Rabbi Ben, hero of For Whom the Shofar Blows, A Scribe Dies in Brooklyn, and A Tale of Two Rabbis, is back with his latest and most dangerous case!
While in Israel planning his wedding to his beautiful and spunky fiancee, Miryam, Ben is summoned by a prominent Israeli rabbi. An elderly rabbi in an odd Chicago suburb has been murdered, and Ben is hired to shut down his charity and forward its records and cash to the Israeli rabbi. Then a second Chicagoland rabbi and his wife go missing. Arriving in the Windy City to sort out this mess, Ben is met by the FBI, who share their own suspicions about the charity and its donors.
While Al Capone and the wild years of the Chicago Outfit are long past, Ben discovers that organized crime still thrives in the northern suburbs, including gambling, loan sharking, human trafficking, extortion and murder. Plunged into a cutthroat world of shadowy small time hoods, Ben is forced to rely on his instincts as well as his martial arts skills to navigate his way through the confusing thoroughfares of Steins Township, Illinois, where most streets end in "stein"--Bodenstein, Rosenstein, Epstein, Orenstein, Mermelstein. When Ben accepts help from gangster Randolph Finkelstein's zaftig new wife, Lillian--the Bride of Finkelstein--he fears getting into hot water with Miryam, but instead finds himself in cold water. Lots and lots of cold water. While wearing a pair of cement overshoes.
For Rabbi Ben, this may prove to be one predicament where Taldumic reasoning won't save him!
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