Rating: 
Summary: Relationship between Peter and Rina continues to grow
Review: "Milk and Honey" the third book in the Decker/lLazarus series continues their relationship between Peter and Rina.. By now followers of Kellerman's previous books know Peter Decker is studying with Rabbi Aaron Schulman to become the Jew he never was. His relationship with Rina has grown. He has proposed to her. While she's back east wrestling with his proposal Decker discovers a two year old wandering around. Unharmed and covered with blood she does not belong to anyone in the development where she's found. By the time Rina returns to California Decker is obsessed with the case especially when he stumbles in a grisly a quadruple murder. Exciting as her other books. A must read for Kellerman fans.
Rating:
Summary: Milk and Honey
Review: "This book kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way through. I Loved It."
Rating:
Summary: Milk and Honey
Review: "This book kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way through. I Loved It."
Rating:
Summary: Milk and Honey
Review: "This book kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way through. I Loved It."
Rating: 
Summary: Multiple story lines held my attention
Review: Another good Decker/Lazarus mystery. Kellerman does a good job of offering story lines complete in the one book as well as bits of her ongoing lines, not just for Peter and Rina but Marge as well. My gripe with this book is that while Kellerman accurately portrays the psychological cost of infertility, she gives inaccurate information about infertility treatments. She describes certain practices that certainly occur but are generally considered unethical as "common", and is wildly inaccurate about cost and physical pain associated with inseminations. Shame for scaring people in this way!
Rating:
Summary: From one crime writer to another...
Review: I have recently entered the field of crime writing myself and had often been asked if I had read Faye Kellerman, as I am also writing from a Jewish point of view. My crime novel "Dark Tapestry" will be available on amazon.com within a few weeks. OK, plug over! I started with Jupiters Bones by accident, then moved on to read The Ritual Bath, which quickly told me that here is a writer who knows her onions when it comes to orthodox Jewry. So many writers about Judaism make cringe-making errors, but Faye knows her stuff. In Milk and Honey Peter Decker is making progress as a "Baal Teshuvah" (a born-again) and his relationship with Rina Lazarus is deepening towards marriage. We care about them and about his partners in the police department. My main gripe with this novel is that I personally could not find it in myself to care that much about the victims of the quadruple murder. The two year old daughter of one of them is well cared for and seems untraumatised. The victims themselves seem a most unpleasant bunch and my feelings (at time of writing having not quite finished the book) are that I could not control my apathy about their demise. It is in the area of the growing relationship between Peter and Rina, which really makes this particular novel come to life, and also the scenes between the detectives themselves. I do find Rina's indeterminate attitude towards extra marital sex a bit confusing. If she is supposed to be orthodox, then she would not entertain the idea of sleeping with Peter before marriage. Or maybe this is me being naive. Also orthodox women either cover their hair or don't, generally speaking. Once a woman uncovers her hair in public (and particularly in front of a strange man, as she did in front of Abel Atwater, a man who obviously had the hots for her) she is making a statement of intent, and it isn't usual for her to be hit-and-miss about this very important Jewish law. It's a bit like being "a little bit pregnant". You can't. You either are, or you aren't. So you either cover your hair in public, and in front of men, or you don't. How a woman covers her hair, that is the grey area; some will just use a beret or kerchief, some will wear wigs, some of Hassidic sects will wear wigs with hats on top and shave their own hair completely. Some too, would never show their own hair, even in a woman's only situation. Rina is not consistent and to me (an orthodox Jewess who wears a "sheitel" (wig) but not in front of just women) she doesn't add up. However, most people would not notice these inconsistencies and the novels are gripping and realistic, and the main characters at least (see above, about the victims) arouse sympathy. Ruthie Pearlman
Rating:
Summary: From one crime writer to another...
