The Yiddish Police Union

What would have happened if Franklin Roosevelt's plan to make Alaska - and not Israel - the homeland for Jews after World War II had not been abandoned? Michael Chabon uses this idea in his new novel, set in the fictional 'Alyeska', a new community of mainly Jews from old Europe. After sixty years, the population has grown to five million souls; Yiddish is the main language. Orthodox Jewish gangs roam the streets of the city of Sitka, where Inspector Meyer Landsman stumbles upon the body of a heroin addict and chess protégé. This murder quickly leads to the charismatic Rabbi Gold, leader of a sect with mafia-like practices. But behind the sect, an even more menacing shadow looms... Despite the objections of his partner Berko, Meyer is determined to get to the bottom of the truth about the intriguing murder. Even if that means handing in his badge and incurring the wrath of the head of the homicide unit: