Death and Blintzes: A Belle Appleman Mystery

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Summary: Welcome to the Family, Mrs. Appleman
Review: As the husband and father of two of your authors (Alicia Appleman-Jurman and Daniel Appleman), I welcome the addition of the first fictional character to our family. Belle Appleman reads like the kind of person who would fit right in with the rest of us Jewish Applemans. She thinks for herself, has an inquiring mind and a lot of Khutzpah. I couldn't put the book down...as a purely mystery story it is good, but there are better. As a character study, more typical of her generation than many might admit, Belle seems to me typical of the great majority of the wave of Jewish immigration preceeding and immediately after the first World War who threw aside their European traditions..she wanted to become an American and lead a normal life, even if, in her case, this included becoming an amateur detective. Gabriel Appleman

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Summary: This is a very enjoyable book, more History than Mystery.
Review: Dorothy & Sidney Rosen's "Death & Blintzes" is a loving and very entertaining look at a specific place and time: West Boston, 1936, where somewhat-Americanized Jewish immigrants nervously explore a great new world. Sometimes it's the best of everything--great "nosherai" and fabulous movie stars--and sometimes it's a little frightening, as when a worker can lose a non-Union job through no fault of her own. Garment worker/detective Belle Appleman is a 36-year-old widow who enjoys her world but treats it with appropriate caution. When a fellow factory worker is killed, who but Belle would have the chutzpah to "help" the Boston Police Department find the murderer? This book is soft-boiled in the best sense of the word, although sex and violence are both treated in a matter-of-fact way. The novel's strength is in its honesty to a time and place which may well be forgotten by the time the next generation of American Jews comes of age.