Schaefer, Arthur Gross [Rabbi Elijah Daniels #1], (The Rabbi Wore Moccasins) [pb, Weeping Willow Books, 2017] 978-0999099421 [Rabbi Daniels is invited to a Native American sweat lodge ceremony by the leaders of the Antchu community. A spiritual elder from the tribe confesses to murdering his wife. The tribe asks Rabbi Daniels—who is also an attorney—to defend the elder. He initially struggles with the ethics of representing someone who has already confessed. As he digs deeper, he finds that the evidence doesn’t match the confession. He uncovers ties to a tribal casino and corruption involving one of its directors. Along the way, he deals with his own grief from the loss of his wife and finds a new connection between Jewish tradition and Native American spirituality.]
United States · Fiction author
Arthur Gross Schaefer
Arthur Gross Schaefer (birth est. 1951) – he is a Reform Rabbi, lawyer, and C.P.A.; serves as a Professor of Marketing and Business Law at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles; and is the rabbi for the Community Shul of Montecito. He lives in Santa Barbara, CA. He is the author of the 3-volume (so far) cozy Rabbi Elijah Daniels series. Rabbi Daniels serves a congregation, has frequent contact with clergy of other faiths, and uses his knowledge of Jewish history and mysticism to solve crimes.
Schaefer, Arthur Gross [Rabbi Elijah Daniels #2], (The Rabbi Wore a Fedora) [pb, Weeping Willow Books, 2017] 978-0999099407 [This installment follows the rabbi as he chaperones evangelical students on a study tour of Germany. He becomes a prime suspect in the murder of a woman at a research institute and must clear his name while confronting the history of the Holocaust.]
Schaefer, Arthur Gross [Rabbi Elijah Daniels #3], (The Rabbi Wore A Collar) [pb, Kendall Hunt Publishing, 2023] 979-8765752531 [The rabbi joins a group of Jesuit priests on an investigative mission to Nicaragua during the Sandinista era, tasked with determining whether the new regime is anti-Semitic. The State Department warns the rabbi that entering the country openly as a rabbi will result in his death. To protect him, the Jesuits disguise him as one of their own, forcing him to “wear the collar”. The mission is upended when a nun is murdered, and a Jesuit priest befriended by the rabbi is accused of the crime. Rabbi Daniels reveals his true identity and acts as the accused priest’s attorney, putting himself in legal and physical jeopardy. [Google/AI]