Oy Vey, Maria!, a Mrs. Kaplan Mystery by Mark Reutlinger

Oy Vey, Maria!, a Mrs. Kaplan Mystery by Mark Reutlinger
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

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!

Retirement is anything but restful for these folks.

Rose and Ida were both unapologetically fascinated with the lives of those around them. They were the sort of characters who could be quickly counted on to know all sorts of tidbits of information about their neighbors like who might be sick or planning to do something unusual in the near future. I found a great deal of amusement in seeing how these two women gathered their information and what they did with it.

It would have been nice to have a little more time developing the mystery. As much as I enjoyed seeing the characters banter with each other, sometimes these scenes did overshadow their attempts to solve the murder. If a few more clues had been shared and the plot had pushed forward faster, I would have felt comfortable giving this a full five-star review.

I loved the narrator’s sense of humor. Ida had a firm understanding of what she wanted out of life and was certain she knew the right way to go about seeking it out. When things didn’t turn out how she thought they would, her reactions to those moments often made me chuckle. She had a quick wit and wasn’t afraid to show it off.

This is part of a series, but it can be read as a standalone work.

Oy Vey, Maria!, a Mrs. Kaplan Mystery was a lighthearted read.