Serpent's tooth: a Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus novel

LAPD detective Pete Decker's latest case is a shocker. Estelle's, the watering hole favored by L.A.'s rich and famous, is the scene of a mass shooting that leaves a dozen dead and scores wounded. There is no need to look for the murderer, who shot himself following his killing spree, but Pete does have to figure out the killer's motive, wrap up loose ends, and make the LAPD come out looking good. Then Pete and his team turn up evidence to suggest that the killer may not have acted alone. But Pete has other troubles: a key witness has filed a sexual harassment suit against him, his wife is balking at his inattention, his kids want to move closer to town, and his grown daughter has decided to become a cop. It's no surprise that the phenomenally popular Kellerman has produced another sure winner. As did the earlier Pete Decker novels, this one offers a bang-up whodunit with gentle humor, a clever and convincing plot, well-drawn characters, and a warm portrait of family life. Buy plenty! --Emily Melton

Layering crisis upon crisis, Kellerman builds a page-turner in this 10th Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus novel, which, like previous titles in the series (most recently Prayers for the Dead), is based on a complex, carefully established network of relationships. A former employee of a ritzy restaurant opens fire there, killing 13 people and wounding dozens; then he commits suicide. Or so it seems, until LAPD Lieutenant Peter Decker and his team spot inconsistencies. Fatal bullets came from several directions; a single gunman could not have sprayed so many shots; and one murdered couple left an estate worth millions. Decker suspects their daughter, Jeanine Garrison, a beautiful but manipulative charity organizer with penchants for power and handsome young tennis players. He connects her with a suspected killer, but she pressures police brass to back off and then hits the detective with a bogus sexual harassment complaint. When a mysterious drug overdose kills her brother, Jeanine gets the entire inheritance. While Decker struggles with the murders (the grisly killings trigger Vietnam flashbacks) and departmental politics, his older daughter from his first marriage, Cindy, decides to become a cop. Decker is appalled, but Cindy's ambition could help crack the case. Decker's wife, Rina Lazarus, stands on the sidelines here, trying to smooth relations between their Orthodox Jewish household and Decker's adoptive Baptist family, until it's she who makes use of her husband's past to reveal the final piece of the puzzle. Lots of action, an intricate plot and credible, multi-dimensional characters make this another standout entry in an evolving series. 175,000 first printing; major ad/promo. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Kellerman's recent Peter Decker blockbuster is narrated proficiently by actor Jay O. Sanders. Lieutenant Decker of the LAPD is in charge of the investigation into a mass murder at a ritzy restaurant. Harlan Manz, former bartender and tennis pro, went to Estelle's and killed over a dozen people before shooting himself in the head. The tragedy draws the press, who draw their own conclusions. Had Manz snapped and gone to Estelle's to avenge losing his job there? Decker and his homicide team uncover evidence pointing to another scenario. What really happened at Estelle's? The overuse of adult language, however, detracts from an interesting story. Recommended for larger popular fiction collections.‘Denise A. Garofalo, Mid- Hudson Lib. Sys., Poughkeepsie, N.Y. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Why would somebody walk into trendy Estelle's and spray the diners with gunfire, killing 13 of them and wounding 32? Even when the shooter's identified as Harlan Manz, disgruntled former Estelle's bartender, Lt. Peter Decker's not satisfied--especially when forensics start to paint a picture of a second gunman. And that means a plan; it probably means murder for hire, with the first gunman recast as the last victim. But when Decker's team, investigating the dead diners' links to Manz's former employer, the Greenvale Country Club, strike gold--Manz's sometime tennis partner, charity fund-raiser Jeanine Garrison, inherited millions when her parents were killed at Estelle's--the case blows up in their face: Manipulative Jeanine blows hot and cold when Decker questions her, then trumps up a harassment suit against him and succeeds in getting him lifted from the case. Doubly determined to nail her, Decker pulls out all the stops running down possible links between her and the second shooter. Meantime, his loyal wife Rina Lazarus and his daughter Cindy (who's already antagonized her father by announcing that she's been accepted at the Police Academy) huddle with their own freelance operatives to back up his hunch. Anybody care to place a bet on the battle between the Decker family and the oh-so-charming psychopath Jeanine? Nail-biting detective work, though the results rather undermine the suspicions that put Decker on the culprit's scent in the first place. Midlevel Kellerman, not up to Prayers for the Dead (1996), but well ahead of her soapier Decker-Lazarus domestic dramas. (First printing of 175,000)

LAPD detective Pete Decker's latest case is a shocker. Estelle's, the watering hole favored by L.A.'s rich and famous, is the scene of a mass shooting that leaves a dozen dead and scores wounded. There is no need to look for the murderer, who shot himself following his killing spree, but Pete does have to figure out the killer's motive, wrap up loose ends, and make the LAPD come out looking good. Then Pete and his team turn up evidence to suggest that the killer may not have acted alone. But Pete has other troubles: a key witness has filed a sexual harassment suit against him, his wife is balking at his inattention, his kids want to move closer to town, and his grown daughter has decided to become a cop. It's no surprise that the phenomenally popular Kellerman has produced another sure winner. As did the earlier Pete Decker novels, this one offers a bang-up whodunit with gentle humor, a clever and convincing plot, well-drawn characters, and a warm portrait of family life. Buy plenty! ((Reviewed June 1 & 15, 1997)) Copyright 2000 Booklist Reviews

Kellerman's (Prayers for the Dead, LJ 8/96) popular L.A. detective duo here investigate a Southern California-style mass murder in a trendy restaurant. Copyright 1997 Cahners Business Information.