"Roth's clever analysis, grounded in both Jewish and literary scholarship, reveals that Jewish detective

fiction is interestingand sometimes profoundbecause it is inherently shatnes, a powerful and potentially dangerous mixture of Jewish and Western values and behaviors. His readings enhance our understanding of why this genre makes such an exhilarating read."Sylvia Barack Fishman, author of Double or Nothing: Jewish Families and Mixed Marriage

"What will readers uncover when they inspect Inspecting Jews? Quite simply, one of the liveliest contributions to the field of Jewish cultural studies that has appeared in some time. Bringing together the Talmud and consumer research techniques, midrash and police procedurals, this is a work about kosher hybridity, a term that Roth has coined to describe new forms of Jewishness in America."Norman Finkelstein, author of Not One of Them in Place: Modern Poetry and Jewish American Identity

"With Roth's skillful eye, the detective story becomes a fascinating site for the delicate negotiation between Jewish tradition and American cultural norms."David N. Myers, author of Re-inventing the Jewish Past: European Jewish Intellectuals and the Zionist Return to History

Laurence Roth argues that the detective story, located at the intersection of narrative and popular culture in modern America, examines the need for order in a disorderly society, and thus offers a window into the negotiation of Jewish identity. He analyzes stories about American Jewish detectivesincluding Harry Kemelmans Rabbi Small, Faye Kellermans Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus, Stuart Kaminskys Abe Lieberman, and Rochelle Krichs Jessica Drakenot only as a genre of literature, but also as a reflection of contemporary acculturation in the American Jewish popular arts.

Laurence Roth is an assistant professor of English and Jewish studies and coordinator of the Jewish studies program at Susquehanna University. He is the editor of Modern Language Studies.