Invisible City by Julia Dahl

by:  Julia Dahl
published by:  Minotaur Books
publish date:  May 6, 2014

Just months after Rebekah Roberts was born, her mother, an Hasidic Jew from Brooklyn, abandoned her Christian boyfriend and newborn baby to return to her religion. Neither Rebekah nor her father have heard from her since. Now a recent college graduate, Rebekah has moved to New York City to follow her dream of becoming a big-city reporter. But she's also drawn to the idea of being closer to her mother, who might still be living in the Hasidic community in Brooklyn.

Then Rebekah is called to cover the story of a murdered Hasidic woman. Rebekah's shocked to learn that, because of the NYPD's habit of kowtowing to the powerful ultra-Orthodox community, not only will the woman be buried without an autopsy, her killer may get away with murder. Rebekah can't let the story end there. But getting to the truth won't be easy--even as she immerses herself in the cloistered world where her mother grew up, it's clear that she's not welcome, and everyone she meets has a secret to keep from an outsider.

This book ended up surprising me.  I almost DNFed it but I didn't have anything else to read at the time, so I stuck with it.  It ended up being a great mystery.

Rebekah has a unique interest in the murder that she has to cover for her newspaper job.  She comes from a Hasidic background.  The victim is a Hasidic woman that has been beaten to death and her body is left at her husband's construction company.  Rebekah uses her contacts in the community to dig deep into the mystery of her death.  She gains insight into the community that an outsider never would.  As Rebekah works, she uncovers dark secrets in the Hasidic community.

This was an interesting story.  I liked the setting of this book.  It was a little different than most murder mysteries.  Mystery readers should give this one a try.