Crafts and Life

The murder of an ultra-religious student seeking refuge in her home forces an investigative reporter to explore the seedy underside of South Beach’s glitzy nightclub scene and the insular world of Hasidic Judaism to find his killer.
Boca Raton reporter Becks Ruchinsky is surprised when her son, Gabe, brings a frightened young man home from college and asks her to hide him. Menachem left his Hasidic community under mysterious circumstances and fears being kidnapped. Grateful to the young man for befriending her son, whose Asperger’s makes friendships difficult, Becks takes in the boy. Six days later, he’s found floating in a canal.
Police insist Menachem’s drowning was an accident but Becks isn’t buying. Her investigation takes her from the gritty underworld of South Beach to secretive Hasidic communities in Miami and New York. With the help of her ex-gangster father and a nosy Hasidic shopkeeper, Becks discovers the leader of a cult-like religious community is subverting rabbinic law to conceal ugly truths. As she uncovers layer upon layer of lies and deceptions, Becks discovers her son’s life may depend on her ability to unearth these secrets.

An Interview With A Character

What is your full name?

Becks Ruchinsky (my husband’s last name is Gitlin but I don’t use it).  He, by the way, isn’t all that thrilled about my detecting and I’m not so happy about his trying to tell me what I can and can’t do.

What is your Profession?

I’m a former investigative reporter trying to make it as a food writer, about all I can handle while caring for a son with Asperber’s Syndrome. Problem is I keep getting roped into these murder investigations that take me into these strange subcultures of American Judaism.  In The Hasidic Rebbe’s Son I had to break into the insulated world of Hasidic Judaism and the South Beach night club to discover who killed an ultra-religious boy I was hiding.  Believe me, it wasn’t easy.

What is your current favourite book or movie?

I’m reading a lot of the late  Laurie Colwyn lately, an essayist and cookbook author who also wrote for the New York Times. My dream is to write and cook as well as she did. 

What is your go to comfort book or movie?

I find comfort in laughing, so I’ve watched “The Big Lebowsky” almost a dozen times.

If someone was to play you in a movie who would it be? OR what would be the character you would want to be in a book?

I come across like Bette Midler at her ditzyest until you get to know me, then figure out I have the steel spine of Meryl Streep in Iron Lady.

What is your ideal evening?

These days,  going out for a five course gourmet meal NOT cooked by me. I spend way too much time testing recipes for my next cookbook and conducting  murder investigations the police should be attending to.

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

March 30 – Mysteries with Character – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

March 30 – I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT

March 31 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

April 1 – Literary Gold – CHARACTER GUEST POST

April 2 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – SPOTLIGHT. RECIPE

April 3 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW

April 4 – A Wytch’s Book Review Blog – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

April 4 – I Read What You Write – GUEST POST

April 5 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

April 6 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT, RECIPE

April 7 – Cassidy’s Bookshelves – REVIEW

April 8 – Novels Alive – GUEST POST

April 9 – StoreyBook Reviews – GUEST POST

April 9 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT

April 10 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

April 11 – Reading Author’s Network – REVIEW, RECIPE

April 12 – Maureen’s Musings – REVIEW

April 12 – BookishKelly2020 – SPOTLIGHT