Book Review: Mrs. Kaplan and the Matzoh Ball of Death by Mark Reutlinger

Mrs. Kaplan and the Matzoh Ball of Death

By Mark Reutlinger

Publisher: Alibi

Published: Nov. 18, 2014

ASIN: B00KK0PJJ2

Amazon Synopsis:

Move over, Miss Marple—Mark Reutlinger’s charming cozy debut introduces readers to the unforgettable amateur sleuth Rose Kaplan and her loyal sidekick, Ida.

Everyone knows that Rose Kaplan makes the best matzoh ball soup around—she’s a regular matzoh ball maven—so it’s no surprise at the Julius and Rebecca Cohen Home for Jewish Seniors when, once again, Mrs. K wins the honor of preparing the beloved dish for the Home’s seder on the first night of Passover.

But when Bertha Finkelstein is discovered facedown in her bowl of soup, her death puts a bit of a pall on the rest of the seder. And things go really meshugge when it comes out that Bertha choked on a 

diamond earring earlier stolen from resident Daisy Goldfarb. Suddenly Mrs. K is the prime suspect in the police investigation of both theft and murder. Oy vey—it’s a recipe for disaster, unless Rose and her dear friend Ida can summon up the chutzpah to face down the police and solve the mystery themselves.

Book Links

Amazon  *  Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Mrs. Kaplan and the Matzoh Ball of Death was a wonderful cozy mystery that takes place in a retirement community (assisted care facility) for Jewish seniors. The story is told by Ida, Mrs. Kaplan’s sidekick in her misadventures.

Mrs. Kaplan is blamed for the death of another senior who happened to die while eating some of Mrs. Kaplan’s winning Matzoh Ball soup for Seder. Mrs. K. takes to sleuthing to see if she can clear her name as she doesn’t trust the authorities to do a proper job.

Filled with Yiddish terminology, just like you might find when you were speaking with your grandmother whose first language was not English, the author makes these senior citizens feel just like you are talking to slightly forgetful older women and men. Ida and Mrs. K’s antics are quite humorous considering their ages!

I would have enjoyed meeting Mrs. K and Ida because they seemed to have a lot of gumption and I think they would have been very fun ladies to chat with. I liked the character that the author developed for them.

I thoroughly enjoyed this cozy mystery and gave it 4 stars out of 5.

Thank you to the publishers through NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.