When Hollywood music producer Primo Eckerling is murdered execution-style, billionaire computer genius Genoa Greeves sees similarities with the murder of her teacher fifteen years earlier. Bennett (Ben) Little was the only person who, through the entire miserable course of her high school education, gave her any encouragement or support. She couldn’t do anything for him then, but now she has wealth and power – Genoa offers the LAPD a substantial incentive to solve the cold case. Peter Decker doesn’t like having his strings pulled, but he can’t deny there are eerie similarities between the two cases, and when one of the original detectives apparently commits suicide only twelve hours after being interviewed Decker takes the request even more seriously.
The joy of Kellerman’s writing lies at least as much with renewing acquaintance with her well-established characters (particularly Decker, his wife Rina and his daughter from his first marriage, Cindy) as much as from the crystalline and lucid veracity of her plots. I was less interested in the mystery aspect of the plot than in the unfolding character development, particularly with Cindy's new husband.
This is not to say that the mystery wasn't involving, but as I've got to know these characters over the past fifteen years or so since I began reading Kellerman's work, it's been them more than anything else that's kept me involved. If you're interested in trying out her writing, I strongly suggest you begin with the first on the series, The Ritual Bath - like the rest of the series, it combines strong characters with well-integrated information about Orthodox Judaism in the modern world, and an involving mystery. - Alex
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