Product Description

In the silent pre-dawn city hours -- alone with his thoughts about Rina Lazarus, the woman he loves, three thousand miles away in New York -- LAPD detective Peter Decker finds a small child, abandoned and covered in blood that is not hers. It is a sobering discovery, and a perplexing one, for nobody in the development where she was found steps forward to claim the little girl. Obsessed more deeply by this case than he imagined possible, Decker is determined to follow the scant clues to an answer. But his trail is leading him to a killing ground where four bodies lie still and lifeless. And by the time Rina returns, Peter Decker is already held fast in a sticky mass of hatred, passion, and murder -- in a world where intense sweetness is accompanied by a deadly sting.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #132617 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-01
• Released on: 2002-12-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 432 pages

From Publishers Weekly
On a summer night in a housing development near Los Angeles, police sergeant Peter Decker finds a winsome two-year-old girl playing on a swing set--and wearing blood-soaked pajamas. Unclaimed, "Sally" is placed in a foster home while Decker and partner Marge Dunn try to learn her identity. Bee stings on her arms lead them days later to the scene of a bloody multiple murder at a honey farm. While piecing together a bizarre puzzle of betrayal and revenge which includes adultery, infertility and land development plans, Peter is also investigating rape and assault charges brought against an old army buddy from Vietnam. The pressures of the murder case and doubts about his friend's innocence compound Peter's anxiety as he waits for young Orthodox Jewish widow Rina Lazarus to decide if she will marry him--an older man who's only recently embraced his Jewish heritage. Kellerman weaves these threads into a believable, intricate mystery in which series hero Decker is revealed as even more complex, interesting and sympathetic than in earlier appearances ( Sacred and Profane ). Mystery Guild selection; Literary Guild alternate; author tour.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
When Glendale cop Peter Decker finds a two-year-old playing outside a housing development at one in the morning, with blood all over her clothes, he canvasses the neighborhood, can't find anyone who knows her, but bee stings on the child's body lead him to the Darcy bee farm - and a quadruple homicide. Dead are little Katie's mom, Linda; her dad Luke; his sister, Carla; and a lusty stud-biker from down the road. How did Katie get from the farm to the housing development? Her other relatives - old Pappy, nutty Granny, retarded Earl, and semi-sensible Sue Beth - were at a motel 20 miles away. As Decker and his partners probe further, they find that Linda played around, that all the men she dallied with had lots of kids, and that she and her husband cost Pappy a fortune at the fertility clinic. Also: half the clan wanted to sell the farm to a real-estate developer, and half wanted to hold on. Finally, Earl confesses, but Decker doesn't buy it, and then the full, awful story of an obsession finally comes out. The Tobacco Road quality of the Darcys, the sexual foibles of Decker's orthodox Jewish girlfriend's family (including attempted rape by her brother-in-law), and the sexual taunts of Decker's one-legged Vietnam vet friend Abel (directed at the religious Rina) make this an uneasy read, though judicious pruning would have helped. Overlong, somewhat overwrought, and just barely skirting the cliched. (Kirkus Reviews)

Review
"Stunning . . . unforgettable."
-- Cleveland Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH Plain Dealer )

Customer Reviews

tragedy in the family
One night police sergeant Peter Denker stumbles on a two-year-old girl. She is covered in blood, but isn't hurt. After a lot of hard work Denker finds the home where the girl lived, but inside he discovers a massacre: four dead bodies, all covered with bees and honey. As if that isn't enough, one of Denkers friends is being accused of rape.

Faye Kellermans third Denker-novel is another pageturner. Filled with daunting descriptions of a family argument that turned into disaster. But also a novel about human emotions and friendship, and how friendship can change.

Just keep getting better and better!
If each new installment of this series continues to surpass the one before it, we're gonna need more stars. This is the third entry in the Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus Series and I thoroughly enjoyed this one on all levels. The first one (The Ritual Bath) was, I thought, a little too heavy on the religion, although, the crime took place at the Yeshiva (Jewish School), so it was understandable. The second one (Sacred and Profane) was better, but still a little in your face with the religious stuff. This one, though, perfectly balances the religion and the mystery/crime plot - there was nothing to distract me.

The reason the religion enters into the series is because Rina is an Orthodox Jew, and very serious about it. Decker now knows that his biological parents were Jewish, but he was raised Baptist by his adoptive parents, so Rina's world is all new to him. He is determined to stick with his studies and convert to Orthodox Judaism - at first, mainly so he can marry Rina, but as he gets into it and learns more, his faith begins to offer some comfort for him in his life as an LAPD Police Detective. (His colleagues have begun calling him "Rabbi," much to his chagrin).

Anyway, this story starts with Decker finding a toddler wandering around alone one night in the middle of a new suburban community where no one will admit to ever having seen the little girl. She is so cute and friendly, that she captivates Decker and the fact that she was found wearing a blood-soaked sleeper makes this a potentially tragic case in the offing. Decker doggedly pursues it - after all, there is nothing for him to go home to, since Rina packed up and moved to New York - and he has no one else to blame, since it was he who suggested they needed breathing room. (But he didn't mean 3000 miles worth!)

While Decker hunts for the girl's parents (hoping to find them alive, but afraid they won't be), he also tries to help out an old Army buddy of his. He and Abel Atwater went through Basic together and then fought side-by-side in Vietnam together. Abe lost a leg (and something else more important to him, as you'll find out later in the book) in the war and has never come to terms with it - he's an embittered man who frequents prostitutes on a regular basis. He's in trouble now because one of those prostitutes has accused him of brutally raping, beating and stabbing her. He denies the whole thing. Decker wants to believe him, but somewhere in the back of his mind, he's not altogether sure the man his friend has become isn't capable. He is determined to find out, though, so he makes some discreet inquiries - something that could very well come back and bite him in the [...] because a police detective isn't supposed to be working for the defense.

So, Decker is balancing all this while trying to get back together with Rina which makes things pretty tense all the way around. Lots of history for Decker in this one - we discover the defining moment of his life in Nam that shaped the man he is today. Even though he's a wee bit too perfect sometimes, Rabbi Schulman is one of my favorite characters (I often wonder if he is based on any one real person), and we see more into his past as well in this one. Good character development. I hope we see more of Atwater in the future - he's a very intriguing character too. There are plenty of tear-jerking moments as well as funny moments (the fight between Decker and Atwater is just hilarious!), so don't miss out on this one. (The background is laid out at the start, so you don't have to read the first two in order to enjoy this one, but why not go ahead and read them too?)

You can skip this one
Maybe there was pressure to get another book out fast. This was the first of hers I'd read - it is without doubt weaker than the five I've seen since. Over the mountain is a set of cardbord cut-outs. Everybody is either an inbred racist hick bee farmer, or a worthless racist biker or wannabe. There is nothing interesting or compelling about any of them. Back in town, you have the cheap constructs. First, Peter's Army buddy with the wooden leg that must be filled with all the booze and drugs he took in thirty years of marginal living because he can't handle reality. When Peter has problems in his conversion training, the Rabbi just happens to save the moment with a story from his Concentration Camp days. I realize now that this fact was presented in an earlier book. Neither plot line ends up in an interesting or novel way. It seems like after a certain number of pages you are told what happened. Most of her other books are so much better...