Cozy mystery writer and children’s book writer Susan Van Dusen has long been an advocate of reading. In her blog, she writes, “I am an unabashed bookworm. I have been reading and writing ever since I penned [a book] in the second grade, and “Gramma Banana and Her Magic Eraser” in the sixth grade.”
As an adult, Van Dusen taught English in Chicago’s neighborhood of Uptown as well as Jerusalem, Israel. She’s also worked on newspapers, radio, and magazines. She won an award as the editorial director of WBBM-AM News radio.
She also worked with the Village of Skokie to write three children’s books Little Rabbit Finds His Way, Bitty's Trip To Town, and The Great Skokie Fire of 1910 which were given to the schoolchildren in Skokie.
She co-founded the Coming Together project, which brought together different ethnic communities in Skokie and Niles to celebrate one another. Additionally, Van Dusen worked as the Communications Director of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs and Associate Director of Public Affairs at the University of Illinois and developed “The Read In” project at UIC.
So, it’s little surprise that reading would be a central focus of her first cozy series: The Torah Group Mysteries. On her blog, she wrote, “I studied with a Torah group for ten years, and realized that it was the perfect vehicle for a series of books I’m working on.”
Now she’s retired, writing cozy mysteries and enjoying life as the mayor’s wife. Book Three Perilous Purim just published in September 2025.
The Torah Group Mysteries make great fall and winter cozy reading binges—especially as we head into Hanukkah!
The Missing Hand
Julia Donnelly, wife of the mayor of Crestfall, IL, was not sure what to expect when she joined the Torah Reading Group. She did it to appease her BFF. Little did she suspect that things were going to get quite tricky.
When a fellow group member brings in her family heirloom, a bejeweled yad, Julia learns about this pointed stick with a hand at the bottom that is used to help keep the reader’s place in the Torah.
But when that yad goes missing, stolen, Julia and the group’s leader, Rabbi Avrum Fine, are charged with getting to the bottom of the crime. But it’s not a simple story of theft and return.
There’s a dark history behind the yad’s arrival to the United States. The theft reveals fake identities and dark unresolved crimes.
Poisoned Passover
Passover started on a bad foot when almost everyone at Julia’s Torah group friend Devorah’s seder gets food poisoning. The culprit most likely was the chopped liver that Julia had brought from Sophie’s Kosher Deli.
But when the food poisoning turns to murder, Julia has to get to the bottom of it. She doesn’t think that it was an accident or mistake that something was wrong with the chopped liver. Someone or someones wants to bring Sophie’s Kosher Deli down.
With too many suspects to count, Julia and her partner in crime, Rabbi Fine will have to get to the bottom of this poisonous crew.
Perilous Purim
In this recently published book, Julia finds herself caught up in a web of crime when her partner in crime, Rabbi Fine asks for help. While everyone was celebrating Purim, someone killed Jacob Ibrahim that night.
But it appears that the man had a lot of shady connections from loan sharks and gangsters with a touch of car bombs and other deathly apparatuses. They’ve got a bewildered widow and organized crime on their tails.
They’re now in a race against time to find Jacob’s killer before they find themselves joining in the World To Come.
Featured image: Ajeng Coleendyah / Unsplash
