Reviewing: “Seven Blessings and a Murder” by Barbara Bensoussan. Independently published. 2024. Paperback. 231 pages. ISBN-13: 979-8338125144.
A frum whodunit? Agatha Christie meets a rosh yeshiva?
Our frum literature is full of suspense novels and terror plots, but it’s rare to find a murder mystery in the classic style. That’s why I was excited to pick up Flatbush author Barbara Bensoussan’s latest novel, “Seven Blessings and a Murder.” It did not disappoint!
Bensoussan is known in the Jewish world as a prolific journalist for Mishpacha magazine and Jewish Action, and the author of the much-loved “Pride and Preference” (Menucha Publications). That was a great read that transposes Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” into our very own frum Brooklyn, turning Jane and Elizabeth into Shaina and Aliza. She also penned a young adult novel entitled “A New Song” and an entertaining account of her foray into the Sephardic world via the kitchen, in the culinary memoir “A Well-Spiced Life.”
“Seven Blessings and a Murder” is not the typical frum novel: for one thing, the main characters are all Sephardic, a mix of Syrian and Moroccan. “I think regular, modern Sephardim tend to be underrepresented in frum fiction,” Bensoussan told me. “We mostly only see them getting burned at the stake in 1492.”
In this novel, Lakewood-based newlyweds Ezra and Dalia Sutton are thrilled to learn that Ezra’s wayward brother Danny has decided to settle down, having become engaged to a beautiful Israeli model. The wedding is set to take place in Jerusalem, so a colorful cast of family and friends from three continents and many religious levels converge there for the simcha. But during the festivities, someone dies under mysterious circumstances, and the fun begins.
Bensoussan related that she opted to self-publish this novel to retain editorial freedom, reach a wider audience and make the book more affordable by offering it as a paperback and ebook. “The book is squeaky-clean by secular standards, but just a tiny bit edgy for the very haredi press,” she said. “For example, Danny’s non-religious fiancée is a model who aspires to work in film. It’s something that’s mentioned but not dwelt upon — in fact, the main characters expressly disapprove of it — but it still wouldn’t fly for a haredi publisher.”
I found the international cast of characters lots of fun and it was refreshing to read a light but beautifully written mystery with a non-typical cast, set in my favorite city in the world. And the ending truly took me by surprise Five stars!
“Seven Blessings and a Murder” is available in paperback on Amazon and other platforms, and on sale at Maayan Judaica in Teaneck.
