An Accidental Murder: An Avram Cohen Mystery

Retired from the Jerusalem police, reluctantly touring to promote Twentieth-Century Cop, his memoir of his days on the force, Avram Cohen (Crimes of the City) is staying in a German hotel when the chambermaid is murdered and a bomb is discovered under his bed. With his background, Cohen has a long list of enemies to consider, but the field shrinks when, after one of his loyal underlings is killed, Cohen finds himself chasing an old nemesis and battling an assortment of Russian criminals. The pace of the book is languid, almost hesitant, for the first half, as Cohen mulls uneasily over his long, illustrious career. As always, however, Tel Aviv resident Rosenberg's depiction of Israel is a revelation, resonant with social and political subtleties. And Cohen remains one of the most carefully shaded of mystery heroes (""it became easier over the years for Cohen to seal his sorrow away in secret vaults that only he could open""), a man worth spending time with--as is Rosenberg's meditative, psychologically astute prose--even in a relatively weak outing like this one. (Jan.)