Yom Kippur Murder (Christine Bennett Mysteries) [Mass Market Paperback]

Lee Harris (Author)

Book Description

Series: Christine Bennett Mysteries | Publication Date: September 23, 1992

When ex-nun Christine Bennett can't get into her friend Mr. Herskovitz's apartment to accompany him to Yom Kippur services, she discovers that he's been murdered. The police arrest someone almost immediately, but Chris isn't ready to end her own investigation . . .

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ex-nun/amateur sleuth Chris Bennett befriends three elderly tenants, the last holdouts in a bitter dispute with a landlord who wants to gut their building on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Bennett promises to take one of the tenants, Nathan Herskovitz, to synagogue on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. But when she shows up at the old man's apartment, she discovers only a bloody corpse. The police quickly arrest Jesus Ramirez, a small-time criminal with a long rap sheet and ties to the landlord. When this suspect doesn't pan out, Bennett starts digging, beginning with the dead man's estranged children and then methodically interviewing every mourner who attends Hershovitz's funeral. She soon discovers that Herskovitz had a previous family that he had kept hidden from his second family and she hears conflicting accounts of his activities during the Holocaust. Was he a hero or a man who would save the lives of the highest bidders? While the plot moves along competently enough, there are few surprises. More disappointingly, Harris ( The Good Friday Murder ) puts Bennett's past in a convent to little use beyond imbuing her with an admirable social conscience. The author also makes some mistakes regarding Jewish ritual.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Publisher

I always look forward to a new mystery by Lee Harris. Her novels about ex-nun Christine Bennett are in that central range between cozy and hardboiled -- the perfect balance. Ever since I encountered Christine Bennett in THE GOOD FRIDAY MURDER, which was nominated for an Edgar Award as best first novel, I've been fascinated by the author's depiction and development of her heroine -- Christine matures in surprising (but always believeable ways) as the series continues. It would be hard to pick my favorite Lee Harris mystery, but certainly among my favorites is THE CHRISTENING DAY MURDER, in which a thirty-year-old unsolved murder has impact on present-day menace.

--Joe Blades, Associate Publisher

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Fawcett (September 23, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449147630
• ISBN-13: 978-0449147634
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.6 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #587,025 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good story, and a mystery that held my interest., January 28, 2000

By 

Monica K. Van Ness (Aurora, CO United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Yom Kippur Murder (Christine Bennett Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Lee Harris has done a decent job of creating a character that is not only an amateur sleuth, but an ex-nun. Christine Bennett comes across as a balanced person who has decided to make a major change in her life, and takes the time to try to slowly learn a new way to live. And she just happens to get caught up in murders and mysteries along the way. And this story involves everything from people who escaped Nazi Germany to rare books that are worth large sums of money. The only part of the story that I didn't care quite so much for was how easily the ex-nun seemed to decide it was time to fall into bed with someone she liked. Especially after she had earlier said something about how she didn't want this sort of thing to be tied up with the reasons why she left the convent. She had other reasons. I felt that this situation was rushed, and it did feel like the character simply "fell" into it. Almost as if the whole thing was just expected, and would happen anyway, so why not now? Didn't sit well with me.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SUPER MYSTERY SERIES, August 13, 2000

By 

Karen Boml "Kiki" (Hudson, NH) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Yom Kippur Murder (Christine Bennett Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

In this, the second Christine Bennett (ex-nun) mystery, Christine investigates the beating death of her friend, elderly Mr. Herskovitz, one of a few tenants who refused to leave his condemned apartment building........ Clues from finding out about his past life in Nazi Germany, to a rare book, helps Christine finally get to the murderer......... You won't be disappointed in any books from this series....Christine and her boyfriend, Jack Brooks, work well together, and their relationship just blossoms so realistically! Very likeable and intelligent leading characters, and books that keep us guessing right up to the end! Hooray for Lee Harris!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fresh and interesting, March 18, 2000

By 

Christina P. Branson "Strixaluco" (Fort Collins) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Yom Kippur Murder (Christine Bennett Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Harris's ex-nun sleuth defies cutesy stereotypes and makes a convincing, thought-provoking, and likable heroine. Christine Bennett delves into the mystery surrounding the Yom Kippur beating death of her Jewish friend, Mr. Herskovitz. Suspecting there is more to the case than an unscrupulous slumlord trying to get rid of a holdout tenant, Christine traces Mr. Herskovitz's life back to his days as a newcomer to America. What she discovers is a well-educated, controversial man whose passions ran deep -- and inspired in others emotions that spanned the decades and might have gotten him killed.

This could have degenerated into a gimmicky throwaway mystery, but Harris made it a solid novel with good characters. I do, however, take issue with that magic phone number Christine's travel agent friend called to find an important clue. As a former travel agent, I can assure you that there is no such thing. Before she could even *ask* for that information, she'd need to know the airline, the IATA number of the agency issuing the tickets, and most likely the PNR for the itinerary...in which case she'd have the information she was asking for, which would certainly arouse the suspicions of any airline agent she consulted.