Detecting the Changes: Shulamit Lapid's Lizzie Badihi Series as reflecting the Israeli Society

Alongside Batya Gur, the Israeli writer Shulamit Lapid was largely responsible for the new generation of Israeli detective and mystery fiction that developed in the late 1980s. When Lapid and Gur began publishing their first detective novels—in 1988 and 1989 respectively—they moved away from the “classic mysteries,” however, using the traditional crime form to probe and expose the divisions within Israeli society rather than cleaving to the tight geometric patterns of whodunit fiction. To date, the Lizzie Badiḥi series consists of six novels—Mekomon (1989), Pitayon (1991), Hatachshit (1992); Ḥol ba'eynaim (1997), Pilgesh bagiv'ah (2000), and Sof onat halimonim (2007). The series is located in Beersheba. Although the capital of the Negev, seeking to become Israel's fourth metropolis, Beersheba is considered peripheral from the perspective of Tel Aviv or Jerusalem due to its location in the south of the country. The fact that Beersheba is both the central city in the area and a periphery town gives it a hybrid character—a “third space” that, blurs the binary hierarchy between center and periphery. As a peripheral cultural center, Beersheba possesses a unique ambience, hosting a colorful populace. Therefore, the choice of Beersheba due to its third-space character affords a fertile opportunity for addressing Israeli society and its conflicts. Over the period the series spans, both Beersheba and Israeli society have changed and developed. In this paper, I would like to show how these changes are reflected in the series.