Oy Vey, Maria! (Mrs. Kaplan Mysteries, Book 1) by Mark Reutlinger

 

Release date: October 27, 2021

Subgenre: Cozy Mystery

 

About Oy Vey, Maria!:

 

Rose Kaplan and her sidekick Ida are at it again. It's the holiday of Purim, and almost everyone at the Julius and Rebecca Cohen Home for Jewish Seniors is in costume for the Purim play. All except one, who will instead have to be fitted for a shroud. Once again, "Mrs. K" and Ida are called upon to solve the puzzle of a mysterious death at the Home. Described by Chanticleer Book Reviews as "at times more Lucy and Ethel than Holmes and Watson, with a soupcon of Miss Jane Marple," these geriatric amateur sleuths will keep you laughing, guessing, and maybe even learning a bissel Yiddish!

 

Excerpt:

 

As soon as I saw the car, I grabbed Mrs. K’s arm and said, “Rose, what is that Sophie is driving? It looks like it was used in the war and barely survived.”

“Yes, Ida. World War One, most likely.”

I will try to describe this machine. To say this car was big and old would be an understatement. The only time I have seen such cars before is in the movies, where nogoodniks like Albert Capone would sit in the back and smoke big cigars, unless they were being shot with machine guns, in which case the cars would end up looking like the colander I use to drain lentils. Its tuchis was up in the air and the front part down low, like it was one of those athletes in the Olympics getting ready to run a race. The body was painted black, although it had apparently been unpainted in several places. And oy, did it ever make a racket. And just to add frosting to the cake, it had bright red flames painted on the side, as if they were coming out of the motor. Maybe they were!

“I imagine,” Mrs. K commented, “this was at one time quite an elegant automobile. Sophie’s grandson probably didn’t have the heart to send this car to the junkyard, so he kept it around so people like us would have the pleasure of riding in it.” I don’t think she was being serious. Such a pleasure we can easily do without, thank you.

I was the first to reach the car, which was making a low rumbling sound, I imagined something like a very large lion or tiger makes when getting ready to leap on an unsuspecting gazelle. I gingerly turned the handle of the rear door and pulled. Nothing happened. I pulled harder. Nothing happened. Finally Mrs. K grasped the handle with me and we both pulled. Even a growling tiger was no match for the combined weight of two determined ladies. The door swung open and it was all Mrs. K and I could do to keep from ending up head over tuchis in an undignified heap on the ground.

When we had finally climbed into the back seat, the car took off with a jerk and a roar.

That poor gazelle didn’t have a chance!

The first thing we noticed when the car was moving was that we could not see anyone driving it. Looking over the high back of the front seat, we saw little Sophie peering over the top of the big steering wheel, the seat being pulled as far forward as possible so she could reach the pedals.

“Sophie,” Mrs. K said, loud enough to be heard over the engine roar, “are you sure you can drive this … this vehicle?”

Sophie looked back, meaning she was not looking where the car was going, and said with a smile, “Oh, yes, Rose. Isn’t it fun?”

If you define fun as having a heart attack, I suppose the answer was “yes.”

 

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About Mark Reutlinger: 

 

MARK REUTLINGER is an attorney and former law professor. He now writes novels in which the law is frequently broken, including his “Mrs. Kaplan” cozy mystery series (MRS. KAPLAN AND THE MATZOH BALL OF DEATH and A PAIN IN THE TUCHIS) and the political thrillers MADE IN CHINA and SISTER-IN-LAW: VIOLATION, SEDUCTION, AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (under the pen name M. R. Morgan). MURDER WITH STRINGS ATTACHED is his latest novel. He is also a reviewer for the New York Journal of Books.

Mark and his wife Analee live in University Place, Washington, where in addition to reading and writing he plays clarinet with the Tacoma Concert Band and enjoys tennis, biking, exotic cars, model railroading, and various arts and crafts. He has no idea where he finds the time for it all.

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