Faye Kellerman's Orthodox Crime Universe

Faye Kellerman's Orthodox Crime Universe

Faye Kellerman's Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus series spans twenty-four novels published between 1986 and 2020, following LAPD detective Peter Decker as he solves homicides while navigating marriage to Orthodox Jewish scholar Rina Lazarus. The series blends forensic procedural with family drama, anchored in LA's San Fernando Valley and its Orthodox communities. Kellerman — married to crime novelist Jonathan Kellerman — writes Decker as a secular cop learning Jewish law alongside readers, creating a procedural universe where religious ritual and crime scene protocol collide.
  • Faye Kellerman launched the Peter Decker series in 1986 with The Ritual Bath, introducing LAPD detective Peter Decker and Orthodox widow Rina Lazarus.
  • The series spans twenty-four novels published between 1986 and 2020, making it one of crime fiction's longest-running procedural franchises.
  • Kellerman holds a degree in dentistry from UCLA and spent years working as a dentist before turning to crime writing full-time in the 1990s.
  • Jonathan Kellerman, her husband since 1972, writes the Alex Delaware psychological thriller series — the two occasionally collaborate on standalone novels.
  • Stone Kiss (2002) relocates Decker from LA to New York's Orthodox Jewish community, investigating a frozen corpse in a Manhattan synagogue.
  • Street Dreams (2003) confronts Decker with a pregnant fifteen-year-old who won't name her attacker, blending human trafficking with Orthodox ethics.

Street Dreams — Faye Kellerman

A pregnant teen in the ER who won't talk, a human trafficking ring Decker can't crack without her testimony — this one hits different. Street Dreams drops you into the forensic aftermath of silence. The girl won't give her name, won't say who beat her, won't cooperate — and Decker's stuck between LAPD procedure and the ethical weight Rina brings to every dinner conversation. Kellerman writes the bureaucratic hell of victim protection laws with the same precision she gives Orthodox Shabbat ritual. This is the series at its most procedural: no chase scenes, just Decker working phones and hospital social workers while the clock runs out. Explore our current copy of Street Dreams or browse more Crime books at Patina.

Hangman (Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus Series, Book 19) — Faye Kellerman

Serial murders styled like hangman puzzles — this is Kellerman leaning into genre tropes while keeping Decker's Orthodox home life front and centre. Hangman arrives late in the series (2010) with a killer leaving bodies arranged in hangman configurations, and it's pure procedural mechanics. Kellerman knows readers want forensic detail and a twisty solve, but she never lets you forget Decker's eating dinner with Rina's yeshiva-student sons or navigating Sabbath restrictions mid-investigation. The hangman gimmick could've been gimmicky — instead it's scaffolding for Kellerman's real interest, which is watching a secular cop absorb Jewish law by osmosis. The forensics are solid, the family scenes are warmer than most crime writers attempt. Explore our current copy of Hangman or browse more Crime books at Patina.

The Burnt House (Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus Series, Book 16) — Faye Kellerman

A plane crashes into an LA apartment building, charred bodies everywhere, and Decker's tasked with identifying the dead — this is Kellerman doing disaster forensics. The Burnt House (2007) is the series' most procedurally dense entry: mass casualty investigation, dental records, burn pattern analysis. Kellerman — remember, she's a trained dentist — writes the identification process with technical authority most crime novelists fake. Decker's promoted to Lieutenant by this point, managing a team instead of working solo, and the series gains procedural heft without losing the Rina subplot (she's teaching at a Jewish day school, dealing with faculty politics). If you want the forensic side of the Decker universe, this is the one. Explore our current copy of The Burnt House or browse more Crime books at Patina.

Stone Kiss — Faye Kellerman

Decker leaves LA for a frozen corpse in a Manhattan synagogue — Kellerman relocates the series to New York's Hasidic community and the shift in setting is brilliant. Stone Kiss (2002) is the series outlier: Decker travels to New York to help the NYPD investigate a body found in a synagogue, and Kellerman uses the location change to explore Hasidic Brooklyn with the same forensic curiosity she usually reserves for crime scenes. The frozen corpse is the hook, but the real investigation is cultural — Decker's navigating a religious community even Rina finds insular, and the procedural becomes anthropological. It's the series' most claustrophobic entry, all winter streets and closed-door questioning. If you've read five LA-set Deckers and want the formula broken, Stone Kiss does it. Explore our current copy of Stone Kiss or browse more Crime books at Patina.

