Detective Fiction, Jewish Fiction & Literature, Women Detectives - Fiction, Police Stories

Street Dreams

Name: Street Dreams
Author: Faye Kellerman, Search our Used ...
ISBN: 9783442721665

by Faye Kellerman, Search our Used ...

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Overview

While on routine patrol, LAPD Officer Cindy Decker rescues a newborn abandoned in an alley Dumpster. But she can't call it a night until she sees the infant safe in a hospital, cared for by a professional - in this case a male nurse with intense eyes and lots of charm.

Now the hunt is on for the mother, more than likely a scared and desperate girl in need of medical attention. Armed with advice from her overworked father, Detective Peter Decker, Cindy searches through the mean streets of her inner-city Hollywood district, following a trail filled with helpless people and violent gangs who prey on the innocent.

With each new lead, the twisted journey gets darker, battering Cindy's complex relationships and endangering her very life. When Decker and Decker join forces, can this edgy duo put personal issues aside to catch a vicious culprit before he strikes again?

About the Author, Faye Kellerman, Search our Used ...

FAYE KELLERMAN is the author of the bestselling Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus novels, as well as a thriller, Moon Music, and a historical novel, The Quality of Mercy. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Jonathan Kellerman, and their children.

Biography

It's tempting to compare Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus to Dashiell Hammett's classic crime-solving couple, Nick and Nora Charles. But Faye Kellerman's duo, who debuted in 1983, bear more resemblance to her own husband-wife dynamic with fellow bestselling thriller author Jonathan Kellerman. Decker is an L.A. cop; wife Rina is an Orthodox Jewish mom who gets very involved in her husband's work. The series comes with a love story built in, since in the first title, Ritual Bath, Lazarus is a witness meeting Detective Decker for the first time. Over the next dozen-odd novels, the two fall in love, get married, have children and solve crimes along the way.

Kellerman, who was inspired by her husband to begin writing, is also the author of Moon Music, a contemporary thriller set in Las Vegas, and The Quality of Mercy, a historical novel of Elizabethan England. Fans needn't worry, however, that Kellerman is going to abandon the pair she is best known for. "I never tire of them," Kellerman says in an interview on her publisher's web site of Decker and Lazarus. "I like them very much, but to keep them fresh is the main reason why I have two 'outside-the-series' or 'stand alone' books. Once in a while you have to sit back and gain some perspective on these people that you are writing about year after year."

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Editorials

From Barnes & Noble

The Barnes & Noble Review
Bestselling author Faye Kellerman intertwines police procedural and personal plots in a double-barreled mystery featuring Detective Peter Decker and his daughter, Cindy, an up-and-coming young LAPD officer.

This time out, Peter takes a supporting role in two investigations -- both involving issues that blur the lines between right and wrong. Peter's wife, Rina Lazarus, is determined to look into her grandmother's long-ago murder in Germany and to find a way to right past wrongs. And Cindy is hot on the trail of justice in a very current crime -- pursuing a desperate and dangerous search for the mother of an abandoned baby she rescued from a Hollywood dumpster. Peter draws on his extensive investigative expertise to provide backup for the two most important women in his life, as each of them follows her own perilous path to the truth. Faye Kellerman again weaves a tapestry of crime and punishment in which racial and religious issues have a powerful impact on human relationships, political issues, and criminal investigations. Sue Stone

Publishers Weekly

Bestseller Kellerman's latest Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus novel (after 2002's Stone Kiss) will please her fans, but is unlikely to make new converts. When Cindy Decker, Peter's LAPD officer daughter (who had a big role in 2000's Stalker), finds an abandoned baby in a dumpster, she sets out to track down the developmentally disabled mother, suspecting that the child may have been the product of a rape. Her fellow officers discourage her efforts, while an attempt on her life sparks conflict with an alarmed Peter. Romance occupies Cindy, an observant Jew, as much as her professional career. Conveniently, the sexy and caring black pediatric nurse who cares for the baby turns out to be an observant Ethiopian Jew who is instantly smitten with her. Other coincidences abound, including Cindy's witnessing of a fatal hit-and-run that may be connected with the sexual assault she alone believes occurred. A minor subplot concerning the murder of stepmother Rina's grandmother in 1920s Munich simply peters out. Details of Jewish religious observance amount to superficial trappings. Cindy mentions dealing with an earlier trauma through therapy, but the author never lets the reader in on any of her sessions. The solution to the crime comes almost as an afterthought in this overlong book. Others, and Kellerman herself, have done a better job of melding a mystery plot with the challenges of maintaining Jewish identity in the modern world. 3-city author tour. (Aug. 1) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

One wild night, LAPD Officer Cindy Decker starts out hunting for a mother who dumped her newborn and ends up having a life-threatening encounter with assorted drug lords. In the process, she calls on her dad-Kellerman stalwart Peter Decker-for help. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

In the 15th of the series featuring LAPD Lieutenant Peter Decker and his Orthodox Jewish wife Rina Lazarus, a hot-blooded offspring upstages them. She's a firecracker, all right-Officer Cindy Decker, Peter's Ivy-educated daughter, with her smart mouth, explosive temper, and predisposition to ride roughshod over time-honored police protocols. If she's drawn to a case, she'll find a way to make it hers, heedless of high-echelon noses out of joint and veiled threats to her career. When Cindy finds a baby girl abandoned in a Dumpster, the officer's manual says that it's time to send in the detectives to locate the mother. Though Cindy takes a shot at being prudent, it really doesn't suit her. Drawn to the puzzle of the child's family, she's certain that somewhere out there is an answer waiting for her to discover it. With only two years on her service record and no gold shield in sight, she nevertheless plunges into an investigation that soon turns extraordinarily complex-not just a search for a missing mom, but a white-hot manhunt for rapist-killers. Tempestuous as she is, Cindy's no fool. She knows where to go when she's in over her head: to Peter, who helps her prove that the bottom-feeders are no match for the double Deckers. Incendiary Cindy rules. Fans of Kellerman (Stone Kiss, 2002, etc.) won't complain.