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‘Nap’ Time

Raymond Chandler had "The Big Sleep." Now Ayelet Waldman has written her sunny slice of noir, "The Big Nap" (Berkley Prime Crime, June 2001).
[additional-authors]
August 16, 2001

Raymond Chandler had "The Big Sleep." Now Ayelet Waldman has written her sunny slice of noir, "The Big Nap" (Berkley Prime Crime, June 2001).

Waldman, who is married to Michael Chabon, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" will be reading from "The Big Nap" at the Mystery Bookstore in Westwood on Sunday.

This second book in her Mommy-Track Series heralds the return of the witty observations of Juliet Applebaum, the mystery-solving mom and former public defender who first solved cases in "Nursery Crimes" (June, 2000).

Applebaum on her faith: "My approach to Judaism is similarly low-key, expressing itself primarily in a deep-seated identification with Woody Allen [see above] and a guilt-ridden love of bacon."

Applebaum on her Hancock Park environ: "The neighborhood boasts a number of yeshivas and synagogues, and it’s always possible to find ‘a piece herring,’ as my grandfather would say — except on a Saturday… Because this is Los Angeles, the land of weird contradictions, there’s also a Honeybaked Ham store right in the middle of the Hasidic enclave. Go figure. "

Waldman’s kosher-style caper follows the pregnant heroine as she navigates with her toddler to determine who killed the director of a prestigious preschool. As the baby formula thickens, so does the plot, when her babysitter Fraydle turns up missing.

The 36-year-old author was born in Israel, where her parents had made aliyah in the 1940s. Her father started Kibbutz Kisufim with Vidal Sassoon. The family moved to Montreal when she was 2, but she grew up in Ridgewood, New Jersey and eventually attended Wesleyan University. Upon marrying, the Chabons spent three years in Los Angeles, before settling down in Berkeley.

Despite two authors living under the same roof, the Chabon household is surprisingly competition-free. While they might quibble over the occasional witty line that emerges in everyday conversation, they have different writing styles and objectives.

"He is Secretariat and I am a very fun Shetland pony," Waldman said, describing their literary status.

So is Applebaum modeled after the author, who also downsized her legal career to raise her children?

Absolutely, she said.

"As a mother of three," Waldman said, "I can not keep track of Juliet and my life if they were too divergent."

For book signing information, call (310) 659-2959.

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