Here at Casa Mysterioso, instead of recycled site-owner publicity, we offer interviews with other people in the arts--writers, musicians, actors, entertainers, and sometimes just plain characters. We add new ones all the time, and site visitors are invited to contribute. If we use your interview, we'll pay $35. Query by e-mail.

Interview with Jan Burke
Interview with Jeremiah Healy
Ben and Diane (An Interview with Stephen Booth)
Cold Days and Deadly Nights (An Interview with Steve Hamilton)
Mysteries (An Interview with Irene Marcuse)
The Stone Monkey (An Interview with Jeff Deaver)
The Salaryman's Wife (An Interview with Sujata Massey)
A Kiss Gone Bad (An Interview with Jeff Abbott)
Charlotte Justice (An Interview with Paula Woods)
Blood Money (An Interview with Rochelle Krich)
Letter From New Orleans: (An interview With Andy J. Forest)
The Lady From Charm City (An Interview with Laura Lippman)
Crescent City Views (An Interview with Anne Rice)

Blood Money
(An Interview with Rochelle Krich)
by Lois Foster Hirt

What's a nice Orthodox Jewish woman like Rochelle Krich doing writing top-notch mysteries? The fact is, it's something she always dreamed of doing, but didn't turn into reality until twelve years ago while she was chairing the English department at Yeshiva of Los Angeles High School. Ironically, when Krich joined the school's staff, she took over for Judith Greber, who was leaving to write mysteries. Krich was green with envy-- that was her fantasy! Turns out that Greber, aka Gillian Roberts, had become a successful mystery writer, and both she and Krich have now won the prestigious Anthony Award. Krich stopped teaching five years ago because, as she puts it, her schedule became onerous. Not only was she teaching, writing and promoting her books, but she was busy being a wife and mother of six children. Her job now has expanded to include that of a grandmother, and two things haven't changed. She still finds time to relax by playing tennis and mah jongg, although not when she's meeting a deadline.

Krich's books, which often deal with contemporary head-line making issues, are anything but cozies, but they don't contain graphic violence or sex. Her latest, Blood Money, is also her most poignant. When you read this letter that was mailed out to bookstores, reviewers, and fans, you'll understand why.

A Note from Rochelle Krich.

When I was thirteen years old, rummaging through drawers in my parents' china closet, I came across black-and-white photos I'd never seen before. One was of a woman, elegantly dressed. Another was of the same woman, next to a sleek pram holding an infant girl. Standing alongside them, with another little girl in his arms, was a young, dark-haired, serious-looking man. My father.

"That's Gusta," my mother said quietly when I showed her the photos. "Your father's first wife. Those are his daughters, Yiska and Ruzza. They were all killed in Auschwitz."

I remember being dumbfounded, speechless. I had known, of course, that my parents, Polish Jews, had lost most of their families to the Nazis. My father, an only child, had lost his parents, aunts, uncles, cousins; my mother had lost her parents and five of her six siblings, many of whom were married with children of their own.

But now my world was turned upside down. My father had been married before! He'd fathered two children-my half sisters. I couldn't get out of my mind the uncomfortable knowledge that if Gusta hadn't perished, I wouldn't exist. I wanted never to have seen the photos. I wanted never to have known.

Later, over the years, my father would give me details of his first wife and daughters. He would talk about their courtship and their years together before the Germans invaded Poland and their final parting. He would talk about his experiences in the various labor camps where he was interned and his miraculous survival. He would talk about his liberation and the post-war years when he fell in love with my mother and had the courage to begin life again.

In Blood Money, I've been privileged to tell a very small part of my father's story. Blood Money revolves around a murder investigation into the suspicious death of a Holocaust survivor. Told through the eyes of my heroine, Detective Jessie Drake, the book explores the unfolding drama of the Swiss bank accounts and the loneliness of aging survivors. It reveals decades-old deceit and present day treachery. And at the core of this mystery novel is the murder victim, Nathan Pomerantz, and his story. My father's story. I've changed the names, and I've fictionalized some elements, and I've retold only a small segment of his experiences. But the events are real, and so are my father's humor and courage and determination to survive.

