Faye Kellerman


Faye Marder Kellerman is an American writer of mystery novels, in particular the "Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus" series as well as three non-series books, The Quality of Mercy, Moon Music and Straight into Darkness.

Early life

Kellerman was born in St. Louis, Missouri. She attended UCLA where she earned a B.A. in mathematics in 1974. Four years later she received her Doctorate of Dental Surgery degree. However, she has never practiced dentistry and was a housewife before publishing her first novel. In a 1997 essay she says she can't pinpoint the metamorphosis from oral hygienist to writer of detective fiction, but several factors that steered her toward mystery writing were: "a desire for justice, a suspicious nature, an overactive imagination, and, of course, a penchant for the bizarre."

Personal life

Kellerman is a practicing Orthodox Jew, as are her husband and son, the novelists Jonathan Kellerman and Jesse Kellerman, respectively. Her writing frequently deals with Jewish themes and characters, incorporating them into the framework of the traditional mystery. The Peter Decker books, for example, center on a police detective raised as a Southern Baptist who returns to his Jewish roots after falling in love with Rina Lazarus, an Orthodox Jew, while investigating a rape that took place near a yeshiva.
The Kellermans are the only married couple ever to appear on the New York Times bestseller list simultaneously. Their oldest child, Jesse Kellerman, is a bestselling novelist and award-winning playwright. Their youngest, Aliza Kellerman, co-wrote Prism, a young adult novel, with her mother.

The Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus series

  1. The Ritual Bath
  2. Sacred and Profane
  3. Milk and Honey
  4. Day of Atonement
  5. False Prophet
  6. Grievous Sin
  7. Sanctuary
  8. Justice
  9. Prayers for the Dead
  10. Serpent's Tooth
  11. Jupiter's Bones
  12. Stalker
  13. The Forgotten
  14. Stone Kiss
  15. Street Dreams
  16. The Burnt House
  17. The Mercedes Coffin aka Cold Case
  18. Blindman's Bluff
  19. Hangman
  20. Gun Games aka Blood Games
  21. The Beast aka Predator
  22. Murder 101
  23. The Theory of Death
  24. Bone Box
  25. Walking Shadows

    Other novels