Murder 101: A Decker/Lazarus Novel

New York Times bestselling author Faye Kellerman's beloved Decker and Lazarus embark on a new life in upstate New York—and find themselves entangled in deception, intrigue, and murder in an elite, picturesque college town.

As a detective lieutenant with the LAPD, Peter Decker witnessed enough ugliness and chaos for a lifetime. Now he and his spirited wife, Rina Lazarus, are ready to enjoy the quiet beauty of upstate New York, where they can be closer to their four adult children, grandchildren, and their foster son, Gabe.

But working for the Greenbury Police Department isn't as fulfilling as Decker hoped. While Rina has adapted beautifully to their new surroundings, Decker is underwhelmed and frustrated by his new partner, Tyler McAdams, a former Harvard student and young buck with a bad attitude. Just when he thinks he's made a mistake, Decker is called to an actual crime—a possible break-in at the local cemetery.

The call seems like a false alarm until it's discovered that a mausoleum's stunning Tiffany panels have been replaced by forgeries. Soon the case escalates into murder: a co-ed at an exclusive consortium of liberal-arts colleges is brutally slaughtered. Poking into the hallowed halls of academia to find a killer, Decker and McAdams are drawn deep into a web of nasty secrets, cold-case crimes, international intrigue, and ruthless people who kill for sport.

Suddenly Decker's job is anything but boring, and the case might be too much to handle for a sleepy town that hasn't seen a murder for nearly a quarter century. Decker will need to use every bit of his keen mind, his thirty years of experience as a homicide cop, and much-appreciated help from family and old friends to stop a callous killer and uncover a cabal so bizarre that it defies logic.

As a detective lieutenant with the LAPD, Peter Decker witnessed enough ugliness and chaos for a lifetime. Now, he and his wife Rena are ready to enjoy the quiet beauty of upstate New York, where they can be closer to their family.

But working for the Greenbury Police Department isn't as fulfilling as Decker hoped. Yet just when he thinks he's made a mistake, Decker is called to an actual crime—a possible break-in at the local cemetery.

At first, it seems like a false alarm but soon escalates into murder when a co-ed at an exclusive consortium of liberal-arts colleges is brutally slaughtered. Poking into the hallowed halls of academia to find a killer, Decker is drawn deep into a web of nasty secrets, cold-case crimes, international intrigue, and ruthless people who kill for sport.

Decker will need to use every bit of his keen mind and his thirty years of experience as a homicide cop to stop a callous killer and uncover a cabal so bizarre that it defies logic.

“No one working in the crime genre is better.” - Baltimore Sun on Hangman

“Mystery shrouded in skin-crawling suspense...It doesn’t disappoint.” - People on Hangman

“A well-tangled web of intrigue and murder.” - Entertainment Weekly on Blindman's Bluff

We love Kellerman’s mastery of police procedure, Talmudic wisdom and kosher cooking— along with the plot twists for which she’s known.” - Boston Herald on Hangman

Hard-hitting details, vignettes of Jewish life, and uncomfortably close glimpses of a cold-hearted psycho make this an entrancing page turner. Not to be missed. - Library Journal on Day of Atonement

“In a class with the most literate, facile, and engaging writers in the business.” - Associate Press on False Prophet

“Reading a good thriller is very much like taking a great vacation: half the fun is getting there. Faye Kellerman is one heck of a tour guide.” - Detroit News on Hangman

“One of the finest.” - Los Angeles Times on Stalker