Unorthodox Practices — Marissa Piesman

ROACHES ARE TO NEW YORK WHAT EARTHQUAKES ARE TO L.A WHEN THERE AREN'T ANY, PEOPLE NOTICE.

Mrs. Gross and Mrs. Kahn were both elderly tenants on West End Avenue. Both lived--and suddenly died--in buildings undergoing million-dollar co-op conversions. And--most sinister of all--neither of them had cockroaches.

Housing Court Attorney Nina Fischman's life is unraveling. Her job is running her ragged, and she can't decide whether to leave her nice WASP boyfriend--or marry him. But when two reasonably healthy old ladies dies in very valuable apartments, Nina begins to suspect murder. Now all she has to do is convince Judah Lev, a short, young, Orthodox prosecutor in the D.A.'s office, that something's not kosher...and figure out why she's so attracted to him. In the meantime, Ida, Nina's sharp-witted mom, is on the case. After all, isn't detective just another word for yenta?