Holy Smoke

December 10, 2012
Ramsay’s entertaining second Jerusalem mystery set in the first century C.E. (after 2012’s The Eighth Veil) finds Rabban Gamliel, the chief rabbi of Israel, drawn once again into a murder case against his will. When a burnt corpse surfaces at the Holy of Holies in the temple, some of the devout believe that the victim was consumed by divine fire for daring to enter the sacred site. But Gamliel is unconvinced, as is the Greek leader, Loukas, especially since the burn marks don’t cover the entire body. With high priest Caiaphas incensed by the growing popularity of a certain messianic figure, there’s enough political turmoil in the city to make detecting almost impossible. While the prose, plotting, and characterization may fall short of the best in the historical subgenre, Ramsay earns high marks for the series’ premise. Readers should be prepared for the occasional anachronism, such as Loukas’s exposition of a Schrodinger’s Cat–like phenomenon.

December 15, 2012
A rabbi is yet again forced to use his skills in critical thinking to solve a murder. Gamaliel, the Rabban of the Sanhedrin, interprets the law for all of Judea, which is suffering under repressive Roman rule in A.D. 29. When a badly burnt body is discovered behind the veil in the temple's inner sanctum, the high priest, Caiaphas, is eager to write it off as divine punishment. Gamaliel and Caiaphas are always arguing over Caiaphas' obsession with itinerant preachers like Jesus. Gamaliel, who feels that they are doing no harm, ignores Caiaphas' wishes and enlists the aid of his friend, the physician Loukas. They quickly discover that the dead man was not a Jew, was a murder victim, and must have been brought to the inner sanctum by the killer, who bribed the Temple guards. Loukas' Assyrian friend Ali bin Selah shares his interest in the healing arts and has brought Loukas a potent painkiller for his dying servant. But bin Selah's activities while in Jerusalem arouse the rabbi's suspicious nature. As the deaths mount, Gamaliel realizes that both he and Loukas are being followed and may be in danger from a killer whose motive remains unknown. Although Gamaliel ignores Caiaphas, he cannot ignore Pontius Pilate, who's had good reason to admire the rabbi's skills as a detective ever since he solved a murder in the king's palace (The Eighth Veil, 2012). The Rabban regrets having to help Pilate, but he cannot overlook the violation of the Temple or the murders that have followed. The second in a trilogy set in first-century Jerusalem not only offers a finally wrought mystery, but includes intriguing information on the religious and secular life of the period.

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