Chil­dren’s

Tem­pest in the Tea Room: An Ezra Melamed Mystery

  • Review
By – November 8, 2013

Oh for the days of yore when a mys­tery was chal­leng­ing, sophis­ti­cat­ed, and lit­er­ary; when echoes of his­to­ry resound­ed as the pages qui­et­ly rus­tled. Well, rejoice, mys­tery lovers, this young adult to adult detec­tive tale, British to the bone, is redo­lent of Jane and her draw­ing room, Sher­lock and his irregu­lars, Agatha and her sleuths, Oliv­er and his orphans, Napoleon and his armies, and maybe a touch of blood libel for good mea­sure. There are poi­son­ings, miss­ing jew­els, medi­cal exper­i­ments, con­test­ed wills, reopened graves — not an ele­ment has been missed! Atmos­phere abounds; sus­pense is pal­pa­ble. Jew­ish detec­tive Ezra Melamed, true to his name, once again wise­ly saves the day. This high­ly rec­om­mend­ed page-turn­er is the third in a series which this review­er hopes will have a long, healthy, and hearty run. Ages 12 and up will love this one.

Michal Hoschan­der Malen is the edi­tor of Jew­ish Book Coun­cil’s young adult and children’s book reviews. A for­mer librar­i­an, she has lec­tured on top­ics relat­ing to lit­er­a­cy, run book clubs, and loves to read aloud to her grandchildren.

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