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. At that time she "fully intended to pursue a career as a dentist". Despite her intention, 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."

Kellerman is a practicing Orthodox Jew, as is her husband, the novelist Jonathan Kellerman. 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 (for two different books). They have four children and live in Los Angeles, California. She is also the mother of novelist and playwright Jesse Kellerman.

The Peter Decker & Rina Lazarus series

1. The Ritual Bath (1986)
2. Sacred and Profane (1987)
3. Milk and Honey (1990)
4. Day of Atonement (1991)
5. False Prophet (1992)
6. Grievous Sin (1993)
7. Sanctuary (1994)
8. Justice (1995)
9. Prayers for the Dead (1996)
10. A Serpent's Tooth (1997)
11. Jupiter's Bones (1999)
12. Stalker (2000)
13. The Forgotten (2001)
14. Stone Kiss (2002)
15. Street Dreams (2003)
16. The Burnt House (2007)
17. The Mercedes Coffin aka Cold Case (2008)
18. Blindman's Bluff (2009)
19. Hangman (2010)

Other novels

• The Quality of Mercy (1989)
• Moon Music (1998)
• Stalker (2000) - features Cynthia Decker
• Street Dreams (2003)- features 2nd Cynthia Decker
• Double Homicide (2004) - written with Jonathan Kellerman
• Straight Into Darkness (2005)
• The Garden of Eden and Other Criminal Delights (2006)
• Capital Crimes (2006) - written with Jonathan Kellerman
• Prism (2009) - written with Aliza Kellerman

(Source: Bookreporter.com - Author Bibliography - Faye Kellerman Bibliography)