From Publishers Weekly
Peter Decker, detective sergeant in the LAPD, meets young widow Rina Lazarus while investigating an attempted rape at the yeshiva in Deep Canyon where she lives. Rina's religious convictions shape their ensuing relationship and Peter begins the process of converting, in part for his own spiritual needs and in part to be able to marry her. On a camping trip, Rina's young sons discover two charred skeletons, plunging Pete into a case that makes up one thread in this follow-up mystery to Kellerman's The Ritual Bath. Identifying the skeletons via complex dental work (Kellerman is a dentist and the wife of suspense novelist Jonathan Kellerman), Pete traces the murders back to a grisly pornography ring centering around "snuff" films, which climax in death. Wading through the underside of LA's sex-for-sale world, Pete questions the purpose and value of religion in his life. As the horror and death toll mount, he struggles to reconcile the sordid realities with the religious practices of the yeshiva. Pete's growing isolation from Rina and increasing despair comprise the secondperhaps primaryfocus in mystery. Though leaning too heavily on Hebrew words and on details of dentistry, and with more graphic violence than at times seems necessary, Kellerman brings the case to a resounding resolution, suggesting as well a believable conclusion to Pete's personal dilemma even as she leaves his future with Rina unresolved. Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Cleveland Plain Dealer
"A master of mystery."

Chicago Sun-Times
"Moves crisply the characters are deep and well drawn-Faye Kellerman is a talented writer."

Book Description
Los Angeles Police Detective Peter Decker had grown very close to Rina's young sons, Sammy and Jake, as he had to their mother, and he looked forward to spending a day of his vacation camping with the boys. A nice reprieve from the grueling work of a homicide cop-until Sammy stumbles upon a gruesome sight...Two human skeletons, charred beyond recognition, are identified by a forensic dentist as teenage girls--and for Decker, the father of a sixteen-year-old daughter, vacation time is over. Throwing himself professionally and emotionally into the murder case, he launches a very personal investigation: a quest that pulls him deep into the crack dens of Hollywood Boulevard and painfully close to the children of the streets and a nightmare world he must make his own.

ANNOTATION

Detective Decker had two problems. He had to find the killers of two young women from the incredibly seamy world of L.A. porn. And he had to learn to follow the faith of his new lover, Rina--or else lose her forever. From the author of The Ritual Bath.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Los Angeles police detective Peter Decker is camping with the two young sons of his beautiful, Orthodox Jewish girlfriend Rina Lazarus. When he boys come upon two charred human skeletons, Decker is pulled into a sordid investigation that has "Danger" etched in blood....

SYNOPSIS

"A Master Of Mystery"

-Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Moves crisply the characters are deep and well drawn-Faye Kellerman is a talented writer."

-Chicago Sun-Times

Faye Kellerman lives with her husband, novelist Jonathan Kellerman, and their family in Los Angeles, California.

FROM THE CRITICS

Chicago Sun-Times

Moves crisply the characters are deep and well drawn-Faye Kellerman is a talented writer.

Publishers Weekly

Peter Decker, detective sergeant in the LAPD, meets young widow Rina Lazarus while investigating an attempted rape at the yeshiva in Deep Canyon where she lives. Rina's religious convictions shape their ensuing relationship and Peter begins the process of converting, in part for his own spiritual needs and in part to be able to marry her. On a camping trip, Rina's young sons discover two charred skeletons, plunging Pete into a case that makes up one thread in this follow-up mystery to Kellerman's The Ritual Bath. Identifying the skeletons via complex dental work (Kellerman is a dentist and the wife of suspense novelist Jonathan Kellerman), Pete traces the murders back to a grisly pornography ring centering around ``snuff'' films, which climax in death. Wading through the underside of LA's sex-for-sale world, Pete questions the purpose and value of religion in his life. As the horror and death toll mount, he struggles to reconcile the sordid realities with the religious practices of the yeshiva. Pete's growing isolation from Rina and increasing despair comprise the secondperhaps primaryfocus in mystery. Though leaning too heavily on Hebrew words and on details of dentistry, and with more graphic violence than at times seems necessary, Kellerman brings the case to a resounding resolution, suggesting as well a believable conclusion to Pete's personal dilemma even as she leaves his future with Rina unresolved. (June 15)

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Bold, taut, with an artful fusion of the down-and-dirty with characters whose personal lives we care about as the spiritual and emotional growth are as compelling as the events themselves. — Sue Grafton