CBR15 Passport – Federal District of Sitka
CBR15 Bingo In the Wild
So there are a few things different this time around. After WWII, Israel collapsed as a state and is no longer accommodating to Jewish refugees. As a matter of fact, the only place they can gain at least temporary refuge is the Federal District of Sitka. As long as they play nice and share it with the native Tlingit. So that works for 60 years or so, but the District is now set to go back to American control in the upcoming Reversion, and Jews will be, for the most part, forced out again. But their remaining options are very few on the ground. And why are the Americans suddenly seeking to shake everything up? Trust me, you’re never gonna guess.
But in the months remaining, life still continues on in Sitka, and a policeman still has a job to do. Policeman Meyer Landsman has been placed on leave by the captain (and his ex-wife Bina Gelbfish) due to being an alcoholic and general screw-up. But still, when a young chess player gets murdered in his ramshackle hotel, a couple of doors down from his own, he takes it personal. He starts off first investigating on his own,
…but most of the occupants of the Zamenhof are out for the night, and for all that he gets out of the rest of them, he might as well be knocking on doorstop of the Hirshkovits School for the Deaf. They are a twitchy, half-addled, rank, and cranky bunch of yids
Fortunately, he still has his partner, Berko Shemets, to help him solve the crime, even if it’s in an unofficial manner. Berko, AKA Bear, is no ordinary policeman either, being half Tlingit and half Jewish, and a happily married family man. The murdered young man turns out to be anyone but a nobody, and the twists and turns keep opening up to a bigger and bigger picture of what’s really going on in Sitka.
This was a fun read and I need a follow-up!
