The Tattooed Rabbi

I'm plugging a book and a book signing.

You're welcome.

Marvin J. Wolf will be signing copies of his new book, the first in the Rabbi Ben series, next Sunday (January 22, 2012) at Venice' Temple Mishkon Tephilo, 206 Main Street. at 11 am in the Social Hall.

This book gets featured on the HistoryLosAngeles Blog because I found wonderful tidbits of LA history hidden among the mystery's clues and threads: the tangled ownership and operation of Jewish cemeteries, including Hillside; the cache of stolen law books, untended dynamite and grenades that forced the evacuation of the Arco Towers downtown (remember that? 1986--here's the Los Angeles Times story); the kosher restaurants; much more.

What the LA Times piece doesn't say, and what is only hinted at in the book, is that the criminal who hid the dynamite and grenades under the Arco Towers actually lived by stealing books from law libraries and reselling them to law students. Wolf turns the story into a fascinating anecdote in person, but I was unable to find it via Google.

The Tattooed Rabbi is one of those great mysteries that leaves no real lose ends, even though it's the first in a series, yet hints at a bigger story to be revealed in the fullness of time.

Best of all, it wraps you up in an exotic subculture that most of us know little about.

I'll be posting a review on Amazon soon.