Review: I have recently entered the field of crime writing myself and had often been asked if I had read Faye Kellerman, as I am also writing from a Jewish point of view. My crime novel "Dark Tapestry" will be available on amazon.com within a few weeks. OK, plug over! I started with Jupiters Bones by accident, then moved on to read The Ritual Bath, which quickly told me that here is a writer who knows her onions when it comes to orthodox Jewry. So many writers about Judaism make cringe-making errors, but Faye knows her stuff. In Milk and Honey Peter Decker is making progress as a "Baal Teshuvah" (a born-again) and his relationship with Rina Lazarus is deepening towards marriage. We care about them and about his partners in the police department. My main gripe with this novel is that I personally could not find it in myself to care that much about the victims of the quadruple murder. The two year old daughter of one of them is well cared for and seems untraumatised. The victims themselves seem a most unpleasant bunch and my feelings (at time of writing having not quite finished the book) are that I could not control my apathy about their demise. It is in the area of the growing relationship between Peter and Rina, which really makes this particular novel come to life, and also the scenes between the detectives themselves. I do find Rina's indeterminate attitude towards extra marital sex a bit confusing. If she is supposed to be orthodox, then she would not entertain the idea of sleeping with Peter before marriage. Or maybe this is me being naive. Also orthodox women either cover their hair or don't, generally speaking. Once a woman uncovers her hair in public (and particularly in front of a strange man, as she did in front of Abel Atwater, a man who obviously had the hots for her) she is making a statement of intent, and it isn't usual for her to be hit-and-miss about this very important Jewish law. It's a bit like being "a little bit pregnant". You can't. You either are, or you aren't. So you either cover your hair in public, and in front of men, or you don't. How a woman covers her hair, that is the grey area; some will just use a beret or kerchief, some will wear wigs, some of Hassidic sects will wear wigs with hats on top and shave their own hair completely. Some too, would never show their own hair, even in a woman's only situation. Rina is not consistent and to me (an orthodox Jewess who wears a "sheitel" (wig) but not in front of just women) she doesn't add up. However, most people would not notice these inconsistencies and the novels are gripping and realistic, and the main characters at least (see above, about the victims) arouse sympathy. Ruthie Pearlman
Rating:
Summary: Character development getting better.
Review: In this the third in the series, Rina is in New York considering Peter's marriage proposal. As with her first two books, I find Kellerman's portrayal of Jewish rituals wonderful and informative. However, as far as Peter's conversion to Judaism - he can't just do it for somebody else, he has to want to do it for himself -- and I just don't get the feeling that he is 100% into it, even though she does end up accepting his proposal. As far as Peter's case, in his effort to find the parents of a two-year-old girl that he found wandering the streets in the middle of the night, he stumbles across a quadruple murder. The author made it very easy not to have any sympathy for any of the homicide victims. The book is well written, but unfortunately trying to follow Decker's work life and trying to follow Decker's personal life is like reading two separate books. The storylines are running parallel to each other, and the two just don't mesh.
Rating:
Summary: Character development getting better.
Review: In this the third in the series, Rina is in New York considering Peter's marriage proposal. As with her first two books, I find Kellerman's portrayal of Jewish rituals wonderful and informative. However, as far as Peter's conversion to Judaism - he can't just do it for somebody else, he has to want to do it for himself -- and I just don't get the feeling that he is 100% into it, even though she does end up accepting his proposal. As far as Peter's case, in his effort to find the parents of a two-year-old girl that he found wandering the streets in the middle of the night, he stumbles across a quadruple murder. The author made it very easy not to have any sympathy for any of the homicide victims. The book is well written, but unfortunately trying to follow Decker's work life and trying to follow Decker's personal life is like reading two separate books. The storylines are running parallel to each other, and the two just don't mesh.
Rating: 
Summary: 3rd Book in the Decker/lazarus Series
Review: It is late at night and Decker stumbles upon a small girl wondering the empty streets of suburbia. We know Decker has has found himself in the midst of another mystery when he discovers that young "Sally" is covered in dried blood. In addition to this mystery we learn that Rina has gone to New York to consider Peter's marriage proposal. When she returns she finds herself in a subplot invloving an old army buddy of Peter's with a death wish. Through it all Peter continues his serious and devoted study of Orthodox Judaism. A wonderful read!
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