Stealing from the Dead

Stealing from the Dead by A.J. Zerries is a mystery that combines history, terrorism, murder, a great NYPD detective and a retired CIA agent to lead readers through an intricate, thrilling story of a scam to cheat Holocaust survivors of their right to reclaim funds hidden from them by Swiss banks.

Detective Greta Strasser is in her nineteenth year in the NYPD. Her boss is counting down the days and making sure to make each one as bad as he can. So when Strasser finds inconsistencies with a heart attack in an older Jewish woman, she is told to stop seeing what is not there. But Greta does not give up that easily - it is why she is a good cop.

Then, one late night when she gets back to her Brooklyn apartment, she is approached by an older man. At first she is suspicious - she has had a rough week. But soon he convinces her to trust him. He is an ex-CIA agent (though strictly desk work) who has been following a pattern of supposed heart attacks in older Jewish people whose names appear on a list. The list is of people whose parents or grandparents opened a bank account to try to keep their money safe during World War II. At the end of the war, anyone who attempted to reclaim one of these numbered accounts was told it did not exist. But after years of battle, the Swiss banks have to make the funds available to any living relatives of the men who opened them.

It seems that someone is killing the people who appear on the list. Some person or group is filing out the paperwork and then killing the relative so he/they can claim the funds. And the funds have been traced to an account the funds terrorism against Israel.

Zerries has written a fascinating tale that will capture readers of many genres with this great read. Check it out today. Then join me in hoping Greta Strasser has more books in the future.

Zerries, AJ. (2012). Stealing from the Dead. New York: Forge.

The Rembrandt Affair (Gabriel Allon #10)

The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva is the 10th book in his Gabriel Allon series. Gabriel is an art restorer of the highest quality and a Mossad agent to keeps trying to retire.

The only thing that could pull him away from his cliff-side cottage, his wife Chiara, and a beautiful painting that needs his attention is the theft of a previously unknown Rembrandt. The painting was being restored quietly in Glastonbury, England when the restorer was killed and the painting disappeared.

But in the way of Daniel Silva's books, the painting is only one piece of a puzzle that will include international intrigue, murder, conspiracy, and more. Silva is a phenomenal writer whose books are addictive.

Read the series starting from the beginning with The Kill Artist.

Silva, Daniel. (2010). The Rembrandt Affair. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.

Number the Stars

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry is a fiction account of the brave people of Denmark during WWII. Due to a warning from one German official (G.F. Duckwitz) the Danes were able to save almost all of the 7000 Jews in Denmark from the Nazis.

Annemarie Johansen and her family take in her best friend and neighbor, Ellen Rosen, while her parents escape to the country. The Johansens lie and tell the Nazi soldiers Ellen is their daughter Lise. They even produce a baby picture of a dark haired little girl. It is enough evidence to make the soldiers go away.

The next day Mrs. Johansen takes her two daughters and Ellen to her brother's farm on the coast. From there the fishermen and the resistance have set up a way to ferry the Jews to freedom in Sweden.

Annemarie grows into a mature young woman who saves her friend Ellen and her family when she must get a package to her uncle's boat before the German soldiers find them. Pointing out the parallels between her own story and Little Red Riding Hood, Annemarie disregards her fears in order to save her best friend.

Number the Stars should be read by all children (and adults) along with The Diary of Anne Frank - to illustrate the brave and selfless people to fought to save the Jews during WWII.

Lowry, Lois. (1989). Number the Stars. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

The Book Thief

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is an amazing book. Read it. In fact, buy a copy for yourself and read that.

Liesel Meminger, a young girl living outside of Munich in nazi Germany, steals books. The first book she stole, she took from the snow before she could even read. Soon she is stealing books from nazi bonfires and even the home of the mayor.

This is the story on one family during the nazi reign. Liesel's Papa is not a part of the nazi party. In fact, he does not believe that Jews are bad. During WWI a Jew, and one of his best friends, saved his life. Now he wants to do something to help someone else.

Narrated by Death himself, this is the story of a group of quirky Germans and what circumstances put them through. It is a beautiful book that will make you cry and laugh out loud.

Zusak, Markus. (2006). The Book Thief. New York: Knopf.

I Am A Holocaust Torah

I am a Holocaust Torah: The Story of the Saving of 1,564 Torahs Stolen by the Nazis by Rabbi Alex J Goldman is a touching book. It is written from the point of view of a Torah from Kosova Hora, Czecholslovakia. Stolen by the Nazis in 1944, it and 1,563 other Torahs were collected and left to rot in a storage room in Prague.

In 1964 these Torahs were rescued. Those which could be repaired were sent out to synagoges around the world. Some that were damaged beyond use were sent out as reminders or memorials. The rest remain today in a the Czech Memorial Scrolls Center in London where they are still being repaired.

This book is a beautifully illustrated narrative.

Goldman, A. (2000). I am a holocaust torah: The story of 1,564 torahs stolen by Nazis from synagogues in Czechoslovakia, rescued twenty years later, and placed in the hands of people
who love them. Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing House.

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