Culture

Author: Michael Chabon. Publisher: Fourth Estate (4/5)
The Yiddish Policemen's Union is a great tongue-in-cheek book about two homicide detectives who set out to solve a rather interesting murder. Meyer Landsman, homicide detective #1, is a recently divorced, scrawny alcoholic who doesn't sleep. He lives in a rat-infested, heroin-addict-filled hotel, and the “yid” - the subject of their murder investigation - was shot in a room in Landsman's hotel, arm tied off for another dose. Their investigation leads the detectives on a wild yid chase through underground passages, the mansion of an obese Jewish Mafia leader and, of all places, to a seedy chess club. To complicate matters, the Jewish Mafia are out to get Landsman as he's the only homicide detective to ever put a member of their tight-knit group in jail. The murder investigation is set within the cold boundaries of Sitka, Alaska where, in an alternative world history, a Jewish “safe haven” has been established since the end of WWII. The Jewish people and the Native Americans of the area, the Tinglits, have a terse relationship and Berko Shemets, Landsmans's partner, is half-Jewish-half-Tinglit, which causes no end of problems. To top it all off, Landsman's new boss is his fiery red-haired ex wife, Bina.

 
Berko and Landsman combine their smarts, their shockingly cool wit in the face of danger and a ready supply of alcohol and cigarettes to try to find the murderer. This book is full of twists and turns, and some of the funniest black humour I have read in a long time. It is another excellent novel by Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Chabon.