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The Ritual Bath (Decker/Lazarus, Bk 1)
The Ritual Bath - Decker/Lazarus, Bk 1
Author: Faye Kellerman
Detective Peter Decker of the LAPD is stunned when he gets the report. Someone has shattered the sanctuary of a remote yeshiva community in the California hills with an unimaginable crime. One of the women was brutally raped as she returned from the mikvah, the bathhouse where the cleansing ritual is performed. — The crime was called in by Rina L...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780380732661
ISBN-10: 0380732661
Publication Date: 8/1/1999
Pages: 384
Rating:
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 135

3.8 stars, based on 135 ratings
Publisher: Avon
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed The Ritual Bath (Decker/Lazarus, Bk 1) on + 317 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Along with solving a mystery, the reader learns many Jewish traditions.
reviewed The Ritual Bath (Decker/Lazarus, Bk 1) on + 187 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
The first of the Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus novels....If you've read any of the others and wondered how these two got together, this is their story. Kellerman tells a great story, one of those books that you don't want to put down, she draws you into the story and the people's lives. Lots of background into Jewish beliefs and customs. The story line is well-drawn and tense. I've become a Kellerman fan.
reviewed The Ritual Bath (Decker/Lazarus, Bk 1) on + 41 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Peter Decker is a divorced LAPD detective who has the misfortune of picking up a rape case in a Jewish community. Why is this a misfortune? He is already working a rape case that has the police force scrambling. Rina Lazarus is a Torah Jew, and it is a good friend of hers that has been brutalized while walking home from the mikvah (the bathhouse where a cleansing ritual is performed). Together, they form an unlikely alliance to find the rapist.

One of the things I liked about this book, beyond the main story, was the side story of the attraction between Decker and Rina. In almost any other book, this would have been easily resolved by the end. So what if Rina was extremely religious and could not consider being with anyone outside her religion? So what that Decker was a Gentile with a Jewish ex-wife and a Jewish daughter? Normally, these obstacles would be overcome. Not so here (and no, I am not giving away the ending with this). Kellerman is very good at keeping Rina true to her religion but yet letting her feel the angst of developing feelings for Decker.

The book was a good read. My one complaint would be that when characters made comments in Hebrew, it would have been nice to have a translation instead of my having to guess what was being said by using the context of the passage I was reading.

I am hoping that the next book of this series keeps up with the quality of this one.
reviewed The Ritual Bath (Decker/Lazarus, Bk 1) on + 2 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This is the first in a series-check on the Faye Kellerman web site for the order in which the books were written. The mysteries are all different but to follow the Peter-Rina story you'll enjoy them more in order. There are carry-over characters-cops, Peter's daughter (with a wonderful story of her own), Rina's kids, etc. I enjoyed these books perhaps even more than those written by her husband, Jonathan Kellerman. Enjoy.
reviewed The Ritual Bath (Decker/Lazarus, Bk 1) on + 26 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Read this some time ago, but remember it fondly.
Read All 35 Book Reviews of "The Ritual Bath DeckerLazarus Bk 1"

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reviewed The Ritual Bath (Decker/Lazarus, Bk 1) on + 40 more book reviews
In Faye Kellerman fashion, this book was a wonderful kid of mystery without the bloody and gory details that many use when writing death scenes. I also enjoyed learning that there are different 'sects' among the Jewish faith. The ending seemed a bit rushed - - pull the mask off, expose the villain, the end. But still an enjoyable book.
reviewed The Ritual Bath (Decker/Lazarus, Bk 1) on + 50 more book reviews
Had not read Kellerman books before. Once I understood some of the Jewish terminology it was a great read.
reviewed The Ritual Bath (Decker/Lazarus, Bk 1) on
Good detective and romance wrapped into one story.
reviewed The Ritual Bath (Decker/Lazarus, Bk 1) on + 54 more book reviews
Good story line with insight into Jewish life of a yeshiva. Will continue to read the series.
reviewed The Ritual Bath (Decker/Lazarus, Bk 1) on + 103 more book reviews
From the book cover, "Someone has declared unholy war on the holiest of places...The quiet ordered world of a yeshiva in the California hills is shattered by an unspeakable crime: a woman is brutally raped as she returns from the mikvah, the bathhouse where women perform their cleansing ritual.

Detective Peter Decker of the LAPD has never heard anything like it, and he's relieved to find Rina Lazarus there as a witness. Calm and intelligent, Rina is the only one in the community willing to cooperate with Decker, as she tries to steer him through the maze of religious laws that thwart his investigation at every turn.

But as the trail grows cold, Decker's only getting closer to Rina and not to the rapist - or is he? Maybe Rina was the intended victim all along. And the rapist may not stop with rape the next time..."

This is the excellent first novel by Faye Kellerman, as interesting and informative about Orthodox Judaism, as it is thrilling and fast-paced. Kellerman's Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus mystery series presents intelligent and absorbing murder mysteries.
reviewed The Ritual Bath (Decker/Lazarus, Bk 1) on + 47 more book reviews
This is the first book I have read from this series or this author. This book tells of a Jewish settlement in the US where a rape & then a murder occurs. The detective investigating meets a beautiful widow & they both have mutual attraction for each other. This is made more difficult by the fact that the woman will not date anyone out of her faith.
reviewed The Ritual Bath (Decker/Lazarus, Bk 1) on + 67 more book reviews
This is a soft cover book.

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