This book is as much about the insular society of an Israeli kibbutz as it is about Inspector Michael Ohayon solving a murder. While I didn't find the murder mystery terribly absorbing, I was fascinated by the details of kibbutz society. At its best, Gur's prose is a lucid description of the "egalitarian elitism" that prevails in such enclosed communities, where the details of everyday life are given immense, overt ideological weight. The ending was a rather disappointing anticlimax—there's too much of the deus ex machina to it—but I found Ohayon to be a much more fully realised character than I did in the previous book I read in the series, Saturday Morning Murder, and I would recommend the book as a diverting and informative read.

[These comments are taken from a mailing list discussion and as such contain spoilers....]

[on the characters]

I don't remember any of the characters other than Michael appearing before and I didn't find him as interesting as in previous books. He seems rather nondescript in this one, I expected his history background to come into use at some point and I want to know how Eli and Tzilla are getting on with their baby but apart from a brief mention of Michael's son there's very little continuity of characters from the last book.

I almost wonder why Gur wrote this as a series. The recurring character of Michael doesn't add very much to the books.

I think Avigail is an interesting person, the policewoman who is working undercover as a nurse, but I hold out no great hope of seeing her in the next book. Nearly everyone on the kibbutz seems unlikeable, Moish and Dave are the only two I can recall thinking were ok, but on the whole they are quite an interesting bunch to read about.

I think it's hard, without knowing anything about a kibbutz, to know if the relationships between the kibbutz members are realistic but they feel quite realistic to me and they certainly seem more real than Michael's relationships with his colleagues.

[on the plot]

The big weakness of the plot was that it was full of devices that had been used in the first two books. I've no problem with them in theory and the closed community theme was fine but it was just a bit predictable that the killer would be protecting the kibbutz from change and preserving an ideal. So I think the plotting was plausible just not very innovative from the point of view of the series.

I think if I was reading these books further apart and not thinking so much about them I'd like the structure more, as it is, apart from the diverse settings they are becoming rather samey.

I'd like to have heard more about the side issues like the face cream fraud. Gur puts tons of stories into her books but doesn't develop them into full sub plots, it's like having too much to read and not enough to read at the same time. I feel the only real thread is the murder and everything else is just bits of cotton lying around being too short to sew anything with.

The conclusion was satisfactory enough but I found the journey a bit empty, lots of scenery and not that much substance.

more to come...

La historia de por qué he leído esta novela es más o menos larga. Coincide en que al leer Estación Central de [a:Lavie Tidhar|572738|Lavie Tidhar|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1369652429p2/572738.jpg] me llamó la atención que se hubiera criado en un kibbutz en Israel. al comentarlo en twitter me respondió que si quería leer algo sobre los kibbutz y su forma de vida comunitaria lo mejor era esta novela:

I don't know if you have it in Spanish, but Batya Gur's Murder on the Kibbutz is fantastic for capturing the feel of it.
twit

He visto que ha hecho la misma recomendación en twitter muchas veces. La verdad es que los más interesante de la novela es como cuenta ese mundo en torno a los kibbutz y su utopía comunista desde su creación, crecimiento y un atisbo de su colapso. Todo entretejido en la historia sin que resulte realmente pesado pero a la vez muy pedagógico. Esa parte es de 5 estrellas.

Sin embargo, la parte policiaca de la historia deja más que desear, y eso en una novela de ese género para mí que es un fallo más gordo.

Así que entre una cosa y otra le voy a dar 3 estrellas *** y recomendarla también como hace Lavie. Si el que lo vivió en primera persona tiene esa opinión creo que no hay más que decir.