Faye Kellerman

Last updated

Faye Kellerman
Born (1952-07-31) July 31, 1952 (age 71)
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
OccupationAuthor
LanguageEnglish
Education Doctor of Dental Surgery
Alma mater University of California, Los Angeles
Genre Mystery
Notable works Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus novels
Spouse Jonathan Kellerman
Children4, including Jesse Kellerman [1]

Faye Marder Kellerman [1] (born July 31, 1952 [2] ) is an American writer of mystery novels, in particular the "Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus" series, as well as three nonseries books, The Quality of Mercy, Moon Music, and Straight into Darkness.

Contents

Early life

Kellerman was born in St. Louis, Missouri. She attended UCLA, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics in 1974. Four years later, she received her doctorate of dental surgery, but she has never practiced dentistry and was a housewife before publishing her first novel. In a 1997 essay, she says she cannot pinpoint the metamorphosis from dentist to writer of detective fiction, but several factors that steered her toward mystery writing were: "a desire for justice, a suspicious nature, an overactive imagination, and of course, a penchant for the bizarre." [3]

Personal life

Kellerman is a practicing Orthodox Jew, as are her husband and son, novelists Jonathan Kellerman and Jesse Kellerman, respectively. Her writing frequently deals with Jewish themes and characters, incorporating them into the framework of the traditional mystery. The Peter Decker books, for example, center 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 .

The Kellermans are the only married couple ever to appear on the New York Times bestseller list simultaneously (for two different books).[ citation needed ] They have four children. Their youngest child, Aliza Kellerman, co-wrote Prism (2009), a young adult novel, with her mother.[ citation needed ]

Plagiarism lawsuit

In 1999 Kellerman sued the writers of the 1998 film Shakespeare in Love, whom she claimed stole the plotline from her 1989 novel The Quality of Mercy , in which Shakespeare romances a Jewish woman who dresses as a man, and attempts to solve a murder. Miramax Films spokesman Andrew Stengel derided the claim, filed in the US District Court six days before the 1999 Academy Awards, as "absurd", and argued that the timing "suggests a publicity stunt". [4] [5] An out-of-court settlement was reached.

Bibliography

The Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus series

  1. The Ritual Bath (1986) (Winner of the 1987 Macavity award for Best First Novel, nominated for the 1987 Anthony Award in the same category) [6] [7]
  2. Sacred and Profane (1987)
  3. Milk and Honey (1990)
  4. Day of Atonement (1991)
  5. False Prophet (1992)
  6. Grievous Sin (1993)
  7. Sanctuary (1994)
  8. Justice (1995)
  9. Prayers for the Dead (1996)
  10. Serpent's Tooth (1997)
  11. Jupiter's Bones (1999)
  12. Stalker (2000)
  13. The Forgotten (2001)
  14. Stone Kiss (2002)
  15. Street Dreams (2003)
  16. The Burnt House (2007)
  17. The Mercedes Coffin aka Cold Case (2008)
  18. Blindman's Bluff (2009)
  19. Hangman (2010)
  20. Gun Games (2011) aka Blood Games (2012)
  21. The Beast aka Predator (2013)
  22. Murder 101 (2014)
  23. The Theory of Death (2015)
  24. Bone Box (2017)
  25. Walking Shadows (2018)
  26. The Lost Boys (2021)
  27. The Hunt (2022)

Other novels

(Source: Bookreporter.com – Author Bibliography – Faye Kellerman Bibliography)

Related Research Articles

Jonathan Seth Kellerman is an American novelist, psychologist, and Edgar- and Anthony Award–winning author best known for his popular mystery novels featuring the character Alex Delaware, a child psychologist who consults for the Los Angeles Police Department.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sara Paretsky</span> American author of detective fiction

Sara Paretsky is an American author of detective fiction, best known for her novels focused on the protagonist V. I. Warshawski.

Caroline Graham is an English playwright, screenwriter and novelist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Crais</span> American author of detective fiction

Robert Crais is an American author of detective fiction and former screenwriter. Crais began his career writing scripts for television shows such as Hill Street Blues, Cagney & Lacey, Quincy, Miami Vice and L.A. Law. His writing is influenced by Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Ernest Hemingway, Robert B. Parker and John Steinbeck. Crais has won numerous awards for his crime novels. Lee Child has cited him in interviews as one of his favourite American crime writers. The novels of Robert Crais have been published in 62 countries and are bestsellers around the world. Robert Crais received the Ross Macdonald Literary Award in 2006 and was named Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America in 2014.

Peter Decker is a fictional character in a series of mystery novels by Faye Kellerman. A lieutenant in the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), Decker is assisted in solving crimes by his Orthodox Jewish wife Rina Lazarus.

Rina Lazarus is a fictional character in a series of mystery novels by Faye Kellerman.

Cindy Decker is a fictional character in a series of mystery novels by Faye Kellerman. She is the daughter of the protagonist, Peter Decker, a Los Angeles police lieutenant, by his first marriage. While Cindy and her mother Jan are portrayed as Jewish, they are not as religiously observant as Peter's second wife Rina Lazarus.

