PAST IMPERFECT
by Joshua Cohen
A private eye’s assignment sends him hunting for WWII collaborators.
It’s just after Yom Kippur in 1957 Cleveland. Lawyer-turned–private investigator Benjamin Gold is tasked by his rabbi to investigate Mendel Khan, a member of their congregation, after a visitor to their synagogue accuses him of being Yitzhak Fried, an infamous Nazi collaborator. Khan appears to be an upstanding citizen; he’s a benefactor of the local Jewish community and a successful real estate investor. But as Gold digs into Khan’s life and business, he unearths disturbing facts. While Kahn may or may not be a war criminal, he’s definitely hiding something—and Gold will soon find out how far Khan is willing to go to keep the truth hidden. While dealing with this investigation, Gold has his own problems to address: a romantic entanglement with a woman he loves but is not sure he wants to commit to and complicated feelings about being a war veteran, a lawyer, and a PI. Cohen’s deft historical novel is a suspenseful, intriguing mystery at its core. And the protagonist’s dogged penchant to pursue the truth adds interest and tension. The story becomes poignant when limning the traumas of a postwar Jewish community (“In May 1945, I marched into the Ebensee concentration camp as part of the liberating force of the Eightieth Infantry Division. There I witnessed unspeakable horrors I’d spent the years since trying to erase from my memory. Kahn was no friend of mine. I didn’t even know the man. Still, his exposure as a Nazi collaborator would bring the nightmare back to life”).Caveat: Old-fashioned ways of addressing women and Black characters may be historically accurate but may still be jarring for modern readers.
An intimate mystery with a determined, complex lead.