Serita Stevens & Rayanne Moore

Serita Stevens (born 1949 in Chicago) and Rayanne Moore (est. birth 1952) – Each has published novels on her own in the mystery and romance genres. They collaborated on the Fanny Zindel Mystery series, featuring a 65-year-old Jewish widow and grandmother from California (from the Greater Los Angeles area) who becomes an amateur sleuth. Fanny embodies the “bubbe” (grandmother) figure—persistent, sharp- witted, and deeply involved in her family’s life. Her speech is heavily flavored with Yiddish-influenced phrasing and Jewish colloquialisms (e.g., “Such a lump you have, I could put it under a hen to hatch”).

In Red Sea, Dead Sea,  (1991),  Fanny travels to Israel for the first time, ostensibly to convince her granddaughter to return to school. However, she is secretly investigating the suspicious death of her brother, Albert, who died there 30 years prior. The plot involves forgery, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and international espionage. In Bagels for Tea (1993), she visits York, England, to attend a memorial for a 1190 massacre of Jews. [Google/AI]

Stevens, Serita & Rayanne Moore [Fanny Zindel #1], (Red Sea, Dead Sea) [hc, St. Martin’s Press, 1991] 978-0312064518

Stevens, Serita & Rayanne Moore [Fanny Zindel #2], (Bagels for Tea) [hc, St. Martin’s Press, 1993] 978-0312093488