I hope you enjoy reading Blood Money as much as I enjoyed writing it.

H. What led you to write about Holocaust survivors in Blood Money? You get somewhat biographical in this book. Was it finding out about your father's first family that led you to include this? How did you and your family feel about sharing this experience?

K. Several factors led to my writing Blood Money. I was appalled by the media reports of the grand scale theft that the Swiss banks perpetrated and of Switzerland's laundering money for the Nazis. I wanted to create a mystery around the subject. I also realized this was the perfect book to write about my father's experiences. My father is very proud of the book. So are my husband and children.

H. Was it hard for you to write parts of the book emotionally, yet do it from a writer's point of view? You called it a "privilege" in your letter.

K It was a privilege, and I hope I did my father's story justice.It was emotionally draining to write those sections, but very rewarding as well. It was also difficult to write about a character who is killed at the beginning of the book and know that he is based on my father.

H. Was it hard to keep a clear perspective while writing Blood Money, or did your families' Holocaust experiences cloud it?

K I had a wealth of material to draw on, but I did have to be careful,when writing Pomerantz's character, to separate fiction from reality. And I had to decide what to include, what to leave out. I definitely feel that my father's experiences enriched the book.

H. In which book did the Jewish part of Jessie come about?

K. When I was writing Angel of Death, the second book in the series, Jessie and I discovered together that her mother, Frances, is Jewish, and that she was a hidden child during the war. I had finished Fair Game, the first Jessie, but inserted a line in the galleys in which Jessie makes a casual reference to "the Jewish genes I got from my mother's side of the family."

H. Why did you bring Jessie and her ex-husband, Gary, back together?

K. Jessie and Gary divorced for several reasons--conflict over career versus family; her miscarriage, which he blames on her falling while chasing a suspect; her inability to confide in him about her mother's abuse. I brought him back into the picture because even in Fair Game she realizes she has feelings for him and unsolved business. The on-again, off-again relationship continues in Dead Air and in the forthcoming Shadows of Sin (September 2001), Morrow).

H. Was there a reason that you originally created Gary as Jewish?

K. Actually, in the first draft Jessie wasn't Jewish and neither was he. When I decided to make her mother Jewish, I decided to make Gary Jewish, too.

H. Is Jessie's father Jewish? You have him playing a smaller role thanher mother. Is it because of the Judaism?

K. Jessie's father, Arthur, is Episcopalian. Her mother, Frances,never converted to Christianity. Arthur plays a smaller role because Frances is so dominating--emotionally and physically. Arthur's role, as Jessie perceives it, is always in the background. She isn't close to him because in part she resents the fact that he never protected her or her sister from their mother's abuse. In Shadows of Sin Jessie attempts to get closer to her father.

H. Both Frances and Helen are abusive mothers. Are you blaming what Frances did on her experiences in the Holocaust?

K. The genesis of the abuse is certainly there. Abuse is a cycle--that's what I show in Fair Game. The difference between Jessie and Helen is that Jessie underwent therapy long ago to deal with her trauma. Helen didn't start therapy until recently and did so only because circumstances forced her into recognizing that she needed it.

H. Why do you have Helen resisting her Jewishness? Her husband never comments on it.

K. Helen's husband, Neil, is a non-practicing Christian. Helen resists her Jewishness because she doesn't relate to it and because it will complicate her life. She's not drawn to it as Jessie is. In fact, she's hostile whenever Jessie brings up the subject and warns her not to tell Matthew, Helen and Neil's son, about his Jewish heritage.

H. Why do you have Frances resist the money from the Swiss account?

K. I felt it was in character. Frances doesn't want to be Jewish. She wants no reminders that she was ever Jewish. So why would she want the money?

H. In Blood Money Jessie lights the Sabbath candles for the first time, with Gary helping her. Will she be more Jewish in your next book?

