Description: In this book, Laurence Roth argues that the popular genre of Jewish detective stories offers new insights into the construction of ethnic and religious identity. Roth frames his study with the concept of "kosher hybridity" to look at the complex process of mediation between Jewish and American culture in which Jewish writers voice the desire to be both different from and yet the same as other Americans.
Review Quotes: Roth's clever analysis, grounded in both Jewish and literary scholarship, reveals that Jewish detective fiction is interestingùand sometimes profoundùbecause it is inherently shatnes, a powerful and potentially dangerous mixture of Jewish and Western values and behaviors. His readings enhance our understanding of why this genre makes such an exhilarating read.--Sylvia Barack Fishman "author of Double or Nothing: Jewish Families and Mixed Marriage "