Rotenberg, Robert [Ari Greene Series #1], (Old City Hall) [hc, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2009] 978-0374225421 [pb, Touchstone, 2012] 978-1451673494 [Rotenberg’s debut and an international bestseller.]
Canada · Fiction author
Robert Rotenberg
Robert Rotenberg (born 1953 in Toronto, Canada, veteran criminal defense lawyer, television screenwriter and producer, and author of the 7-volume Ari Greene series) – Detective Ari Greene is a high-ranking homicide officer in the Toronto Police Force – the only Jewish one - and the son of a Holocaust survivor. He is portrayed as a secular but culturally deeply Jewish man. His Jewishness often places him as an outsider who is uniquely observant of the city’s various subcultures. Rotenberg describes Greene as having a ”rabbinical light”—he is a quiet, measured listener who treats people with immense respect, a trait the author likens to the way a rabbi handles those dealing with loss. He is a regular at Gryfe’s Bagel Bakery, a real-life landmark in Toronto’s historic Jewish neighborhood where the author himself grew up. Greene’s survivor father, Yitzhak, often provides him with historical or philosophical insights that help solve modern cases. The books frequently grapple with the line between legal justice and moral revenge, a conflict often framed by the Jewish experience of the 20th century. While the earlier books (like Old City Hall) have “light touches” of Jewishness, the later novels have increasingly centered on Jewish historical atrocities and their modern repercussions. [Google/AI] Series Chronology:
Rotenberg, Robert [Ari Greene Series #2], (The Guilty Plea) [hc, Sarah Crichton Books, 2011] 978-0374278496 [pb, Scribner, 2012] 978-1451673500
Rotenberg, Robert [Ari Greene Series #3], (Stray Bullets) [pb, Touchstone, 2012] 978-1451642360 [hc, Touchstone, 2013] 978-1476757773
Rotenberg, Robert [Ari Greene Series #4], (Stranglehold) [pb, Touchstone, 2013] 978-1451642414 [hc, Scribner, 2013] 978-1476757766
Rotenberg, Robert [Ari Greene Series #5], (Heart of the City) [pb, Touchstone, 2017] 978-1476740577
Rotenberg, Robert [Ari Greene Series #6], (Downfall) [pb, Touchstone, 2021] 978-1476740607 - [Focuses heavily on the homelessness crisis in Toronto.]
Rotenberg, Robert [Ari Greene Series #7], (What We Buried) [pb, Simon & Schuster, 2024] 978-1982179649 - dives deeper into the family’s past, exploring Yitzhak’s secrets of post-war revenge and the persistence of antisemitism in present-day Ontario. The plot revolves around a Toronto homicide detective – Ari Greene is one of his mentors – investigating his brother’s murder 10 years previously, in connection with a WW2 Nazi atrocity in an Italian village. As the younger detective uncovers long-hidden secrets in Italy, Ari Greene is seeking a killer much closer to home. [Google/AI & Amazon]
Rotenberg, Robert [Ari Greene Series prequel], (One Minute More) [pb, Simon & Schuster, 2025] 978-1668078778 [Set during the 1988 G7 Summit in Toronto, featuring a younger Ari Greene.The series uses Jewish identity to anchor its themes of memory and justice.] [Google/AI]