Decker/Lazarus Novels

24 primary works • 26 total works

The Ritual Bath

by Faye Kellerman

Published 1 May 1986

When the call comes in, Detective Peter Decker can hardly believe it. A rape at the yeshiva up in the canyon and hill country behind Los Angeles? True, there had been some recent anti-Semitic vandalism but never any violence. Not only that, but this was a strict Orthodox Jewish community, self-enclosed and suspicious of outsiders. Not much chance they'd co-operate with the police. And he is right - as Rina Lazarus, the frustratingly fascinating young widow who found the victim proves when she talks about her world. Outsider he may be, but Decker has a feeling in his policeman's bones that the cost of privacy to this determined community could be murderously high...

Sacred and Profane

by Faye Kellerman

Published 1 January 1987

Detective Peter Decker's camping trip into the foothills above Los Angeles was meant to help get him closer to the young sons -Sammy and Jake - of his girlfriend, Rina Lazarus. So when the older boy stumbles on a horrific find - two charred human skeletons - Decker is filled with appalled guilt, not to say plunged into a case of double murder. And it is a truly horrifying case. One that takes him from the middle-class respectability of the suburbs to the terrifying crack dens of Hollywood Boulevard. But he is constantly drawn back to the fact that the only unifying thread in a network of violence and sickening corruption seems to be the deaths of two apparently very different young girls...

Milk and Honey

by Faye Kellerman

Published 1 April 1990

Sergeant Pete Decker is driving through a housing estate one night when he discovers an abandoned toddler in blood-stained pyjamas. As Decker and his partner, Marge Dunn, hunt for the child's parents, the bee-stings they notice all over the child's arm guide them to a honey farm set in the barren scrubland surrounding Los Angeles. It's a tough landscape, populated by hard-working people with little time for city folks, so the two detectives aren't surprised when there is no welcoming party. Nothing, though, has prepared them for the incredible stonewalling from the locals, nor for the grisly sight that greets them in the farmhouse. But Decker and Dunn are professionals to the core and, delving deeper, find a gruesome mystery far more lethal than the ordinary hornet's nest...

Day of Atonement

by Faye Kellerman

Published 14 March 1991

When Police Sergeant Peter Decker agreed to spend his honeymoon - and his New Year - with his wife's former in-laws in the most rigidly respectable Jewish district in Brooklyn, the worst he thought it could be was dull. He was wrong. For when Noam, the teenage son of a close family friend, goes missing Decker finds his honeymoon is suddenly over. Noam appears to have taken off across America with a shadowy individual who has a penchant for dominating vulnerable adolescent boys. A person whose inner violence is expressing itself more and more openly. Time is running out for Decker - and for Noam. And they both know there are only ten days between New Year and the Day of Atonement...

False Prophet

by Faye Kellerman

Published 1 August 1992

Even to case-hardened Detective Sergeant Pete Decker the brutal rape of Lilah Brecht, exquisite daughter of an aged Hollywood movie queen, is a disturbing act of violence. The only leads are provided by Lilah herself. However, Lilah's credibility is soon shattered when it emerges that she didn't physically see her rapist. It was only her 'gift' of second sight that enable her to 'image' her attacker. She claims that Decker is the only policeman who can truly understand and catch her attacker, who, she says, is still threatening her. Decker, however, is not so sure and is anxious to protect his heavily pregnant wife Rina from Lilah's alternately seductive and hysterical phone calls. But when Decker himself sees Lilah almost killed in a freak accident, he begins to think he may have judged her too harshly...

Grievous Sin

by Faye Kellerman

Published 3 June 1993

Minutes after Sergeant Pete Decker witnesses his wife give birth to their first child his policeman's instinct tells him something's wrong - not just with his baby but with the hospital itself. The disappearance of a new-born baby, together with that of the nurse in charge of the post-natal unit, confirms once again that Decker's instincts were correct and he is soon put on the case. The early signs look bad - the missing nurse's burnt-out car, together with some charred remains, are found in a remote ravine. But as Decker and his partner delve deeper, they start to uncover the network of family tragedy and betrayal that led to the frantic kidnapping of an innocent baby girl.

