The Return of the Rabbi Detective

Hat tip and thanks to SoccerDad for both his link and the reference to Daled Amos' post, asking Why Are There So Few Rabbi Detectives?

Fans of Harry Kemelman's (z"l) Rabbi Small mysteries, Rabbi Joseph Telushkin's Rabbi Winter mysteries, and Faye Kellerman's Orthodox Jewish woman/cop-husband mysteries may be looking for good Jewish fiction/mysteries.

I'm happy to add my full-time rabbi/part-time detective to the waning mix. Here's what I said over at Daled Amos:

Although I'm a newcomer on the scene, I write a published Jewish fiction series that's a twist on the rabbi-detective mysteries. Not technically mysteries because there's no murder (yet), these are part mystery, part slice-of-life novels representing contemporary American Judaism.

The protagonist is Conservative Rabbi David Cohen, joined in the series by a Reform colleague and her Israeli-born secular husband, a Minneapolis cop. The second book welcomes the addition of a couple of Orthodox rabbis who are crucial to the plot.

Interwoven with the plot are textual references and deeper explorations of Torah and Jewish thought, bringing depth and perspective to his job, family, congregation and the larger story.

The first in the series, "Destined to Choose" was released in 2003. The second will come out this fall. You can read more, including the first chapter, at http://www.yaldahpublishing.com/books.htm#DTC.

I've long believed that we need updated versions of the rabbi detective, ones in which today's issues are as much at play as the plot problem to be solved. I've worked very hard to present a compelling ensemble of characters that span movements and philosophies, and to write books in which readers can see themselves and relate. I address this in somewhat more detail in an interview transcribed here: http://sheyna.galyan.com/SGIntrvw.pdf.

The next book comes out this fall, and I look forward to being able to say that the rabbi detective stories are far from dead.

Do You Blog Like You Talk?

I'll admit it: I'm a total geek. I was IM'ing with Husby (which we've occasionally done while in the same room with each other) and I realized that we both write differently than we speak, even to each other. I'm more relaxed, playful.

When I write for publication, I'm told I write like I talk. Readers have said they can "hear my voice" in articles and essays, as if I was delivering a speech or lecture instead of writing. When I blog, it's somewhere in between.

So how do you blog? If your readers were to meet you in person, would they recognize your blogging voice or style from talking with you? Would they never know because you show a side of yourself on your blog that you never do in "real life"? How is your blogging self different from your "real life" self?

I look forward to your answers! Feel free to pass along the question.

Learning

During a conversation on the way home, after picking Oldest Son up from school:

Me (wistfully): Wow, you're learning a lot of things I never got to learn.

Oldest Son: Yeah. Some of the things I'm learning I don't even know.

Yeah, I'm Talking to You

Seen in a car's window, while the car sat parked with the engine running, no driver in sight:

"Note to thieves: there is nothing worth stealing in this car."

Right. That ought to work.

You Go, Girl!

I can't help myself. This is from the current scene I'm writing and just brings a smile to my face:

Stuffing the cell phone into the tiny flat pocket in the front of her slacks, Batya hefted the weapon and tossed the chair aside, certain the psycho stalker wasn’t expecting a pissed off rabbi armed with a loaded shotgun.

Writing to Music

Writing to music helps the words flow, I've found, and eliminates the echoes of badly written sentences bouncing around in my head. The trick, however, is finding the right music.

Or perhaps the write music.

Today is a major writing day. I'm in the final major conflict scene and I'm resisting it because someone gets hurt in this one. Rather badly. I don't want to do that, but it's necessary. I've assured him he'll heal.

So the music I've chosen to write to is:

Backdraft: Soundrack
by Hans Zimmer

Shepherd Moons
by Enya

Broken Arrow: Soundtrack
by Hans Zimmer

Symphony No. 6
by Beethoven

Lifescapes: Relaxation for Women
by Amy Hayashi-Jones

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