Book Signing-Local Clergyman and Mystery Writer

A group of Jesuit Priests invite Rabbi Daniels to join them on their investigative visit to Nicaragua shortly after the Sandinista revolution toppled the Somoza dictatorship. Rabbi Daniels is interested in going so he can determine if this new revolutionary government is anti-Semitic, as is being charged by the U.S. Government. He is told by the State Department that if he goes down to Nicaragua as a rabbi, he will be killed.  The Jesuits promise to protect him with their lives by hiding his identity as he travels with them. However, he is soon embroiled in the murder of a nun with one of the Jesuits he befriends is accused of the killing. Rabbi Daniels announces that he will act as the priest’s attorney and reveals that he is a rabbi. However, he is now warned that his involvement as a defense attorney could place him in jeopardy of being imprisoned along with the accused priest. His only protection is the appearance of a mysterious woman he inexplicably meets during his midnight reconnaissance of the Jewish cemetery.  While he is able to get the accused priest out of Nicaragua, this same priest seeks out the rabbi several years later because as he once again is accused of murdering a nun.

Professor/Rabbi Arthur Gross Schaefer, JD, CPA (inactive), MAHL, DD (honoris causa), is a full professor of business law, ethics, mysticism, and sustainability at Loyola Marymount University. He has been listed by the Princeton Review as one of the top 300 university professors nationally. He consults with non-profit and profit-based organizations on issues such as effective ethical decision-making, sexual harassment, and time management. He publishes and speaks on diverse topics including academic freedom, professional ethics and burnout, spiritually in the workplace, and immigrant rights.

The Rabbi is the spiritual leader for The Community Shul of Montecito and Santa Barbara, California. Prior to this position, he serves as a congregational rabbi for several communities and interim Hillel rabbi at the University of Southern California, the University of California at Santa Barbara, as well as the founding Hillel Rabbi at Loyola Marymount University. He co-founded the Avi Schaefer Fund in memory of his son. His wife, Laurie Gross, is an internationally known artist and liturgical consultant. He has crafted, so far, three books in his Rabbi Elija Daniels mystery series.