Fax Me a Bagel
Fax Me a Bagel is a 1998 mystery novel written by Sharon Kahn and published by Berkley Publishing Group.[1] It is the first book in the Ruby, the Rabbi's Wife series, followed by Never Nosh a Matzo Ball.[2]
| Author | Sharon Kahn |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Mystery |
| Published | 1998 |
| Publisher | Berkley Publishing Group |
| Media type | Print (hardcover & paperback) |
| Followed by | Never Nosh a Matzo Ball |
The novel, set in the fictional town of Eternal, Texas, follows Ruby Rothman, the widow of a rabbi, investigating a murder at a local bakery involving a poisoned bagel.
Plot summary
Fax Me a Bagel is set in the fictional town of Eternal, Texas and follows the story of Ruby Rothman. Ruby is a computer consultant and also the widowed wife of the local rabbi, Stu, who was killed in an unresolved hit and run. Ruby and Stu's son, Joshie, attends college at a nearby university. In addition to the standard dialogue and prose, the novel also features excerpts from the email correspondence between Ruby and an old friend named Nan, a paralegal living in Seattle.
The story begins with Ruby arriving at The Hot Bagel, a popular local bakery, run by a longtime friend of her late husband's, Milt Aboud. While at the bakery, Ruby runs into Essie Sue Margolis, an unpleasant, overbearing woman who is very involved with the local synagogue. Essie Sue is accompanied by her sister, Marla. Their visit to the bakery takes a dark turn when Marla drops dead while eating a bagel.
Ruby attends Marla's funeral and meets Marla's daughter, Glenda. Glenda went to college with Milt and almost married him, but ultimately didn't receive her mother's blessing, so the relationship fizzled out. The police become convinced that Milt is the killer, having both the motive and the means to have committed the crime. Milt is soon arrested. Ruby agrees to help run The Hot Bagel in his absence. Ruby is assisted by Milt's wife, Grace, and has to deal with Milt's three unruly employees, Carol, Gus, and Bryan. Meanwhile, Essie Sue decides to raise funds for a statue of Queen Esther in memory of her sister. Essie Sue also pushes for the board of the synagogue to appoint a new rabbi, introducing her own candidate to fill the position, the unlikable Kevin Kapstein. Ruby speaks with fellow board member and attorney Turner Goldman, convincing him to take Milt's case. In addition to all of this, Ruby also discovers a possible connection between Stu's own mysterious death and the murder. Looking through his records, Ruby finds that Stu was threatened by an unidentified person to stay away from Milt and the Hot Bagel. Heading home from the Hot Bagel one night, Ruby herself is almost run over by a speeding car and becomes convinced the same person who threatened her husband is now out to get her.
Ruby receives an invitation to attend her late husband's Uncle Aaron's eightieth birthday party in New York City. She decides to go so she can investigate a possible connection between Milt's family and the Bagel Bakers Local 338, a defunct union of bagel bakers. Union membership was only open to the sons of current members. Anyone who wasn't a member of the club wasn't allowed to sell bagels in New York City. Aaron was a member of the union, so Ruby thinks he will provide her with information. Flying out to New York City with her son, Joshie, Ruby finds Aaron unwilling to talk. However, she gets much information out of Aaron's grandson, Nathan, who has taken up his family's bagel baking tradition and knows many stories about the days of the union. Nathan shows Ruby a photo of Aaron posing with two men, Irv Sebran and his brother, Carl. Irv, Milt's biological father, abandoned his family when Milt was just two years old. However, after Irv died, he left an inheritance of ten thousand dollars and his family's secret bagel recipe to Milt, which Milt used to start the Hot Bagel. Ruby cannot find information about Irv's brother, Carl, learning only that the two brothers had some kind of falling out. Ruby and Joshie leave New York City, with Nathan promising to keep in touch if he finds anything.