Sanctuary

by Faye Kellerman

Published 1 August 1994

In the comfortable surrounds of Los Angeles an affluent Jewish family disappears into thin air. The father's trade is diamonds, a risky international business, and despite the lack of bodies Detective Sergeant Pete Decker knows something is wrong. Then Honey Klein, his wife Rina's old schoolfriend, comes to stay, pulling her children out of school on a surprise - and to Decker suspicious - jaunt. Honey's husband, whose religion has recently turned to fanaticism, is also in diamonds and according to his wife currently on business in Israel. Then Honey and her children vanish, their rented car found empty at the edge of the freeway, and again Decker senses danger - danger that stems from a network of ruthless international politics, danger that could spill on to his own family's doorstep...

Justice

by Faye Kellerman

Published 1 September 1995

A California high-school student, blonde, promiscuous Cheryl Diggs is murdered and the obvious suspect is her fellow student, Chris Whitman. A seemingly straightforward case, especially when it emerges that Whitman is an East Coast mafia chieftain's son - after all, murder runs in the family. But no murder case is straightforward, as Sergeant Pete Decker well knows, and the closer he looks at this one the less satisfied he is. Though Whitman eventually confesses to the killing Decker knows the case hasn't been exhaustively investigated - and certain pieces of evidence don't quite add up. On the other hand, Decker also knows that, even if he didn't murder Diggs, Whitman is a cold-blooded killer. And that the sweet young girl now under his thrall is bound, eventually, to suffer at Whitman's hands if he walks free. How should Decker ensure justice is done?

Prayers for the Dead

by Faye Kellerman

Published 11 July 1996

Dr Azor Sparks is a genius. A famous surgeon set to transform the chances for heart transplant patients. He's also a pillar of the local church and a devoted family man. So who would want to murder him? The answer, Lt. Peter Decker concludes, is many people. Sparks was obsessed by religion and his medical crusades.Yet he had odd hobbies, like riding with a pack of bikers. His family, too, is not harmonious. The influence of Bram, the son who defied his Protestant father to become a Catholic priest, appears to be all that's preventing them from destroying each other. And, as beneficiaries of an astonishingly large trust fund, they all stand to gain from his death. But then the evidence from a second murder points, unmistakably, to Bram, whom Decker thought was highly unlikely to be involved...

Serpent's Tooth

by Faye Kellerman

Published 6 August 1997

A busy night in a fashionable restaurant. Minutes later, carnage. 13 people dead and dozens wounded. As Lieutenant Decker, in charge of the police on the scene says, it's your worst nightmare. But at least the culprit seems clear - an embittered ex-employee, Harlan Manz, who ambled up to the bar and opened fire, finally turning the gun on himself. But why did Manz do it? Deck finds that things don't quite add up. Then he questions Jeanine Garrison, daughter of millionaire parents killed in the outrage, and find himself slapped with a sexual harassment suit. Now Decker knows she's involved, and after her brother, who shared the inheritance, is found dead he's sure. But he's not allowed near the woman. Meantime, he can feel her slipping through his fingers and getting away, quite literally, with murder.

Walking Shadows

by Faye Kellerman

Published 28 August 2018

Detective Peter Decker and his wife, Rina Lazarus, risk life and limb to solve a pair of brutal murders that may be tied to a crime from more than twenty years ago in this intense and addictive mystery from New York Times bestselling author Faye Kellerman. On a quiet suburban street in upstate Greenbury, New York, the brutally beaten body of a young man is discovered in the woods adjacent to an empty vacation home. Twenty-six-year-old Brady Neil a resident of the neighboring town of Hamilton, had no criminal record, few friends, worked full-time, and attended community college. But as Detective Peter Decker learns, the clean-cut kid is linked to the criminal world. When Brady was a baby, his father, Brandon Gratz, was convicted of robbing and killing the owners of a local jewelry store. While Gratz and his partner, Kyle Masterson, admitted to the robbery, they swore they left the owners, Glen and Lydia Levine, very much alive. The experienced detective knows there's more to this homicide case than the records show. As he digs into Gratz's past, Decker begins to suspect that the son's murder may be connected to the father's sins. Before he can put together the pieces, Decker finds out that one of Brady Neil's friends, Joseph Boch--aka Boxer--has gone missing. Heading to Boch's house with his temporary new partner, Hamilton PD cop Lenora Baccus, they discover a bloodbath. Who would savagely kill two innocent men--and why? Finding the answers will require all of Decker's skill and knowledge, the help of his fellow Greenbury detectives, Tyler McAdams and Kevin Butterfield, and information gleaned from his wife Rina's behind the scenes investigation to put all the pieces of this deadly puzzle together...and see justice done.

