Murder Under the Fig Tree

A Palestine Mystery

by Kate Jessica Raphael

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Pub Date Sep 19 2017 | Archive Date Oct 20 2017

She Writes Press

LGBTQIAP+ | Mystery & Thrillers

Description

Hamas has taken power in Palestine, and the Israeli government is rounding up threats. When Palestinian policewoman Rania Bakara finds herself thrown in prison, though she has never been part of Hamas, her friend Chloe flies in from San Francisco to get her out. Chloe begs an Israeli policeman named Benny for help—and Benny offers Rania a way out: investigate the death of a young man in a village near her own. The young man’s neighbors believe the Israeli army killed him; Benny believes his death might not have been so honorable.
Initially, Rania refuses; she has no interest in helping the Israelis. But she is released anyway, and returns home to find herself without a job and suspected of being a traitor. Searching for redemption, she launches an investigation into the young man’s death that draws her into a Palestinian gay scene she never knew existed.
With Chloe and her Palestinian Australian lover as guides, Rania explores a Jerusalem gay bar, meets with a lesbian support group, and plunges deep into the victim’s world, forcing her to question her beliefs about love, justice, and cultural identity.

Hamas has taken power in Palestine, and the Israeli government is rounding up threats. When Palestinian policewoman Rania Bakara finds herself thrown in prison, though she has never been part of...

Advance Praise

Murder Under the Fig Tree is a beautifully written and layered novel that takes on the complexities and ambiguities of Palestinian life; it’s also a damn good mystery that convincingly demonstrates a crime novel can also be fine literature.—Michael Nava, author, Lay Your Sleeping Head

"Kate Raphael has delivered a powerful, textured, boldly imagined, and brilliantly executed portrait of Palestine and Israel that is also a wicked pleasure to read. There are no characters in fiction quite like Rania and Chloe. Not to be missed!"—Carolina De Robertis, author of The Invisible Mountain and The Gods of Tango

“One of the best mysteries I’ve read in a long time . . . Kate Raphael writes great women characters and does a fantastic job of portraying the realities of Palestinian life as background to a gripping story.”

—Starhawk, best-selling author of The Fifth Sacred Thing andThe Spiral Dance

“A stunning mystery novel by a talented new writer. Anyone picking up the book will be drawn in by Rania and Chloe, a dynamic, realistic pair of women sleuths. Raphael’s experience in the Middle East adds convincing detail to this compassionate and suspenseful tale. An outstanding addition to the global mystery field. More, please!”—Sujata Massey, author of The Sleeping Dictionary

“Raphael thoroughly captures the tension of life on the West Bank by setting a murder in a location marked by daily violence. Substantial yet humanly flawed female protagonists give depth to both the mystery . . . and the political and social turmoil of the region.”
—Library Journal (starred review)