Ruby the Rabbi's Wife mysteries tend to be the screwball comedy type and this one is no exception. Ruby is a widow with a grown son, Joshie, no longer at home, and a loving dog. She makes a living, more or less, as a computer consultant and being a partner at the local Hot Bagel Bakery.

The sour milk in her coffee, the salt in her sugar bowl, and the ineradicable stain on her best blouse is Essie Sue Margolis. Essie Sue is bossy, tactless, and has delusions of superiority. Temple Rita's current rabbi, Rabbi Kevin, is unmarried. To say that he's a more naive version of Maggody's Brother Verber should explain why Essie Sue's plan for Ruby to marry Kevin failed. That doesn't stop Essie Sue from trying to make use of Ruby.

This time Essie Sue's third cousins, Lester and Larry Levee, will be spending weekends in town so Rabbi Kevin can train them for their Bar Mitzvah some months hence. Essie Sue thinks that Ruby's guest room would be just perfect for the twins to spend their study nights. (They can't sleep at Essie Sue's oversized house -- her poor husband's heart, you know.)

Once we meet Lester and Larry, it becomes obvious that the 'Lovable Levees' need a drill sergeant to keep them in line. As if those boys' antics and Ruby's difficulties with a long-distance courtship with an attractive reporter aren't enough, there's a murder in town. Guess who gets to be the lucky companion when Essie Sue finds the body...

The police find a carbon copy of a letter the victim had typed which might be a clue to his murder. Ruby's talks with the victim's daughter and granddaughter lead to other clues. Those clues lead Ruby to an adventure in Alaska and one in New Jersey -- both of them providing chances for her to fear she might not survive. Yes, there was an excellent reason that the victim didn't want his photograph to appear in any publication.

There are three recipes at the end of the book: Ruby's lox and scrambled eggs, Milt's scooped lox and bagel, and Essie Sue's low-fat lox treat.

I've gotten pretty sick of skulls being used on murder mystery covers, but Robert Goldstrom's cover is an amusing version. ( )