The Yiddish Policemen's Union

A Novel

By: Michael Chabon

Narrated by: Peter Riegert

For 60 years Jewish refugees and their descendants have prospered in the federal district of Sitka, a temporary safe haven created in the wake of the Holocaust and the shocking 1948 collapse of the fledgling state of Israel. The Jews of the Sitka District have created their own little world in the Alaskan panhandle, a vibrant and complex frontier city that moves to the music of Yiddish. But now the district is set to revert to Alaskan control, and their dream is coming to an end.

Homicide detective Meyer Landsman of the district police has enough problems without worrying about the upcoming Reversion. His life is a shambles, his marriage a wreck, his career a disaster. And in the cheap hotel where Landsman has washed up, someone has just committed a murder - right under his nose. When he begins to investigate the killing of his neighbor, a former chess prodigy, word comes down from on high that the case is to be dropped immediately, and Landsman finds himself contending with all the powerful forces of faith, obsession, evil, and salvation that are his heritage.

At once a gripping whodunit, a love story, and an exploration of the mysteries of exile and redemption, The Yiddish Policemen's Union is a novel only Michael Chabon could have written.

©2007 Michael Chabon (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers

alt jewish settlement is worth visiting

a unique exploration of jewish traditons in an alternative Alaska.
ffo: detective, jewish history, alt reality

My favorite book of the last decade

From beginning to end, this was my favorite book of the last decade. I've shared it with many friends, and it continues to please.

Blown away

Another great work by Chabon. The story is tight, engaging, and the setting beautifully depicted.

The narrator is perfect for this kind of classic detective story that is more then a detective story.

The setting is fictional but so well developed I had to look up the history to make sure.

I also very much enjoyed the author interview at the end a day I hope Harper continues this trend.

This might be my favorite audio book ever

Chabon creates a fascinating alternative history. Peter Riegert is brilliant in his performance. And all of this in a hard boiled detective story? It’s wonderful

Great listen, weird music intermittently

Every once and a while this annoying music pops up out of nowhere. Great otherwise!

Fabulous listen!

This recording was not available for some time. I had listened to this a few years ago and when I wanted to listen again it was not availabll. I took a chance, found and grabbed it.

Riegert is perfect for this imaginitive, detailed and darkly humorous story.

You will go back to it many times.

Another wonderfully creative Chabon novel!

Well written, well.narrated. Highly enjoyable except the totally out of place music that occasionally popped up for no apparent reasin, drowning out the narrator. Definitely the only objectionable part of the experience. Always a pleasure to become immersed in Chabon's imaginative worlds.

Oy vey - the music is distracting

I enjoyed the mystery, the clever writing, the plot driven storyline, the characters, the alternate history setting, but the music between the sections was loud and long.

Dense as a dense one but a good read

The world Chabon creates is so vivid it feels real but the physicality of it occasionally takes away from the flow of the story as an audiobook. The descriptions are often lain on with a heavy hand and it can be difficult to stay within the story listening to it (which I also recall in reading in), though when it grabs you, it holds your attention like a vice.

the horrible music between chapters makes no sense to the story.

a great novel and good performance. the director ruined the performance and the mood with music playing over the narration.