K. She's taking small steps. I envision difficulties along the way--internal conflicts, conflicts with her family, and probably Gary. A profound change like this has to take time. In Dead Air, she lights Sabbath candles for the first time. In Shadows of Sin, she considers keeping kosher.

H. Will Gary resent her steps?

K. He has concerns and worries whether her new-found religious identity will create barriers. I'm not sure how he'll feel when she decides to become more observant. Her family will definitely have problems with her becoming observant.

H. Will you continue to add more Jewishness to the Jessie Drake series or just play it by ear?

K. I don't want to force a Jewish plot onto Jessie, but if something resonates with me, I'll write about it. In Shadows of Sin, the theme of teen violence and family dysfunction is echoed by the examination of a Biblical segment I always found chilling: the wayward and rebellious son who is stoned to death. Certainly, as Jessie progresses, her struggle will be to juggle her career and personal life with her Jewish observance, something that those who are observant from birth do more naturally.

H. Will the path Jessie takes towards being a Jew in future novels involve a new romance?

K. Right now she's dating Gary. She's also drawn to Ezra, her Judaic studies teacher. We'll see...

H. What led to Where's Mommy Now? being made into the TV movie "Perfect Alibi?" How much involvement did you have in the screenplay?

K. A producer read it and loved it. Technically, I was the consultant, but the writer/director was reluctant to have my input. I made a few comments. Some were acted upon; others were ignored. I wasn't really upset, though, because I'd heard other writers discuss their experiences with having books made into movies, so I was prepared to be disappointed.

H. Why the diversity in your novels? Not all are part of a series.

K. Writing stand-alone mysteries gives me an opportunity to explore different worlds and, through my characters, tackle different professions. In Speak No Evil my heroine is a criminal defense attorney; in Fertile Ground, she's an infertility specialist. I enjoy writing the Jessie Drake series because I like the familiarity of the series character and her world. It's easier to slip into her head than to create an entirely new protagonist. I also enjoy the slower development of relationships and the evolution of characters that writing a series allows.

H. Are there more stand-alone novels in your computer to be interspersed with the Jessie Drake mysteries or is just Jessie on the horizon?

K. Readers love series characters, and I'm having a great time learning more about Jessie. I'm also starting a new series for Ballantine--think Harry Kemelman's Rabbi Small, with the rabbi's wife as sleuth. Think Nick and Nora Charles. Then meet Molly Blume--true crime writer/free lance reporter, Modern Orthodox, happily divorced, who "doesn't date rabbis," as she tells her mother--until she reconnects with her sexy high school flame...now a rabbi.

H. One interesting factor is that not all your books have Jewish themes or characters. Till Death Do Us Part started off your writing career with a Jewish theme. Why did you write books without any Jewish involvement?

K. Several reasons. When I write mysteries with Jewish characters and/or themes, I feel a strong responsibility to portray those characters and themes in a way that will be honest yet won't reinforce negative perceptions of Jews and Judaism and inadvertently breed anti-Semitism or anti-Orthodox Judaism. So I have to deliberate more in the creation of these characters and how they act and think. Also, when I wrote Till Death Do Us Part, I wasn'tsure whether a large, non-Jewish audience would appreciate books that dealtwith Jewish characters and themes. That concern was reinforced by one of the rejection letters I received for Till Death: the plot was interesting and the writing excellent, but would readers be interested in the story of this Orthodox Jewish woman who is struggling to obtain her get, a Jewish divorce?

So I wrote several non-Jewish mysteries. Where's Mommy Now? has no Jewish themes. Neither do Nowhere To Run or Fair Game, which introduces LAPD Detective Jessica Drake. I enjoyed writing them, but I also wanted to write books with Jewish themes and characters.

