It going to be a fun read for the bookies when they get into Margalit Fox’s The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum: The Rise and Fall of an Organized Crime Boss. It turns out that this nice Jewish mother planned robberies of cash, gold and diamonds throughout the country, rising from tenement poverty to vast wealth, a fixture of high society and an admired philanthropist. How did she do it?

When the Book Circle meets on Thursday, September 5, at 3 p.m., in Andrew Levin Park, all will be revealed. What The Shofar knows so far is that Fredericka Mandelbaum wasn’t just a successful crook; she was a business visionary — one of the first entrepreneurs in America to systemize the scattershot enterprise of property crime. Handpicking a cadre of bank robbers, housebreakers ad shoplifters, she turned theft into as viable business.

The Book Circle meets monthly to read and discuss books about Jews and Jewish interest. For more information, email ctigreenport@gmail.com with a message for Suzi Rosenstreich, coordinator of the group.