A small-town cozy mystery with a quirky amateur sleuth, a murdered nanny, and a pampered show poodle at the center of the case—Normal, Kentucky has another problem on its hands.
Mae West is settling into her new life. She is the owner of Happy Trails Campground. At the campground, RV living, Southern hospitality, and gossip all travel fast. Normal is usually quiet this time of late summer. However, chaos erupts in the town when Mae takes a cleaning job at the mansion of heiress Tammy Jo Bentley. With the Kentucky Kennel Association’s annual gathering about to descend on the estate, even the poodle has security.
Fifi Bentley—prized, pampered, insured, and treated like royalty—is set to charm every top breeder in the region. But when Fifi’s devoted nanny, Camille Braun, is found murdered just days before the big event, Normal’s newest scandal threatens both the kennel show and the town’s reputation.
Tammy Jo begs Mae to help uncover the truth. Mae has already shown she is talented at solving small-town mysteries. This delights the Laundry Club Ladies but frustrates the sheriff. Local tourism, business, and Happy Trails itself are on the line. Mae refuses to let a killer ruin the town she’s finally come to call home.
With the Laundry Club Ladies sleuthing at her side, Mae digs into a world of dog-show politics. She encounters jealous rivals and unravels small-town secrets. The victim may have been hiding more than anyone realized.
In Normal, Kentucky, nothing is simple—unless you count murder. And Mae West is determined to sniff out the truth before another body turns up.
A warm, witty, Southern cozy mystery in development for a Hallmark Channel television adaptation, perfect for readers who love quirky characters, small-town secrets, and a dash of homicide with their hospitality.
Small-town Southern charm, a down-on-her-luck amateur sleuth, and a campground with a murder problem—Normal, Kentucky is anything but normal.
Mae West loses everything after her husband’s massive Ponzi scheme collapses. She’s left with something she never asked for: a rundown campground in Kentucky. There’s also a set of old camper keys. Determined to rebuild her life, Mae heads to Normal hoping for peace, quiet, and maybe a little sweet tea.
Instead, she gets FBI agents, furious townspeople, and a dead body floating in her own lake.
Now Mae is the number-one suspect in a murder she didn’t commit, and the only way to clear her name is to team up with the quirky locals—including the Laundry Club Ladies, a gossip-loving group of sleuths who treat crime-solving like a community sport. Mae encounters suspicious neighbors. She discovers buried town secrets. The sheriff is equal parts handsome and exasperated. Mae quickly learns that her new home comes with more mysteries than amenities.
But if there’s one thing Mae refuses to lose again…it’s her freedom.
A Camper & Criminals Cozy Mystery is a warm, witty, Southern whodunit series now in development for a Hallmark Channel television adaptation. Perfect for readers who love small-town secrets, clever amateur sleuths, and mysteries served with humor, friendship, and a touch of homicide.
The rabbi looks into a professor’s death, in the New York Times–bestselling series that’s “the American equivalent of the British cozy” (Booklist). Rabbi Small has retired from his job at the synagogue in Barnard’s Crossing, Massachusetts. He now teaches Judaic studies at a Boston college. The rabbi finally enjoys theological contemplation without the annoyance of temple politics. He is shocked when one of his colleagues is found dead in his car. The clues at the scene point to murder.
The deceased English professor was notoriously selfish. He held long-standing grudges against other members of the faculty. Therefore, the list of suspects is long. But the rabbi who took over Small’s position in Barnard’s Crossing is implicated. Small must clear his name. He needs to find the true killer one last time.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Vintage Kemelman—clean prose, quiet wit, absorbing characters, and revealing conversations, with David’s discourses on Judaism as fascinating as ever.” —Publishers Weekly
“Ingenious . . . Highly recommended.” —TheNew York Times on Thursday the Rabbi Walked Out
“A first-rate mystery.” —The New Yorker on Friday the Rabbi Slept Late
From the Publisher
When I was a young boy, the first real mystery I ever read was FRIDAY THE RABBI SLEPT LATE. I loved reading about a rabbi solving crimes. When I went to temple while studying for my Bar Mitzvah, during the rabbi’s sermons I’d try to imagine him catching the myriad murderers in Barnard’s Crossing; somehow, he just wasn’t quite Rabbi David Small. And it was more than just the Jewish protagonist that drew me to the writing of Harry Kemelman; it was the spirit with which he told the story. When I came to Ballantine, I was so happy to be able to work on these terrific books. Unfortunately, Mr. Kemelman passed away shortly after THAT DAY THE RABBI LEFT TOWN was published. There may be no more new Rabbi David Small mysteries coming, but that won’t prevent me from revisiting an old friend, time and time again.
