The Ritual Bath

In THE RITUAL BATH, Faye Kellerman introduces Rina Lazarus and Peter Decker, endearing characters who are thrust together when a woman is brutally raped in a Jewish ritual bath for women. While most of the community refuses to speak about the incident, Rina does, and begins to fall for Decker, the detective assigned to the case. Despite their attraction, Rina's strict religious beliefs become an apparently insurmountable barrier. Surprisingly, this novel has not appeared on audio until now, but listeners' patience is rewarded with this excellent performance by Mitchell Greenberg, who captures the electricity between the pair. Greenberg's narration style is well paced, and his use of accents and inflections brings every character to life, making the audiobook as memorable as its printed cousin. D.J.S. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

January 28, 2008
Like the series it inspired, Kellerman's award-winning 1986 debut novel combines police procedure, via hard-boiled LAPD detective Peter Decker, with Judaic rites and rituals courtesy of its heroine Rina Lazarus, an ultra-Orthodox widowed mother of two. Decker and Lazarus are brought together by the brutal rape of a young bride-to-be at the mikvah (a bathhouse used in the purification ritual) that Rina manages in the Hollywood hills. Mitchell Greenberg nicely vocalizes the story from Decker's point of view, with the detective struggling to stick to his sleuthing in spite of his developing feelings for Rina. The novel continually rings true, from explaining various Orthodox beliefs and customs to Decker and his crew's no-nonsense unmasking of the villain. Greenberg moves in and out of the novel's elements smoothly and efficiently. He paces the police work with just the right sense of urgency and frustration; handles the romantic sequences with the proper emotion and without a hint of sentimentality; and breezes through the many Jewish-centric passages with the confidence and clarity of a yeshiva graduate. An Avon paperback.

May 1, 1986
Baptist big cop Peter Decker is reduced to jelly by tiny Jewish jewel Rina Lazarus, mistress of a ritual bathhouse in Los Angeles, on whose grounds a rape, which Decker is investigating, has just taken place. When she's not scrubbing out the mikvah, Rina, widowed mother of two sons, teaches math at the yeshiva, where several of those suspected of the rape and later of a particularly hideous murder either teach or study the Torah. Despite detective Decker's instant bedazzlement, however, Rina's orthodox charms and pious invocations to the deity are pretty subfusc; the entire cast is so jejune that the reader doesn't give a rap whodunit. Thus, the principle of the murder mystery genre is violated, the more seriously by the author's ambiguity as to whether she is writing a romance, a homily on the practices and virtues of observant Judaism or a detective novel.

March 15, 2008
This is Kellerman's first Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus mystery, published in 1986. When an orthodox Jewish woman is raped outside the "mikvah" (ritual bath), Det. Peter Decker is assigned to the case and soon becomes immersed in the insular world of the Yeshiva (orthodox Jewish school). While investigating the rape, Peter meets Rina Lazarus, the young widow who runs the bathhouse, and there is an immediate mutual attraction. Despite Rina's determination not to get involved with a Gentile, her romantic feelings toward Peter grow. The story is exciting, the characters are well developed, and the listener is introduced to Jewish law and ritual. Narrator Mitchell Greenberg does an excellent job; he pronounces the Jewish terms and Hebrew words correctly, and he gives each character an appropriate voice and accent. Highly recommended for mystery collections. [Also available as downloadable audio.Ed.]Ilka Gordon, Park Synagogue Lib., Pepper Pike, OH

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