Product Description

Internationally bestselling novelists each in their own right, husband and wife Jonathan and Faye Kellerman team up for a powerful one-two punch with Capital Crimes, a gripping pair of original crime thrillers set in two cities rich in atmosphere, and featuring appearances by the authors’ signature heroes: LAPD lieutenant Peter Decker and psychologist sleuth Dr. Alex Delaware.

MY SISTER’S KEEPER: BERKELEY

Progressive state representative Davida Grayson fits in well with her Berkeley constituents. But some of Davida’s views have made her unpopular elsewhere. Davida’s foes are numerous: politicians on the other side of the aisle, racist hatemongers, even dissenters in her own party. Still, no one suspects that any buttons Davida might push could evoke deadly force.

But now Davida lies brutally murdered in her office, and Berkeley homicide detectives Will Barnes and Amanda Isis must unravel Davida’s complex, surprising life in order to find her killer. As they dig deeper, Will and Amanda realize that the real Davida Grayson was someone the public never knew. The investigation draws the detectives into a labyrinth of hidden sexuality, dark secrets, betrayal, and bloody vengeance that leads tortuously into madness. With time short and the suspect list long, Barnes and Isis must find the answers before the killer pulls off a repeat performance.



MUSIC CITY BREAKDOWN: NASHVILLE

Baker Southerby, the son of musicians, was a child prodigy performer. But something Baker won’t talk about leads him to quit the honky-tonk circuit, become a Nashville cop, and never look back. His partner, Lamar Van Gundy, is a would-be studio bassist from up North who never quite made the cut in Music City, so instead earned himself a detective’s badge. Now both men are members of Nashville PD’s elite Murder Squad, with a solid record for solves. But when they catch a homicide that’s high-profile even for a city where musical celebrity is routine, their skills are tested: Jack Jeffries, a rock legend who cast aside personal demons and emerged from retirement to perform at a charity benefit, has been discovered in a ditch near the Cumberland River, his throat slashed.

It’s a whodunit as heartbreaking as it is baffling. Southerby and Van Gundy understand the rhythms of the music biz as intimately as the streets they work–and know that both have their dark sides. What the detectives don’t realize is just how high the price of success can be. Long before the last notes of Jack Jeffries’s final song have faded, Southerby and Van Gundy will learn about the dangers of concealing a hidden past . . . the hard way. Capital Crimes is page-turning, psychologically resonant suspense–just what we’ve come to expect from two of the world’s most successful crime writers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #780059 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-21
• Released on: 2006-11-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The second collaboration by bestsellers Jonathan and Faye Kellerman (after Double Homicide) offers two thin novellas that dedicated fans will most appreciate. In the first, My Sister's Keeper, Faye Kellerman's LAPD detective Peter Decker makes an extended cameo role in an inquiry into the murder of an activist lesbian California state representative, Davida Grayson. Grayson, who was the focus of threats from politicians and members of the radical right opposed to her support for stem-cell research, is found shot to death in her Berkeley office; an uninspired pair of local police find that the dead woman's personal relationships, rather than her politics, may have motivated the killer. The second story, Music City Breakdown, gives Jonathan Kellerman's consulting psychologist, Alex Delaware, a little more to do after Nashville detectives probing the stabbing murder of recording artist Jack Jeffries learn that Delaware had been treating the dead man. The solution is as unsurprising as that of My Sister's Keeper. (Nov. 21)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
The Kellermans have been writing together and separately for decades. Their latest collaboration seems thrown together and listless compared with the high suspense they are capable of generating. This book houses two novellas set in two different state capitals. Each has a different writing style, grating in its own way. The first novella, "My Sister's Keeper," takes the high-romance road toward inflated writing. Set in Berkeley, California, the story centers on the murder of Congresswoman Davida Grayson in her office. Berkeley Police Detective William Barnes, who has known Grayson for years, takes the case, which, naturally presents a host of suspects including Davida's partner, who announces dramatically (and unnecessarily in 2006): "I'm Minette. Her lover." Hackeneyed plot with stilted dialogue. The second novella, "Music City Breakdown," swings the other way, with self-consciously tough-guy prose and a formulaic plot focusing on the murder of an L.A. singer transplanted to Nashville. The dialogue sounds forced throughout, the plot plods along, barely overcoming nearly indigestible chunks of backstory. The Kellermans' track record ensures demand for this distinctly lesser effort, but even devoted fans are likely to be disappointed. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"Rock icon Jack Jeffries seems to have no enemies. Lesbian politician Davida Grayson has no lack of them, most recently whoever pelted her with eggs at the California statehouse. And yet both end up equally dead in Capital Crimes, the new pair of agreeably perplexing mystery novellas by bestselling spouses Jonathan and Faye Kellerman (joining forces for the second time). The deaths are disparate: Jeffries climbs the stairway to heaven in Nashville in the more moving tale, Music City Breakdown, while Grayson dies in her Berkeley office in My Sister's Keeper. But shared themes, including the role of family, help to make these old-school whodunits - solved through knowledge of character and diligent detective work - satisfying." - PEOPLE Magazine


From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews

Not up to snuff for either author
You would think that when you pair up two bestselling and award winning authors the likes of Jonathan and Faye Kellerman that the result would be a sure fire runnaway success. Capital Crimes, their long awaited collaborative book is a huge disappointment. Uninspired, and limp, the book provides two novellas that are among the most forgettable stories of 2006. Its almost as though they each provided a dull story so that their characters could shine. Trust me....it doesn't work.

Save your money and time and pass this one up.

Not up to their usual standards
Jonathan and Faye Kellerman are novelists, and in Capital Crimes, they have teamed up to write together again. Their first team effort was Double Homicide.

Capital Crimes is really two suspense novellas set in two different cities and feature cameos of characters from their popular suspense novels.

My Sister's Keeper is set in Berkeley where Peter Decker makes an appearance. California state representative, Davida Grayson is a lesbian and activist. She has also been murdered. Grayson had been threatened for her support for stem-cell research. Was it her politics or her personal relationships that resulted in her death by a gunshot?

Music City Breakdown is set in Nashville and features Alex Delaware. Jack Jeffries is a rock legend who left retirement to perform for charity. His body was found in a ditch, his throat slashed. The detectives on the case have their own connection to the music industry and are determined to solve the murder.

This book is not up to the 'hype' the Kellermans normally receive when they have a novel published. It feels like they had an idea, 'slapped' it together and said, "It's a good little money maker." The stories don't have much of a plot, seem hurried and forced. Only true, die-hard fans will appreciate this book. Then again, maybe not.

Armchair Interviews says: If you've never read anything by the Kellermans, this is not the book to start with. You'll be disappointed.

A capital crime indeed
I am a great fan of Jonathan Kellerman, but have not read anything by his wife. This book overall was a great dissapointment to me. The stories seemed forced and pushed together with plot lines that just didn't seem to get there. Perhaps each writer realized that they didn't have enough for an entire book, so they conceptualized this idea. The poignant ending of "Music City Breakdown" would have been much better, I feel, integrated into the story. On the whole, a ho-hum read.