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Those who are familiar with Trenton’s Jewish heritage may note that I’ve changed a few details to suit my plot. Shomrei Torah is obviously based on Har Sinai, the synagogue where my family belonged and where I was consecrated, attended Sunday and Hebrew school, celebrated my bar mitzvah, and was confirmed. However, I don’t know the current congregation or its leadership, and I don’t wish to cast aspersions in that direction.
The “old shul” is based on the Orthodox congregation my grandparents attended—but to simplify for the reader I made it a Reform shul and the early home of Shomrei Torah.
As I’m sure many people do, I regret not asking for more details of my parents’ and grandparents’ early lives while I could. So I’ve recreated old Trenton, and its Jewtown neighborhood, from my few memories and the details and photos I’ve found online. Like Steve’s mother, my mother belonged to a social club sponsored by Har Sinai, called the Twenty-Thirty Club, though I don’t believe she did any of the things that Sylvia Gordon did.
Steve shares his last name with my great-grandmother, Celia Levitan Kobrin, so I’ve always been conscious of his Jewish heritage, and I was eager to fit out this plot as a way for him to explore both his religion and his connection to Trenton. He’s a good bit younger than I am, though, so I couldn’t give him any of my early memories of that neighborhood by the river before it fell prey to urban renewal. My great-uncle, Louis Kobrin, did own a junkyard like the one in the book, though to my knowledge no murders occurred there or in its environs.
As always, thanks go to my critique group members: Christine Jackson, Kris Montee and Sharon Potts, whose help has been invaluable. My editor, Ramona de Felice Long, does a terrific job of helping me flesh out the characters and pointing out my errors – though any that remain are of course my own fault.
My golden retrievers, Brody and Griffin, are blessings to me every day – even when they get into trouble!
The Golden Retriever Mysteries, in order, are:
1: In Dog We Trust
2: The Kingdom of Dog
3: Dog Helps Those
4: Dog Bless You
5: Whom Dog Hath Joined
6: Dog Have Mercy
7: Honest to Dog
8: Dog is in the Details
All are available in print and e-book format, wherever books are sold.
Several short stories have also been published in the following anthologies:
"Dog Forbid," is featured in Happy Homicides. Interesting fact: the story in the ebook edition is set at Thanksgiving, but the editors wanted only Christmas stories for the paperback, so voila! the holiday was changed. Steve, Lili and Rochester accompany Mark, Joey and Brody to Pennsylvania Dutch Country, and suddenly Brody disappears. Can Rochester find him in time for a happy holiday?
Happy Homicides 2 is set at Valentine's Day and includes my story "For the Love of Dog." While Gail's cafe, The Chocolate Ear, is being expanded into the space next door, a young woman's body is discovered there. It's up to Steve and Rochester to keep the opening on schedule and find out whodunnit.
The stories in Happy Homicides 5 involve cats and crime—so a feline leads Rochester into an investigation of kidnapping and bitcoin fraud in “Riding the Tiger.”