Jul 31, 20213 min read

Style and the Solitary by Miriam Drori

It is a great treat for me to take part in the tour for Style and the Solitary, one of my favourite books of this year. Novels by Miriam Drori are always thought-provoking and gripping. I secured an early copy of the mystery Style and the Solitary and it is no exception. It also benefits from athe fine setting of Jerusalem.

The Blurb

An unexpected murder. A suspect with a reason. The power of unwavering belief.

A murder has been committed in an office in Jerusalem. That’s for sure. The rest is not as clear-cut as it might seem.

Asaf languishes in his cell, unable to tell his story even to himself. How can he tell it to someone who elicits such fear within him? His colleague, Nathalie, has studied Beauty and the Beast. She understands its moral. Maybe that’s why she’s the only one who believes in Asaf, the suspect. But she’s new in the company – and in the country. Would anyone take her opinion seriously? She coerces her flatmates, Yarden and Tehila, into helping her investigate. As they uncover new trails, will they be able to reverse popular opinion? In the end, will Beauty’s belief be strong enough to waken the Beast? Or, in this case, can Style waken the Solitary?

The Review

Style and the Solitary is published by darkstroke, an imprint of Crooked Cat Books. It is a gripping tale of murder, belief and self-belief, or rather a lack of self belief. The story is set in the magical city of Jerusalem and tells of Asaf, one member of an office work-force, who has decided to live his life differently. He certainly does that, when he arrives to work early, as usual and finds a corpse with a knife sticking into it. Needless to say, his already fragile mental state is horribly affected by this. All his social anxiety comes to the fore and the only person who believes in him is Nathalie, a new colleague who is also new to Israel.

The way Asaf's mental health issues are drawn and discussed by this author make the novel unique and absolutely fascinating. I was enthralled by the murder mystery, but even more so by the development of the main character.

The heroine, Nathalie, and her housemates form and amusing and vibrant trio determined to prove Asaf's innocence and discover the true perpetrator. While they search for the murderer the reader is treated to a tour of Jerusalem.

All in all, with a gripping plot, interesting characters and a beautiful setting, Style and the Solitary is an excellent new novel by Miriam Drori which would make for great discussions in a book group and I highly recommend it.

The Author

Miriam Drori was born and brought up in London and now lives with her husband and one of three grown up children in Jerusalem.

With a degree in Maths and following careers in computer programming and technical writing, Miriam has been writing novels and short stories since 2004. After some success with short stories, Miriam turned her hand to longer fictional works, publishing NEITHER HERE NOR THERE and THE WOMEN FRIENDS: SELINA, co-written with Emma Rose Millar.

Social anxiety features in Miriam's latest publications. SOCIAL ANXIETY REVEALED is a non-fiction guide that explores this common but little-known disorder from multiple points of view. The book has been highly recommended by 'sufferers' as well as professionals in this field. CULTIVATING A FUJI is the story of a fictional character who battles against social anxiety before learning to make friends with it. STYLE AND THE SOLITARY, a crime novel, asks an important question: what happens when a suspect can't stick up for himself?

When not writing, Miriam enjoys reading, hiking, dancing and travelling.