It is a bit rare to see a husband and wife couple both writing books (and I would exclude those books where the couple are writing the book jointly), so the couple of Faye and Jonathan Kellerman are a bit unique. They are even more unique because they both have had books on the New York Times bestseller list at the same time. But, if you are reading one, the style of the other is different. I have read more of Jonathan, so it was a bit of surprise to read Faye, since you start thinking that maybe the style would be similar. Even though both their books deal with police and deal with murder, the action and pace in Jonathan's books is more than in Faye's books (or it could be that this was the case with just the books that I have read).
Faye Kellerman was born in 1952 in St. Louis in Missouri and went to UCLA where she got her degree in 1974, and then studied and became a dentist in terms of education, but never did practise. Instead, what she did finally was to become an author. Her most famous creation is the detective Peter Decker, who was raised as a Baptist but went back to his Jewish roots after marriage. There are a number of books that feature this detective, at last count the number of books starring him as the lead character being a total of 22 books.
Cold Case (also called The Mercedes Coffin) (spoiler alert) is about a connection between 2 murders and the police attempt to solve them. Why call it a cold case ? Well, the first murder is 15 years back, unsolved and the second one is a recent murder that seems similar to the first murder. The first one to be murdered was an apparently much loved teacher called Ben Little and the second one was a Hollywood music producer by the name Primo Ekerling. When a hot-shot and rich female CEO reads about the second murder, she sees that there is a resemblance to the first murder - and the teacher murdered in the first one was somebody who had helped her a lot. And so she decides to use the effects of money - promising the department a nice donation if they can solve the first murder, after a period of 15 years.
The department can always use the money, and so they decide to take the case, and detective Peter Decker is assigned; and he is not happy about having to jump to the command of a moneybag, but then the money is important. He does see that there does seem to be a connection; and resolving cold cases is always morally satisfying for a detective. He sets about starting the investigation, although it can be a bit tricky. The then police detectives have retired, and even though one of them is cooperative, the other one is not, and suspiciously dies of a suicide within 12 hours of the discussion. Over a period of time as he does the investigation, he figures out that there are connections. There is some amount of cross-region police politics that he has to handle, and his daughter is also now a police detective, Cindy Kutiel, whose superior office also needs to be handled politely.
The book does take the reader to a climax that can be unexpected, but it is a slow book, and I almost put it down; it did not generate the same kind of enthusiasm and tension which can keep me gripped to a book till I finish reading it.
%2B-%2BAuthored%2Bby%2BFaye%2BKellerman%2B-%2BA%2Bbit%2Bdull%2C%2Bbut%2Bmystery%2Bis%2Bstill%2Bthere.jpg "Cold Case (Published in 2008) - Authored by Faye Kellerman - A bit dull, but mystery is still there")
Faye Kellerman was born in 1952 in St. Louis in Missouri and went to UCLA where she got her degree in 1974, and then studied and became a dentist in terms of education, but never did practise. Instead, what she did finally was to become an author. Her most famous creation is the detective Peter Decker, who was raised as a Baptist but went back to his Jewish roots after marriage. There are a number of books that feature this detective, at last count the number of books starring him as the lead character being a total of 22 books.
Cold Case (also called The Mercedes Coffin) (spoiler alert) is about a connection between 2 murders and the police attempt to solve them. Why call it a cold case ? Well, the first murder is 15 years back, unsolved and the second one is a recent murder that seems similar to the first murder. The first one to be murdered was an apparently much loved teacher called Ben Little and the second one was a Hollywood music producer by the name Primo Ekerling. When a hot-shot and rich female CEO reads about the second murder, she sees that there is a resemblance to the first murder - and the teacher murdered in the first one was somebody who had helped her a lot. And so she decides to use the effects of money - promising the department a nice donation if they can solve the first murder, after a period of 15 years.
The department can always use the money, and so they decide to take the case, and detective Peter Decker is assigned; and he is not happy about having to jump to the command of a moneybag, but then the money is important. He does see that there does seem to be a connection; and resolving cold cases is always morally satisfying for a detective. He sets about starting the investigation, although it can be a bit tricky. The then police detectives have retired, and even though one of them is cooperative, the other one is not, and suspiciously dies of a suicide within 12 hours of the discussion. Over a period of time as he does the investigation, he figures out that there are connections. There is some amount of cross-region police politics that he has to handle, and his daughter is also now a police detective, Cindy Kutiel, whose superior office also needs to be handled politely.
The book does take the reader to a climax that can be unexpected, but it is a slow book, and I almost put it down; it did not generate the same kind of enthusiasm and tension which can keep me gripped to a book till I finish reading it.
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