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This novel won the 2007 Nebula Award for best sf novel of the year - but it's not being marketed as science fiction, so you may have to look outside our comfortable sf section to find it in a bookstore or library.
It is a murder mystery, a love story, and an alternate history all at the same time. After the collapse of the state of Israel in 1948, the US government reluctantly allowed the temporary resettlement of 3 million Jews in the District of Sitka (in the Alaska panhandle). In the fabulously detailed underworld of this speculative new Jewish diaspora, Chabon has created an authentically gritty world of Hasidic organized crime lords, Tlinkit resentment, and rundown chess halls, during the waning days of the 60 year pseudo-state.
Meyer Landsman is a bottom-feeding homicide detective, drawn into a seemingly insignificant murder, that reveals layer after layer to the very foundations of the Alaskan Yiddish society and Meyer's personal life. I'm not an experienced reader of murder mysteries, but the clues seem well constructed to me. All that background given early on turns out to be relevant, so pay attention!
I give a top rating for this one. Have you read it?
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