Jupiter's Bones

by Faye Kellerman

Published 6 September 1999

Emil Ganz was always extraordinary. Child genius. Prize-winning astrophysicist. And then, aged 40, missing person. A decade later he re-emerges as Jupiter, guru of an apocalyptic new age cult, bringing shame on his family, worrying local parents and intriguing Detective Pete Decker. But when he's found dead, apparently from an overdose, the consequences of his death are even more extraordinary, and terrifying, than of his life ...

Stalker

by Faye Kellerman

Published 3 August 2000

Cindy Decker s decision to follow in the footsteps of her police lieutenant father was never an easy one. For Pete Decker is, to say the least, overprotective of his only daughter. So when Cindy begins to wonder if she is being followed - maybe even stalked - her father is the last person she can confide in. Frantically trying to contend with her own raw, gnawing fear whilst balancing her work and a clandestine relationship with one of Decker s colleagues, she allows her father access to the horrific facts only when their cases seem to be on a collision course. Together they find themselves in uncharted criminal territory, where snap-second decisions can make the difference between the life and death of those you love...

The Hunt

by Faye Kellerman

Published 23 August 2022

The Forgotten

by Faye Kellerman

Published 14 August 2001

For the Deckers, Rina and her detective husband Peter, the vandalising of their synagogue is profoundly shocking. Daubed swastikas testify to a hatred beyond understanding. But Decker soon realises this is not the work of an organised group and, before long, a 17-year-old is in custody, confessing to the mental horrors that drove his actions. Ernesto clearly needs psychiatric help though when his parents opt for a camp specialising in unorthodox wilderness therapy Decker is sceptical. Then all hope is shattered. Ernesto and the camp leader are found murder and the leader's wife has vanished. But the apparent tragic love triangle looks quite different when Dee's body is discovered. Decker realises he has a much more complex case to handle, one that links to hate groups, revolutionary therapists and the twisted world of the ultra-rich who deny any obstacle in the way of their personal gratification - even their children...

The Burnt House

by Faye Kellerman

Published 1 January 2007

The sixteenth book in the hugely popular Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus series from New York Times bestselling author Faye Kellerman

A plane crashes in unexplained circumstances and the mystery deepens when police investigate. The owners know nothing of the four bodies found in the wreckage. So who are these unidentified passengers?

But the biggest question of all comes from a husband frantic with worry. His wife was supposed to be on the plane - but never boarded it. Why then is she still missing?

It's a riddle detective Peter Decker will have to answer quickly if he is to prevent further lives being lost in a case full of the trademark Kellerman twists and shocks.

The Mercedes Coffin

by Faye Kellerman

Published 12 August 2008

Blindman's Bluff

by Faye Kellerman

Published 1 August 2009

Los Angeles detective Peter Decker tackles a homicide case involving a billionaire real estate developer, his wife, and four employees. While Decker leads his homicide team throughout California and into Mexico, he thinks his own wife is on jury back at the courthouse. But a chance encounter with a court translator who needs her help leads Rina into the heart of the murder investigation, and straight into the path of a gang of ruthless killers.

Hangman

by Faye Kellerman

Published 3 August 2010

LAPD Lieutenant Peter Decker reluctantly agrees to do a big favor for an old friend, Teresa McLaughlin, but when she and her husband disappear, Decker's search is interrupted by the suspicious death of a young health care worker.

Gun Games

by Faye Kellerman

Published 3 January 2012

Lieutenant Detective Decker and his wife, Rina, investigate an apparent teen suicide witnessed by the son of a troubled former friend whom they have welcomed into their home.