The Gonif - (Amos Parisman Mysteries) by Andy Weinberger

About the Book

"LA's oldest and most unconventional Jewish gumshoe has returned to stop a heist before it happens in the exciting fifth installment of the Amos Parisman Mystery series! To escape the predations of the Nazis, a rare two-hundred-year-old Torah is quietly smuggled out of a doomed North African Jewish community in the dead of night and put aboard a ship. Eventually, it makes its way to safety across the Atlantic. Generations after the war has ended, it resides in obscurity in a small, rundown Sephardic temple in Hollywood. The peace is shattered, however, when suddenly someone tries to break in and abscond with it. Amos Parisman, a local, agnostic, aging gumshoe, is recruited to thwart the would-be burglar. This sets him off on a madcap plunge into the world of international art and antiquities, and the ruthless kind of people who will stop at nothing-not even murder-to own them. The Gonif parses the difference between true wisdom and the coarse material world"--

Book Synopsis

LA's oldest and most unconventional Jewish gumshoe has returned to stop a heist before it happens in the exciting fifth installment of the Amos Parisman Mystery series!

To escape the predations of the Nazis, a rare two-hundred-year-old Torah is quietly smuggled out of a doomed North African Jewish community in the dead of night and put aboard a ship. Eventually, it makes its way to safety across the Atlantic. Generations after the war has ended, it resides in obscurity in a small, rundown Sephardic temple in Hollywood. The peace is shattered, however, when suddenly someone tries to break in and abscond with it.

Amos Parisman, a local, agnostic, aging gumshoe, is recruited to thwart the would-be burglar. This sets him off on a madcap plunge into the world of international art and antiquities, and the ruthless kind of people who will stop at nothing-not even murder--to own them.

The Gonif parses the difference between true wisdom and the coarse material world.

Review Quotes

"A charming, quirky, self-deprecating, Jewish detective is our Amos Parisman-who follows his nose from enticing noshes in LA dives and fancy hotels to a web of crime and passion linking Israel, Algeria, Casablana, Lisbon, Montreal, LA, Russia, a torah, and a cast of characters that pop onto these pages fully formed and alive. Parisman's unexpected expressions keep coming and delighting the reader even as he ducks under fire. He ricochets engagingly from heroic to humble so we readers are gently tossed through the detective novel plot with frequent, inventive, down-to-earth colloquialisms, tasty meals, unexpected twists of plot, and Amos, our trusty, gutsy if slightly fusty guide. What's not to like?" --Rebecca Kaiser Gibson, author of The Promise of a Normal Life

"Andy Weinberger has created an absolutely charming private investigator that readers will follow from book to book." --Naomi Hirahara, author of the Edgar Award-winning Mas Arai mystery series

"Andy Weinberg's always disarming Jewish gumshoe, PI Amos Parisman, is back, this time hired to protect a synagogue and its antique Torah, a sacred relic that also happens to be extremely valuable. As Parisman describes it, '[t]hat's where this mishigas began.' His pursuit of the thief--the gonif--soon turns dangerous and reverberates halfway around the world. As always, Weinberg describes the streets of L.A. with spot-on authenticity, and Parisman outfoxes foe--and sometimes even friend--with sleight of hand worthy of the iconic TV detective Columbo. Another in a delightful series that deserves a place on the big screen or on the best streaming services. Highly recommended!" --Daco S. Auffenorde, Awarding-winning author of Cover Your Tracks and The Forgotten Girl

With noir pacing, a laid-back sensibility, and a touch of humor, the newest book in Andy Weinberger's Amos Parisman detective series, the cozy mystery novel The Gonif finds the elderly detective navigating a crime impacting the Jewish community of Los Angeles." --Jeff Fleischer, Forward Reviews

"The author tells the story with humor and full of Yiddishisms.... The reader, while the suspense grows every day, will have fun figuring out the bad guys--even while the good ones may be the bad ones. Enjoy the adventure." --New York Journal of Books

About the Author

Andy Weinberger is the author of An Old Man's Game, Reason to Kill, The Kindness of Strangers, and Die Laughing. He is a longtime bookseller and the founder/owner of Readers' Books in Sonoma, California. Born in New York, he grew up in the Los Angeles area and studied poetry and Chinese history at the University of New Mexico. He lives in Sonoma, where Readers' Books continues to thrive