The Garden of Eden and Other Criminal Delights

This lightweight collection of short stories by a bestselling mystery novelist is given substance by a stellar cast of readers. Two of the stories feature Kellerman's well-known husband-and-wife sleuths, LAPD Lt. Peter Drucker and his wife, Rina Lazarus. In another story, "The Luck of the Draw," there are revelations about what happens to a family that wins the lottery. The story, which Kellerman wrote with her two young daughters, is given a raucous interpretation by Lindsay Crouse and Nancy McKeon. The outstanding chiller, written by Kellerman with her son, a playwright, combines family and evil. Roger Rees's wicked account of terrifying mother-son devotion is not something to listen to at bedtime. M.T.B. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

June 26, 2006
Bestseller Kellerman's hardcore fans will welcome this eclectic volume, whose 17 selections include two new tales about her series husband-and-wife team, LAPD Lt. Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus; two stories with family themes, one coauthored with Kellerman's two daughters ("The Luck of the Draw"); and a pair of autobiographical essays, one a poignant tribute to her late father ("The Summer of My Womanhood"). Kellerman's short stories may lack the intricate plotting of her novels (Stone Kiss
, etc.), but a typical effort like the title story, in which Decker notices some things out of place when a friend dies of an apparent heart attack, is never less than entertaining. Brief comments at the start of each entry provide context.

August 15, 2006
Kellerman, author of the best-selling Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus series, demonstrates her command of the short story with this collection of 17 tales, nine of which were previously published. In -The Stalker, - an abusive husband is his ex-wife's living nightmare. She can never get away -or can she? In the title story, Rina investigates a neighbor's death. With her son Jesse, Kellerman reinvents Jack the Ripper in -Mommy and Jack. -

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2006
Kellerman may be best known for her Rina Lazarus-Peter Decker mysteries, but she's also written numerous short stories, 18 of which are collected in this rather varied anthology. Not all of the stories fall within Kellerman's usual crime beat. "Luck of the Draw," for example, a collaboration between Kellerman and her daughters (at the time, 11 and 15), is a pleasant tale in which a sudden windfall causes a close-knit family to reassess its economic priorities. On the other hand, "Mummy and Jack," which Kellerman wrote with her author-playwright son, Jesse, is a dark psychological thriller. Rina and Peter appear in several stories, and Kellerman includes a tale starring one of her first PI characters, Andrea Darling. Greed, dashed hopes, and boredom, occasionally leavened with a touch of humor, are the stuff of many others. A brief note about how each selection came to be heads each tale.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)