Blindman's Bluff (Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus Series, Book 18) — Faye Kellerman

A teenage prank spirals into homicide, and Decker's stuck investigating kids who could be his own sons — this is Kellerman interrogating the ethics of parenting through procedural. Blindman's Bluff (2009) starts with high school stupidity — a prank gone wrong — and Kellerman uses it to ask how much a parent can protect a guilty child. Decker's kids are grown by this point, but the case forces him into conversations with Rina about culpability and forgiveness, Jewish law versus criminal law. The procedural is straightforward (witness interviews, forensic timelines), but the family drama is the reason you're still reading book eighteen. Kellerman never lets genre mechanics override character. Explore our current copy of Blindman's Bluff or browse more Crime books at Patina.

Blood Games (Book 20) — Faye Kellerman

A tennis match turns deadly, and Kellerman writes the investigation like she's dissecting a marriage — forensic precision applied to domestic motive. Blood Games (2011) uses an upscale tennis club murder to explore class, infidelity, and the lies people tell themselves about their marriages. Decker's interviewing country club members who all have alibis and none of them are telling the truth, and Kellerman writes the social dance of interrogation as carefully as the forensic timeline. By book twenty, the series formula is locked — Orthodox home life, LAPD procedural, moral questions that don't resolve cleanly — but Kellerman still finds new ways to make it work. This one's domestic noir disguised as procedural. Explore our current copy of Blood Games or browse more Crime books at Patina. Kellerman's series doesn't reinvent crime fiction — it refines it. Decker's investigations are procedural without being dry, and the Orthodox family life adds ethical weight most procedurals skip. As of May 2026, Patina's crime shelves rotate through mid-series entries like these, the ones where Kellerman's hitting her stride and the formula hasn't calcified yet. Shop all Crime books at Patina Paperbacks →

Where can I buy secondhand Faye Kellerman books in Australia?

Patina Paperbacks stocks rotating preloved copies of the Peter Decker series and ships Australia-wide from Sydney. Our crime collection turns over regularly, so the titles on the shelf change, but mid-series Kellerman entries (books 15–20) show up often. Free shipping over $29.

Do I need to read the Peter Decker series in order?

Not really — each novel is a standalone investigation with a complete solve, so you can jump in anywhere. That said, Decker and Rina's relationship develops across the series (they marry in book three, raise kids, age in real time), so starting earlier gives you more emotional payoff. If you want the procedural without the backstory, books 15–20 work fine cold.

How is Faye Kellerman different from other crime writers like Tess Gerritsen or Kathy Reichs?

Gerritsen and Reichs lean harder into forensic science (Gerritsen's a doctor, Reichs is a real forensic anthropologist), while Kellerman's background is dentistry — she uses that expertise for identification scenes but her real focus is character and religious ethics. The Orthodox Jewish family life woven through the procedural is the series' signature, and it's why readers who want pure forensic puzzle might prefer Gerritsen's Rizzoli & Isles or Reichs' Temperance Brennan books instead.

What's the best Faye Kellerman book to start with if I've never read her?

Stone Kiss is the outlier pick — it's set in New York instead of LA, so you get the procedural formula in a fresh location without needing series history. If you want the classic LA setup, The Burnt House is procedurally dense and lands mid-series when Kellerman's confident. Street Dreams is great if you want the ethical questions front and centre. Honestly, though, any of these six will give you the Kellerman experience.

Does Faye Kellerman write standalones or just the Decker series?

Mostly the Decker series — twenty-four novels between 1986 and 2020 — but she's also written standalones and collaborative novels with her husband Jonathan Kellerman (who writes the Alex Delaware psychological thriller series). The standalones are less consistent than the Decker books, so if you're hunting preloved Kellerman in Sydney, the series entries are the safer bet.

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