When Sherry Ostroff asks her husband to do a particularly loathsome chore, he has a ready-made excuse. “That’s not in the ketubah.” Like other Jewish couples, the Ostroffs, of Manheim Township, signed ...

The ketubah has always been an integral part of a Jewish wedding. The marriage contract details the husband’s obligation to his wife and is designed to protect her if they get divorced or he dies.

“The Marriage Artist” by Andrew Winer (Holt, $26.00) opens with a shocking scene — a young woman and her suspected lover are found dead on a New York sidewalk. Was it a crime committed by the woman’s ...