H. You pick hot topics for your novels that deal with Jewish themes. Why?

K. Part of me always relates to the world around me through the lens of my Jewish identity and heritage, and I feel that the Jewish background invariably enriches the novel and the characters. I also take pleasure in presenting to non-Jews and non-observant or unaffiliated Jews the beauty of the Jewish tradition. I'm gratified hearing non-Jewish fans tell me how much they enjoy learning about Judaism. At one speaking event, a woman told me that reading my books and Faye Kellerman's has inspired her to become an Orthodox Jew.

Some of my books are more Jewish than others. Till Death Do Us Part, for example, deals with an investigation into the murder of a man who has refused to give his wife a Jewish divorce. In Angel of Death, Jessie investigates the murder of a Jewish ACLU attorney who defended the rights of neo-Nazis and skinheads to march in two predominantly Los Angeles Jewish neighborhoods. I basically brought Skokie, Illinois, to L.A. and turned it into a murder mystery. Ironically, when I plotted the book and decided my fictional neo-Nazis and skinheads would march on Hitler's birthday, and that the ACLU lawyer defending them would be Jewish, I didn't know that those were the facts of the Skokie case. In some of my mysteries the main characters are Jewish but the subject matter is more general. Speak No Evil centers on an Orthodox Jewish heroine, Debra Laslow, who is very much a part of the secular world. Debra is a criminal defense attorney defending a doctor charged with date-raping his Jewish receptionist. Throughout the book she consults with her father, a rabbi, when she's troubled by the conflict between the American legal system she must follow and the ethical teachings of her Jewish heritage. Similarly, in Fertile Ground, the theme--infertility-is general but some of the characters, including the heroine, Dr. Lisa Brockman, are Jewish, and the book discusses the Torah, the five books of the Bible, view of infertility treatments. The most recent Jessie Drake mystery, Dead Air, deals with radio talk shows. The characters are primarily non-Jewish, but the book follows Jessie on her slow journey toward Jewish identification. Shadows of Sin is far more Jewish in terms of theme and characters.

H. Krich has also written several mystery short stories, including "Cat in the Act," "Regrets Only," and the Anthony-nominated "A Golden Opportunity." "Widow's Peak," recently nominated for an Agatha Award, appears in Unholy Orders, edited by Serita Stevens, an anthology with a religious twist. In Krich's story, we discover that events from the Holocaust fifty years ago may again bring disaster to Rose Greenberg's life on the eve of her granddaughter's wedding. Rose is fighting a moral dilemma. At what point does she turn her head away from Jewish law to allow her granddaughter to have love, marriage and happiness? Krich says, "Choices are not easy and can be fraught with guilt and heartache." The Holocaust haunts her.

Krich's short story, "You Win Some," appears in Women Before The Bench edited by Carolyn Wheat. In this tale assistant district attorney Jane Palmer is prosecuting Ned Silver who, during a period of eight months, allegedly ripped off approximately a dozen vehicles from drunk drivers. They deserved a sentence but he didn't have the right to pronounce one. The evidence against Silver is strong. The problem: the American public loves him. And Jane, who is determined to do her job, has mixed feelings, too.

H. Why did you write this type of story?

K. One of the things I love about writing short stories is the opportunity to try new voices and new characters. With "You Win Some," I had fun with the characters, but I also touched on an issue I feel strongly about--drunk drivers, and the appallingly lenient punishment they receive.

*************

Just out is Krich's newest short story, "Bitter Waters" in Criminal Kabbalah, edited by Rabbi Lawrence Raphael, Jewish Lights). It's a dark tale of sibling rivalry and obsessive jealousy with a Jewish twist.

Romantic Times has just nominated Krich for Career Achievement in Suspense and her most recent mystery, Dead Air, for Best Suspense Novel. Her Jessie Drake series has been optioned for film and TV by Palnick Productions.

Look for Shadows of Sin, Krich's next Jessie Drake book, (September 2001, Morrow) to discover where her spiritual quest and exploration of her new-found Jewishness will take her. And for First Blume in the fall of 2002 (Ballantine.)

Rochelle's Home Page is www.rochellekrich.com.

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