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| BATYA GUR |
- 1992 The Saturday Morning Murder: A Psychoanalytic Case
- 1993 Literary Murder: A Critical Case
- 1994 Murder on a Kibbutz: a Communal Case
- 2000 Murder Duet: a Musical Case
- 2004 Bethlehem Road Murder: A Michael Ohayon Mystery
- 2006 Murder in Jerusalem: A Michael Ohayon Mystery
I am not sure that Batya Gur is forgotten. Her last book is only seven years old. But I can't remember her ever being mentioned on here. And although I've only read 2-3 of her books, I enjoyed them. Gur's books are set in Israel and for me learning about another culture enhances almost any book. Even if the world is shrinking, and foreign doesn't mean what it once did, we are still transported geographically if in no other way.
Gur was born in 1947 to Holocaust survivors. She didn't begin the Ohayon series until she was in her late thirties. In each book she takes her detective into a closed society and lets him work his way in to solve the crime. In her first book THE SATURDAY MORNING MURDERS, he must come to understand something about psychoanalysis to solve the death of a female analyst. Likewise he must come to understand the closed society of a Kibbutz to crack the 1994 novel MURDER ON A KIBBUTZ, and then the life of concert musicians in MURDER DUET.
These are highly literate crime stories that often sacrifice immersion in detection for an exploration of another issue. It was a good tradeoff for me, but I am not sure how popular these novels were outside Israel and the Jewish community abroad. I thought the ones I read were very fine.
Gur died in her fifties, bringing an abrupt end to the series. I understand they were made into a TV series in Israel.
Today's Links
Sergio Angelini, DREADFUL SUMMIT, Stanley Ellin
Joe Barone, THE CON MAN, Ed McBain
Les Blatt, GAUDY NIGHT, Dorothy L. Sayers
Brian Busby, The Career of Canadian Writer, Elinor Glyn
Bill Crider, Loverlooked Magazines, SUSPENSE, Fall, 1951
Martin Edwards, SPEEDY DEATH, Gladys Mitchell
Curt Evans, A CRY FROM THE DARK, LAST POST, Robert Barnard
Ed Gorman, TREE OF SMOKE, Denis Johnson
Jerry House, STILL SMALL VOICE, THE BIOGRAPHY OF ZONA GALE, August Delerth
Randy Johnson, MOMENT OF UNTRUTH, Ed Lacy
Nick Jones, HIS NEIGHBOR"S WIFE, Peter Rabe
George Kelley, MASTERS OF SCIENCE FICTION, Vol 1-4, MACK REYNOLDS
Margot Kinberg, FULL DARK HOUSE, Christopher Fowler
Rob Kitchin, SIX BAD THINGS, Charlie Huston
B.V. Lawson, THE SLIPPER MYSTERY, Augusta Huiell Seaman
Evan Lewis. THE ROMAN HAT MYSTERY, Ellery Queen
Steve Lewis, SHOOT HIM ON SIGHT, William Colt MacDonald
Todd Mason,THE UNKNOWN, edited by D.R. Bensen
Neer, THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTH, Frantz Fanon
Mike Nevins, I, THE JURY, Mickey Spillane
J.F. Norris, SONG OF KALI, Dan Simmons
James Reasoner, BEGGARS OF LIFE, Jim Tully
Richard Robinson, CRIME THROUGH TIME, edited by Miriam Grace Monfredo and Sharan Newman
Gerard Saylor WHEN THE KILLING STARTS, Ted Wood
Michael Slind, THE MASTER OF THE RAIN, Tom Bradby
Kerrie Smith, A SHROUD FOR A NIGHTINGALE, P.D. James
Kevin Tipple, SHOT TO DEATH, 31 NEFARIOUS STORIES OF NEW ENGLAND, Stephen D. Rogers
TomCat, THE EASTERN SHIVER, Janwillem van de Wetering
Prashant Trikannad, THE HESSIAN, HOWARD FAST
Jim Winter, SEVEN UP, Janet Evanovich
Zybahn, CROW LAKE, Mary Lawson
A story of mine BURNT THE FIRE is up on Shotgun Honey today.
10 comments:
Hi Patti. Ta for the Spy Who Came in from the Cold link, but I actually posted a perhaps more suitable forgotten book earlier today:
http://www.existentialennui.com/2013/03/peter-rabe-and-sleaze-paperbacks-feat.html
I often end up picking up books through this feature but I haven't been able to follow it for a couple of weeks. Maybe next week I'll get to check it out more carefully again.
third attempt at the captcha phrase.
Thanks for the update, Patti!
I've not read anything by Gur so thanks ery much for the introduction (so to speak).
Oh my! How much I loved to read Batya Gur. I think I read them all. I was sad when I heard she had died of cancer. I recommend these books highly.
Remnants of illness and the ceaseless tides of the workplace have conspired to bring me face to face with a FFB from 2009 I'm happy with, and one that wasn't too terribly widely read at the time (though kindly commented upon). Now with more book covers added. Thanks! (And, I, too, rememember Gur...though I've only read a little by her so far...).
Be aware that the numbers in the captchas are optional, if you haven't noted that previously...the letters are often illegible enough.
http://socialistjazz.blogspot.com/2013/03/ffb-unknown-5-edited-by-d-r-bensen.html
Patti, thanks very much for including my review of THE HESSIAN by Howard Fast.
Please note that there is a film about Batya Gur:
http://elizabethfoxwell.blogspot.com/2012/05/batya-gur-on-film.html
Thanks so much as always, Patti, for including my post :-)
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