Murder Under the Fig Tree

September 15, 2017
Chloe determinedly flies to Ramallah when her friend Rania, a Palestinian Authority police detective, is arrested by the Israeli army as retribution for the political hornet's nest Chloe and Rania stirred during a recent murder investigation (Murder under the Bridge, 2015). Once there, however, the best plan she can muster is to prod Benny Lazar, Israeli police captain and reluctant ally, to request Rania's release to investigate the murder of Daoud, a young Palestinian man. Palestinian witnesses reported seeing Daoud fighting with Israeli soldiers before his shooting. But Israeli police assert that Daoud was killed by Palestinians who were suspicious that his Israeli friends had made him a collaborator. Rania finds the case even more complicated: Daoud was involved in Ramallah's clandestine LGBTQ scene, opening a whole new bag of motives. Raphael draws on her experience as a human-rights worker in Palestine to capture the Occupied Territories' intertwined grit and beauty. That and a cast of thoughtfully developed characters will appeal to readers interested in complex political thrillers, such as Parker Bilal's Makana mysteries.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)