OY VEY, MARIA by Mark Reutling

Fiction, Cozy Mystery

3***

Blurb: 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!

THOUGHTS: We’re off and running (or rather, slow-walking) with Rose and Ida again in this third book in the Mrs. Kaplan mystery series. In this one, the daughter of a resident comes to Rose and Ida and asks them for help in checking on the woman who was hired to be a companion to her mother. Naomi (daughter) doesn’t trust Maria (helper) and thinks she’s stealing Miriam’s (mother) money. They do find out some nasty things about Maria, but finding her dead body at the Purim celebration was not one of them. The police think they have the killer from the outset, but Rose and Ida aren’t so sure. They go forward to discover the real killer with the same interest in finding the truth as in other books.

I had a little trouble with this book. I still love Rose and Ida and the Yiddish is flying fast and furious, but there’s a little too much. There is a lot of banter between the ladies and others to wade through which can be off-putting. Like the other stories, Ida is the one telling the story and letting us know what’s happening. She says that she is Watson to Rose’s Sherlock. There is a great deal of humor – like the homemade pickles in the toilet tank and a lot of tea drinking (often with schnapps). And I love the way the Inspector enjoys the ladies. The ending was a bit of a surprise, but not totally so well done.