The Moon Taker

There's trouble afoot in Regency London's Jewish community, and no one to stop the crimes-until wealthy-widower-turned-sleuth Mr. Ezra Melamed teams up with an unlikely pair: General Well'ngone and the Earl of Gravel Lane, the leaders of a gang of young Jewish pickpockets. Mr. Hamburg, a dealer in the secondhand linen trade, always has his eye fixed upon the main chance. But just when he thinks he's found his ticket to riches, he's murdered -and it happens on Gravel Lane! That's much too close for comfort for the Earl of Gravel Lane and General Well'ngone. And so just in case the murderer decides to go after them next - a not unlikely scenario when they have in their possession a mysterious snuff box that the guilty person may be anxious to retrieve - they decide to exchange picking pockets for picking up clues that will help them find the killer. Soon they are entangled in a web of lies and deceptions that takes them from their East End slum to an elegant country house where a group of astronomers are meeting. But when time is short and they are so obviously out of their element, will the General and the Earl succeed in discovering which of the seemingly distinguished stargazers is the one who has a secret as dark as a moonless sky?The Moon Taker is the third book in the Jewish Regency Mystery series, a refreshingly different look at Regency England which combines lovably quirky characters with a generous dash of humor.