Faye Kellerman's Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus Series

Faye Kellerman writes interesting novels about Jewish homemaker Rina Lazarus and her unlikely Southern Baptist-turned-Orthodox Jewish husband Peter Decker. Decker is a police dectective in Los Angeles, California, and he meets Rina while investigating a case early on in the series at a yeshiva. The two main characters are likeable and their relationship is a close one, even through their extreme differences. Kellerman presents the world of Orthodox Judaism in an unlikely format -- the mystery novel -- but it works. Later in the series, Decker's daughter from a previous marriage, Cindy, becomes a dectective, as well, joins forces with her father, and eventually becomes the main protagonist in some books.

• The Ritual Bath (1986)
• Sacred and Profane (1987)
• Milk and Honey (1990)
• Day of Atonement (1991)
• False Prophet (1992)
• Grievous Sin (1993)
• Sanctuary (1994)
• Justice (1995)
• Prayers for the Dead (1996)
• Serpent's Tooth (1997)
• Jupiter's Bones (1999)
• Stalker (2000)
• The Forgotten (2001)
• Stone Kiss (2002)
• Street Dreams (2003)*
• The Burnt House (2007)*
  
• The Mercedes Coffin (2008)*

*Not yet read