Bill Pronzini is an American writer of detective fiction. He is also an active anthologist, having compiled more than 100 collections, most of which focus on mystery, western, and science fiction short stories. Pronzini is known as the creator of the San Francisco-based Nameless Detective, who starred in over 40 books from the early 1970s into the 2000s.

<i>The Monkeys Raincoat</i> 1987 detective novel by Robert Crais

The Monkey's Raincoat is a 1987 detective novel by Robert Crais. It is the first in a series of linked novels centering on the private investigator Elvis Cole and his partner Joe Pike. Cole is a tough, wisecracking ex-Ranger with an irresistible urge to do what is morally right. The novel won the 1988 Anthony Award for "Best Paperback Original" at Bouchercon XIX and the 1988 Mystery Readers International Macavity Award for "Best First Novel"; and has since been named one of the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Maron</span> American crime fiction writer (1938–2021)

Margaret Maron was an American writer, the author of award-winning mystery novels.

Kenneth Martin Edwards is a British crime novelist, whose work has won multiple awards including lifetime achievement awards for his fiction, non-fiction, short fiction, and scholarship in the UK and the United States. In addition to translations into various European languages, his books have been translated into Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Taiwanese. As a crime fiction critic and historian, and also in his career as a solicitor, he has written non-fiction books and many articles. He is the current President of the Detection Club and in 2020 was awarded the Crime Writers' Association's Diamond Dagger, the highest honour in British crime writing, in recognition of the "sustained excellence" of his work in the genre.

<i>The Killings at Badgers Drift</i> Book by Caroline Graham

The Killings at Badger's Drift is a mystery novel by English writer Caroline Graham and published by Century in 1987. The story follows Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby investigating the murder of an elderly spinster in a rural village. It is the first volume in Graham's Chief Inspector Barnaby series, followed by Death of a Hollow Man. In 1997, it was adapted as the pilot of Midsomer Murders, a popular ITV television series based on Graham's books.

The Macavity Awards, established in 1987, are a group of literary awards presented annually to mystery writers. Nominated and voted upon annually by the members of the Mystery Readers International, the award is named for the "mystery cat" of T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. The award is given in four categories—best novel, best first novel, best nonfiction, and best short story. The Sue Feder Historical Mystery has been given in conjunction with the Macavity Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nancy Pickard</span> American novelist

Nancy Pickard is an American crime novelist. She has won five Macavity Awards, four Agatha Awards, an Anthony Award, and a Shamus Award. She is the only author to win all four awards. She also served on the board of directors of the Mystery Writers of America. She received a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri and began writing when she was 35 years old.

Sacred and Profane is a 1987 novel by Faye Kellerman. It is second in the Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus series, a Fawcett Crest book published by Ballantine Books.

<i>Milk and Honey</i> (Kellerman novel) 1990 novel by Faye Kellerman

Milk and Honey is a 1990 novel by Faye Kellerman, published by William Morrow and Company as part of the Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus series. It takes place about 18 months after Sacred and Profane, when Decker is 41, in Los Angeles, in the Foothill Division of the LAPD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane K. Cleland</span> American author

Jane K. Cleland is a contemporary American author of mystery fiction. She is the author of the Josie Prescott Antiques Mysteries, a traditional mystery series set in New Hampshire and featuring antiques appraiser Josie Prescott, as well as books and articles about the craft of writing. Cleland has been nominated for and has won numerous awards for her writing.

Bouchercon is an annual convention of creators and devotees of mystery and detective fiction. It is named in honour of writer, reviewer, and editor Anthony Boucher; also the inspiration for the Anthony Awards, which have been issued at the convention since 1986. This page details Bouchercon XVII and the inaugural Anthony Awards ceremony.

Bouchercon is an annual convention of creators and devotees of mystery and detective fiction. It is named in honour of writer, reviewer, and editor Anthony Boucher; also the inspiration for the Anthony Awards, which have been issued at the convention since 1986. This page details Bouchercon XVIII and the 2nd Anthony Awards ceremony.

Rochelle Majer Krich is a writer of mystery novels and winner of an Anthony Award and the Mary Higgins Clark Award.

References

  1. 1 2 Kathleen Doheny (December 2, 1985). "The Mystery of the Kellermans : Where Do They Find Ideas and Time to Pen His and Her Novels?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  2. ↑ Lindsay, Elizabeth (2007). Great Women Mystery Writers (2nd ed.). Greenwood Press. p. 130. ISBN   978-0-313-33428-3.
  3. ↑ Kellerman, Faye, essay in Small Miracles: Extraordinary Coincidences from Everyday Life, Adams Media Corporation, 1997, ISBN   1-55850-646-2.
  4. ↑ "Novelist sues Shakespeare makers". BBC News . March 23, 1999. Retrieved June 30, 2008.
  5. ↑ "Writer sues makers of 'Shakespeare in Love'". CNN . March 23, 1999. Archived from the original on April 4, 2008. Retrieved June 30, 2008.
  6. ↑ "Mystery Readers International's Macavity Awards". Mysteryreaders.org. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  7. ↑ "Bouchercon World Mystery Convention : Anthony Awards Nominees". Bouchercon.info. October 2, 2003. Archived from the original on February 7, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.