Engel, Howard [Benny Cooperman #1], (Suicide Murders [hc, St. Martin’s Press, 1980]) 978-0312775278 [pb, Penguin, 1985] 978-0140077407
Canada · Fiction author
Howard Engel
Howard Engel (1931–2019, born St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada) was a pioneering Canadian mystery and non-fiction author. Best known for his Benny Cooperman private-eye series (12 volumes + 2 novellas), set in the Niagara Region of Ontario. Cooperman is often cited as the first distinctly Jewish-Canadian private investigator in crime fiction. The Jewish content in his novels is primarily character-driven, blending cultural identity with the “soft-boiled” detective genre.
Core Jewish Elements
The Protagonist’s Identity: Benny Cooperman is a bachelor from the fictional town of Grantham, Ontario (a stand-in for St. Catharines). Unlike classic hard-boiled detectives, Benny is a “nice Jewish guy” who is gentle, avoids guns, and turns sick at the sight of blood.
Family Dynamics: A recurring theme is Benny’s relationship with his elderly parents, with whom he has dinner at least once a week. This portrayal emphasizes traditional Jewish family ties and domesticity.
The “Schlemiel” Archetype: Critics often describe Benny as a quintessential “nebbish” or “schlemiel”—a clumsy but well-meaning character who succeeds through intelligence and persistence rather than physical toughness.
Cultural Humor: The novels are known for their self-deprecating humor and specifically Jewish linguistic markers, such as the title of his novella The Whole Megillah.
Small-Town Jewish Life: Engel explores the experience of being Jewish in a non-urban Canadian setting, contrasting the “minority” experience in small-town Ontario with the larger Jewish communities in cities like Toronto. [Google/AI]
Engel, Howard [Benny Cooperman #2], (Ransom Game [hc, St. Martin’s Press, 1981]) 978-0312663834 [pb, Penguin, 1986] 978-0140077414
Engel, Howard [Benny Cooperman #3], (Murder on Location [hc, Irwin Pub1982]) 978-0772013842 [pb, Penguin Canada, 1986] 978-0140077421
Engel, Howard [Benny Cooperman #4], (Murder Sees the Light [hc, 1984, St. Martin’s]) 978-0670803040 [pb, Penguin Books, 1986] 978-0140089752
Engel, Howard, [Benny Cooperman #5], (A City Called July [hc, Viking Penguin, 1986]) 978-0670812684 [pb, Penguin Books, 1988] 978-0140104547
Engel, Howard [Benny Cooperman #6], (A Victim Must be Found [hc, St. Martin’s Press, 1988]) 978-0312023157 [pb, Penguin Canada, 1989] 978-0140112054
Engel, Howard, [Benny Cooperman #7], (Dead and Buried [hc, Penguin Books, 1990]) 978-0670831166 [pb, Penguin Canada, 1991] 978-0140129205
Engel, Howard, [Benny Cooperman] (The Whole Megillah) [pb, novella, sometimes listed as #7A in the sequence, privately published in 2000-print run, 1991 - ASIN code: B0000CPFUX]
Engel, Howard, [Benny Cooperman #8], (There Was an Old Woman [hc, originally published by Viking in 1993; Overlook Books, 2000]) 978-1585670444 [pb, Overlook, 2002] 978-1585672554
Engel, Howard, [Benny Cooperman #9], (Getting Away with Murder [hc, originally by Viking in 1995; Overlook, 1998]) 978-0879518295 [pb, Overlook, 2001] 978-1585671830
Engel, Howard, [Benny Cooperman #10], (The Cooperman Variations [pb, Penguin, 2001] 978-0140297447 [hc, Overlook Books, 2002] 978-1585672332
Engel, Howard, [Benny Cooperman #11], Memory Book [pb, Da Capo Press, 2005] 978-0786717170 [hc, Carroll & Graf Pub, 2006] 978-0786716449
Engel, Howard [Benny Cooperman #12], (East of Suez [pb, Penguin Canada, 2008]) 978-0143053323
Engel, Howard, [Benny Cooperman] (Over the River – a Novella [pb, Cormorant books, 2018] 978-1770864580 [Note: This book was publicized but never actually published. Author Howard Engel passed away in 2019, leaving the draft preserved only as an archival piece. - Google/AI]