Never heard of Max Spitzkopf, dubbed the “Yiddish Sherlock Holmes”? Join the club! And what a treat it is to read these 15 stories, translated by Mikhl Yashinsky and set in Galicia, now part of Poland and Ukraine, at the turn of the 20th century. No matter the case—a rabbi’s missing granddaughter, a banker accused of counterfeiting, a town fearful of a pogrom—Max comes to the rescue, aided by his assistant, Fuchs. There is as much fisticuffs as there is cunning, and the dialogue can be a bit barky. But the reader comes away with a vivid sense of Jewish life around Vienna before World War II, a sense only deepened by the fact that the author, Jonas Kreppel, was murdered in Buchenwald in 1940.
If Drew Nieporent had done nothing else in his life other than open Montrachet in Lower Manhattan in 1985, his name would be chiseled on the plaque of great restaurateurs of 20th-century Manhattan. Boned chicken thighs stuffed with sweetbreads! Squab with braised cabbage rolls! And what a white-Burgundy selection! He hired, then fired, David Bouley, even after getting three stars from The New York Times. Nieporent went on to open Tribeca Grill with Robert De Niro, followed by the original Nobu and a couple of branches with the same partner before getting cut out of future expansion. The details of the restaurant business are fascinating (tip to moms: let your kids become cowboys and not restaurant owners), but what gives the book its soul is Nieporent, whose struggles both personally and professionally make this an outstanding memoir.
This is Ken Jaworowski’s second novel, and, as good as his first one was, this one is even better, displaying a gift for characterization and plot that rivals Elmore Leonard and Lou Berney. The three main characters each speak in their own voices and in intersecting chapters, and how they all come together to solve their problems is a pleasure and, yes, a joy to behold. Are there dead bodies? Of course. But there is also humor, soul, and the kind of ending that allows you to imagine the rest any way you like.
Jim Kelly is the Books Editor at AIR MAIl. He can be reached at jkelly@airmail.news
