels from one side of the United States to the other investigating the murder of a master lox cutter, whose roots are traced back to Nazi-era Denmark. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425191311
• ISBN13: 9780425191316
• Release Date: August 2003
• Publisher: Berkley Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Ruby Rules!

Kahn's 'Ruby, the Rabbi's Wife'(well, widow) series is a delight! All four mysteries are vehicles for Kahn's wicked sense of humor and sharp descriptions of the Jewish community, and they are plotted simply and entertainingly. In "Kill the Lox", Essie Sue (the Jewish princess)is planning a bar mitzvah for the terrorist twins. Kevin Kapstein, the fumbling and pompous rabbi, stumbles through the plot as well, lurching along behind Essie Sue as they plan the largest celebration Eternal, Texas has ever seen in the Temple Rita.Plans go astray when Herman, the master lox cutter, is found sliced by his own knife, and Ruby is off on another mystery--one which takes her to Alaska and to New York. She solves the crime--actually, two crimes--with the help of the two men in her love life and her best friend and e-mail correspondent, Nan.It's all much fun and entertainment. I do hope Sharon Kahn is hard at work on the next installment in this series!

Amusing cozy

In Eternal, Texas, Essie Sue Margolis persuades Ruby, the widow of the former rabbi, and the current rabbi Kevin Kapstein to host a Bar Mitzvah at Temple Rita for her two "lovable" third cousins, Larry and Lester Levee. Very quickly, Ruby and company find the two "terrible twelve" year olds to be monsters of the first order. However, with Essie masterminding the ceremony, the Bar Mitzvah should prove to be the social event of the season for the small congregation. To add luster, lox cutter grandmaster Herman Guenther will perform his miracle dicing and slicing.Herman fails to show up at a meeting with Essie and Ruby so the two ladies journey to his home only to find the grandmaster murdered. While Essie bemoans the impact on the twin's Bar Mitzvah, Ruby investigates by back trailing where Herman has been to include Alaska and New Jersey. Ruby finds herself up to her gefilte fish in a lox conspiracy that dates back to the Nazi occupation of Denmark.HOLD THE CREAM CHEESE, KILL THE LOX is an amusing cozy that provides the audience insight into pre-Bar Mitzvah training. The story line is humorous because of the actions of Essie groaning over the murder's impact on the Bar Mitzvah and the havoc caused by the non-mench twins. Though why Ruby and Essie gallivant to Alaska and New Jersey to solve the homicide seems weak, the motivation for murder is fun to follow. Sharon Kahn serves up a taste of Jewish American life with a few kibbutz to nosh on inside a cozy that is clearly not chopped liver.Harriet Klausner