Friend and author, Miriam Drori makes a welcome return...

... to my blog this week.  Thanks for being here Miriam and I understand we're going to meet the central character in your latest book which is a murder mystery.  Tell me more...

MD  Nathalie is the name of one of the main characters in my murder mystery, Style and the Solitary, set in Jerusalem. She’s a new immigrant from France. She’s intelligent and feisty, and refuses to listen to the advice thrown at her from all directions. Asaf is very lucky that she’s there to fight his corner, because no one else is.

Nathalie grew up in Strasbourg. She studied French Literature at the Sorbonne in Paris, and considered becoming a teacher. By chance, she signed up for a course in PCB layout design, and worked for two years as a layout designer before moving to Israel. There, she studied Hebrew in an ulpan (a school for the intensive study of Hebrew) before finding a job and two flatmates in Jerusalem. When she sees what Israeli kids are like, she’s glad she didn’t go into teaching!

Naturally, Nathalie has brought her past with her. In fact, her longing for things French has grown since she put a distance between her and her home country. She loves to eat fresh baguette and Camembert, when she can. Croissants, too. And she loves the story of Beauty and the Beast – the original one, written by an influential French woman in 1740 – which she studied as part of her degree course. It’s taught her that people can be changed by the belief of others.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio, Pexels

Nathalie is also the name of a sweet song from 1964, sung by Gilbert Bécaud. The Nathalie in the song is a Russian student and tour guide in Moscow in the time of the USSR. The singer misses his time with her and looks forward to seeing her in Paris, where he will be her guide. What he likes about her, it seems to me, is that she’s different from French girls. Nathalie and her student friends can laugh and joke, but they can also be extremely serious.

The Nathalie in my story also stands out from her friends and colleagues, because she’s French and behaves differently. Maybe that’s what causes most of the Israelis in the novel to struggle to take her seriously. But Asaf is very appreciative when he discovers what she’s done for him. He knows how lucky he is that she’s there.

about the author… Miriam Drori was born and brought up in London and now lives in Jerusalem with her husband and one of her grown-up children. She has written romance, historical fiction, non-fiction, uplit and crime, not all of which are currently available. She writes to entertain readers. If they also learn from her writing, that’s an added advantage. She is passionate about raising awareness of social anxiety.

about the book… 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?

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

You can get the book on Amazon.

You can follow Miriam on her Website on Facebook  Twitter and on Instagram