Blindman's Bluff

June 15, 2009
In bestseller Kellerman's solid 18th novel to feature L.A. police detective Lt. Peter Decker and his wife, Rina (after The Mercedes Coffin
), Rina finds that some jury duty should include hazardous duty pay. A shooting rampage at the 70-acre compound and mansion owned by shopping mall magnate Guy Kaffey leaves Kaffey, his wife and two guards dead. Kaffey's oldest son, Gil, apparently was left for dead and two other guards are missing. A plethora of suspects and motives has Decker and his colleagues looking at Guy's brother, Mace, and Guy's younger son, Grant, as well as the missing guards, other household staff, the remaining off-duty staff and possibly business rivals. Decker's cool professionalism is thoroughly tested when a chance courtroom encounter thrusts Rina into the case and puts her in harm's way. Kellerman expertly keeps interlocking investigations moving along with a minimum of confusion but plenty of doubt as to the guilty party or parties.

August 10, 2009
When billionaire developer Guy Kaffey, his wife and assorted employees are brutally murdered, police lieutenant Pete Decker investigates the motives and alibis of the remaining Kaffeys, while Rina, out on jury duty, is largely absent from the main plot. It's a fortuitous development: Mitchell Greenberg offers a slight shift in pitch for Rina, but he shines when capturing the tough-but-reasonable Decker, the gruff-but-romantic detective Scott, and the many members of a Mexican family, whose accented English he performs with subtlety and finesse. A Morrow hardcover (Reviews, Jun. 15).

The Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus series has enjoyed a successful life in audiobooks with numerous narrators--both men and women. BLUFF is the 18th of Kellerman's popular stories about the LAPD detective Decker, which often contrast Orthodox Jewish culture with the violence of police work. Kellerman's latest, about the puzzling homicides of members of the mega-rich Kaffey family, receives total injustice from narrator Mitchell Greenberg. He misreads both main characters--making Rina sound like a ditzy housewife and Decker like a mild-mannered cop. Minor characters are overplayed, often with stereotypical accents that may make listeners cringe. Kellerman's intriguing plotting and the challenge of a good mystery might make it worth staying through this unfortunate performance, but most will want to read this in print. R.F.W. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine