A Canadian detective looks into a wealthy lady’s mysterious demise in “an entertaining read” (Library Journal). Thanks to a noisy toilet, Benny Cooperman is pulled into a new case—when he learns that his janitor’s elderly girlfriend has died of hunger—despite having plenty of money. The question is why she couldn’t get access to it, and Benny will find himself investigating a lot of unsavory characters to find out, in a novel by an Arthur Ellis Award winner “who can bring a character to life in a few lines” (Ruth Rendell). “Benny Cooperman, the low-key Grantham, Ontario, private eye who has as little success shushing his Jewish mother as getting Kogan, the janitor of his building, to fix the leaky hall toilet, agrees to a trade: If Kogan will deal with the plumbing, Benny will plumb the death of his pal Lizzy Oldridge, who died of starvation . . . Benny’s a charmer.” —Kirkus Reviews “Benny Cooperman is one of the most enjoyable private eyes in crime fiction.” —The Toronto Star There Was an Old Woman is the eighth book in the Benny Cooperman Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

ハワード・エンゲルが描く探偵ベニーの魅力は、型破りな「日常性」にあります。カナダの街を舞台に、母の干渉や些事に追われつつ、孤独な死の裏にある強欲を暴く。本作が掲げる「富の中の飢餓」という皮肉な対比は、現代社会の精神的欠落を鋭く突く、文学的な深みに満ちたテーマです。 映像版では、ベニーのシニカルな個性が血肉を持って躍動し、冷涼な風景が事件の哀切を際立たせます。活字が語る緻密な心理描写と、映像が補完する空間的な孤独。両メディアのシナジーにより、本作は単なる推理劇を超えた、魂の渇きを潤す至高の物語へと昇華されています。