Just about anyone who is a mystery buff, knows the name Kellerman. Faye and Jonathan Kellerman have been best-selling mystery writers for nearly three decades, and their son Jesse joined the “family business” in 2006 when he published his first novel. All three Kellermans will be guests at University Synagogue, Sunday November 8.
“Faye and Jonathan were colleagues of our synagogue member Barbara Pronin,” said Sherry Clark of the Women’s Connection who is sponsoring the event. “Since the Kellermans are also very active in the Jewish community, they were happy to respond when Barbara invited them to do a program at the synagogue.”
Most readers were introduced to Faye Kellerman with her first novel, “The Ritual Bath,” in 1986. The first Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus mystery, centers on a police detective raised as a Southern Baptist who returns to his Jewish roots after falling in love with Rina Lazarus, an Orthodox Jew, while investigating a rape that took place near a yeshiva. Today, there are more than 20 million copies in print internationally.
“We deal with Jewish themes in our writing, and Orange County has such an active, thriving Jewish community,” said Faye Kellerman, “where better to do a book tour?” In her new book, “The Theory of Death,” Rina Lazarus and her husband, Detective Peter Decker, have relocated from L.A. to a quiet little town in upstate New York. But when murder and mayhem blow into town, Decker and a more fully involved Rina become the town’s best hope for resolution.
Like his fictional protagonist, Alex Delaware, Jonathan Kellerman received a Ph.D. in psychology at the age of 24, with a specialty in the treatment of children. In 1985, Jonathan’s first novel, “When the Bough Breaks,” was published to enormous critical and commercial success and became a New York Times bestseller. Since then he has published over three dozen best-selling crime novels.
A couple of years ago, Jonathan and his son Jesse co-authored “The Golem of Hollywood” which they are now following up with “The Golem of Paris,” a fast-paced sequel. “How and why we co-authored these books,” said Jonathan, “and where the inspiration came from, is a great tale and we look forward to sharing at this event.”
“The Kellermans, like the characters they create,” says Pronin, who will moderate the Nov. 8 event. “They are warm and unpretentious people with a sense of humor about themselves and the world, and a deep devotion to Jewish family values. Their fans are in for a wonderful evening of delightful, hamish entertainment.”
“We are thrilled to sponsor this unique event for book lovers,” said Clark. “We invite everyone to meet and greet this dynamic family. Get your books signed, take some photos and schmooze with the Kellermans at a lovely dessert reception.”
Each ticket includes the dessert reception and a signed copy of one of the Kellerman’s just-released books. Reservations can be made online at www.universitysynagogue.org.
Florence L. Dann, a fourth year rabbinical student at the Academy for Jewish Religion in LA has been a contributing writer to Jlife since 2004.