Back home, Ruby learns Turner Goldman has gone to Oklahoma to substitute for a friend who became unexpectedly sick during the course of a trial. Turner was supposed to work with Essie Sue on organizing Kevin Kapstein's installation ceremony and the ball to raise funds for the Queen Esther statue to be held immediately afterwards. Owing Turner a favor for taking Milt's case, Ruby is forced to take his position and work with Essie Sue in organizing the two events. Essie Sue tries to set Ruby up with Kevin, despite Ruby being thoroughly disgusted with and rebuffed by Kevin's attempts to come onto her. Ruby takes advantage of her new position to try and get more information out of Essie Sue about the murder, wanting more information on Marla. Essie Sue ultimately agrees to conduct an interview with the police if Ruby takes Kevin as her date to the fundraising ball, an offer which she begrudgingly agrees to. Ruby also convinces Nan to sign up for the LSAT and pursue her dreams of going to law school.
Meanwhile, though his charges have not been dropped, Milt is let out of jail to run The Hot Bagel. Ruby agrees to become a partner of the business. She and Milt drive out to Port Aransas to meet with Irv Sebran's divorced wife and Milt's mother, Anna. Anna tells them that Irv and Carl's fallout was due to the death of their father, Max Sebran. Irv and Carl got in a fight over who would inherit Max's secret bagel recipe. Carl tried to sue Irv when Irv opened up his own bakery and started to use their father's recipe. One day, however, Carl dropped the lawsuit for seemingly no reason. Not only that, but Carl left New York City entirely, moving to New Jersey and opening a new bakery where Max's recipe wasn't used. Soon after learning about this, Ruby gets in a car accident, which she narrowly survives. It turns out not to be an accident at all when the police examine her car and find someone cut the brake lines on her car.
Ruby travels to New York City once again. Aaron finally reveals to her what he was hesitant to say before. He tells her that the reason Carl mysteriously dropped the lawsuit and moved to New Jersey is because Irv went to the higher ups of Bagel Bakers Local 338 and revealed to them Carl wasn't Max's son at all, but rather his orphaned nephew that Max adopted. Max did not tell anyone Carl wasn't his son, because then Carl wouldn't have been allowed into the union, as only the sons of members are allowed to join. Irv knew that Carl was, in fact, not Max's son. He told the union's leaders as such and Carl was expelled, forced to move out of New York City because he couldn't bake bagels there anymore. While in the area, Ruby and Nathan go to visit Carl's widowed wife, Ida, who still runs the bagel bakery in New Jersey. Ida refuses to tell them anything and is strangely alarmed when Ruby asks her for information.
After an embarrassing night at the installation ceremony and fundraising ball, Ruby returns home to email Nan, but is confronted by a mysterious masked individual who breaks into her house. Ruby secretly emails Nan, asking her to call the police. Ruby then figures out that the man is Gus, one of Milt's employees. Gus reveals he is Carl and Ida Sebran's son. He followed Milt to Texas and worked at the Hot Bagel in an attempt to get back at Irv on Carl's behalf. He worked under Milt in the hopes of one day inheriting the bakery and therefore gaining back the recipe. Gus murdered Stu when he got too close to figuring out the truth. He didn't mean to kill Marla, instead planning to give the poisoned bagel to Ruby, his plot foiled when Milt accidentally mixed up the orders. Gus heard from his mother, Ida, that Ruby went to visit the family bakery and decided to break into Ruby's house and kill her. Ruby is able to make it out alive, intentionally causing a blackout and fighting back against Gus in the dark before escaping to find the police have arrived.
Gus is arrested and Milt is allowed to go free. Nan tells Ruby she thinks she scored well on her LSAT. The novel ends Ruby thanks her for saving her life.
Reception
Fax Me a Bagel was one of five books nominated for the 1998 Agatha Award. Booklist wrote in their review of the novel, "The madcap plots are always entertaining...Expect more from Ruby the Rabbi's Wife. Fast and fun from beginning to end." Publishers Weekly wrote in their review, "Kahn helps readers to a full serving of Judaic wit and wisdom. This is chicken soup for the funny bone."[3]
References
- "Fax Me a Bagel". Goodreads. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
- Grosset, Philip. "Ruby the Rabbi's Wife". Clerical Detectives. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
- "Ruby the Rabbi's Wife Mystery Series". Sharon Kahn. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