Mark Rifkin, Managing Editorial
From the Inside Flap
Times Book Review called Harry Kemelman’s last Rabbi Small novel, The Day the Rabbi Resigned, “a deft murder mystery. . .very smooth and wonderfully sly.” Now, in The Day the Rabbi Left Town, America’s most unorthodox detective deserts his old haunts for new challenges. But the more things change the more they stay the same, especially where murder is concerned. . . .
Having resigned as rabbi of Barnard’s Crossing Temple, Rabbi David Small is delighted to accept the newly created post of Professor of Judaic Studies at Windermere College in Boston. The position is just what he wanted, even though the English faculty, with whom he is temporarily domiciled, appears oddly unsettled by his presence.
Nevertheless, when an elderly English professor disappears during a snowy Thanksgiving weekend, no one expects him to turn up dead. Professor Kent’s body is found in a snowdrift–very near the home of an English Department colleague and the home of Barnard’s Crossing’s new r
About the Author
Harry Kemelman (1908–1996) was best known for his popular rabbinical mystery series featuring the amateur sleuth Rabbi David Small. Kemelman wrote twelve novels in the series. The first of these, Friday the Rabbi Slept Late, won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel. This book was also adapted as an NBC made-for-TV movie. The Rabbi Small Mysteries inspired the NBC television show Lanigan’s Rabbi. Kemelman’s novels garnered praise for their unique combination of mystery and Judaism. With Rabbi Small, the author created a protagonist. Rabbi Small played a part-time detective with wit and charm. Kemelman also wrote a series of short stories about Nicky Welt. Nicky Welt was a college professor who used logic to solve crimes. The stories were published in a collection entitled The Nine Mile Walk.
Aside from being an award-winning novelist, Kemelman, originally from Boston, was also an English professor.
Rabbi Small has left the synagogue, but he’s not done with sleuthing, in this “engaging” mystery from the New York Times–bestselling author (New York Newsday).
Edgar Award–Winning Author
Rabbi David Small has dealt with temple politics for three decades. He has also been involved in more than a handful of murder investigations. Now, he is ready to retire from his synagogue in the cozy Boston suburb of Barnard’s Crossing. For years, his secret desire has been to permanently take up teaching. When he finally leaves the synagogue to pursue that dream, life at a university proves more dangerous than he thought.
Late at night, a notoriously ambitious college professor dies in a car wreck. The academic had been drinking heavily, but evidence suggests that the crash might not have been an accident. The local police are stumped. They enlist the only detective they know. His astute eye and quick mind come from a higher power: Rabbi Small.
On a trip to the Holy Land, Rabbi Small is drawn into a deadly conflict between religious extremists in the New York Times–bestselling series. Retired millionaire Barney Berkowitz, from the small Massachusetts town of Barnard’s Crossing, invites Rabbi David Small to come to Israel and bar mitzvah him, as Berkowitz never went through the ceremony in his youth. On what should be a joyous occasion—and an all-expenses-paid trip to the Holy Land—the rabbi discovers danger lurking in every corner and a conspiracy that threatens to destroy the state of Israel.
An innocent American has been murdered and when the sleuthing rabbi begins his investigation, he finds the death may have been part of an international conspiracy fueled by religious radicals and an arms-smuggling scheme. Anyone, from a liberal Jewish-American professor to a young religious fundamentalist, could be a suspect—and the rabbi must rely on his Talmudic logic and daring chutzpah to untangle the mystery and prevent an even more deadly attack.
Book Reviews by the Reluctant Retiree 