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The Mercedes Coffin: A Decker and Lazarus Book (Peter Decker & Rina Lazarus Novels)
by: Faye Kellerman

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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780061227332
ISBN: 0061227331
Label: William Morrow
Manufacturer: William Morrow
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 384
Publication Date: August 01, 2008
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: August 12, 2008
Sales Rank: 27406
Studio: William Morrow

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:

Billionaire genius Genoa Greeves never got over the shocking death of her favorite teacher, Bennett 'Dr. Ben' Alston Little, murdered execution-style and stuffed into the trunk of his Mercedes-Benz. No arrests were ever made, no killer charged for the brutal crime. Fifteen years later, the high-tech CEO reads about another execution-style murder; this time the victim is a Hollywood music producer named Primo Ekerling. There is no obvious connection, but the case is eerily similar to Little's and Genoa feels the time is right to close Dr. Ben's case once and for all—offering the L.A.P.D. a substantial financial 'incentive' if justice is finally served for Little.

Lieutenant Peter Decker resents having to commit valuable manpower to a fifteen-year-old open case simply because a rich woman says 'Jump!' Still, the recent murder of Primo Ekerling does bear a disturbing resemblance to Little's case, even though two thug suspects are currently behind bars for the Ekerling murder. Decker can't help but wonder about a connection. His first phone calls are to the two primary investigators in the Little case, retired detectives Calvin Vitton and Arnie Lamar. Lamar is cooperative, but Vitton is not only reluctant to talk, he winds up dead of a suspicious suicide twelve hours later. Plunging into this long-buried murder, Decker discovers that even though the two slayings are separated by a decade and a half, there is still plenty of greed, lust, and evil to connect the dots.

Decker's team of top investigators not only includes his favorite homicide detectives, Scott Oliver and Marge Dunn, but also his newly minted Hollywood detective daughter, Cindy Kutiel, whose help proves to be invaluable. His wife, Rina Lazarus, continues to be his backbone of support, offering a cool, rational outlook despite her growing concern for her husband's welfare and safety. Rina's worries and fears begin to build at a fevered pitch as past and present collide with a vengeance, catapulting an unsuspecting Peter Decker closer and closer to the edge of an infinite dark abyss.

A relentlessly gripping tale spun by a master, Faye Kellerman's The Mercedes Coffin races through a dangerous urban world of fleeting fame and false dreams, making heart-pumping hairpin turns at each step of a terrifying journey, where truth and justice are fine lines between life and death.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Horrific read and so very.....
disappointing....The best that can be said is I read a library copy so all I wasted was my time. The beginning was great and then the book deteriorated into a complete bomb, with discussion after discussion that couldn't have been more tedious and boring. So much so, that I really didn't care about anything, anyone, skipping those discussions lost me nothing, and the ending was simply too, too boring, incomplete, dull, need I go on....

Sorry about this review as I have read the entire Decker series very happily over the years....will definitely give second thoughts after this one about what I'll do with the next title....The supreme irony here for me is that I long ago stopped reading her husband's books for a very similar reason..Oh well....there are enough really good writers out there that we have many other choices...

Rating:

- Tedious
I've read most of Faye Kellerman's novels and have liked many of them, especially "Straight Into Night," but this one is--well--bad. I kept laying it aside and picking up again, forcing myself through the tedium. When I finally made it to the last page, the outcome was disappointing, vague. See for yourself. There could be no murder conviction based on the evidence presented.

Keeping the characters straight was a problem. There are all sorts of low lifes without much to distinguish one from another. Then there is a great deal of extraneous material--what characters wore, every time they were presented. A disciplining editor should have cut a hundred pages or so of fat off this. The plot isn't all that good either, even if this were edited better. Kellerman tries to write a gritty police procedural, but it isn't up to the standards of Ed McBain or Michael Connelly--or to Kellerman's previous ... Read More

Rating:

- Fails to engage
Through the years the strength of this series has been Faye Kellerman's ability to engage the reader and cause him/her to care about Peter Decker and his family and the victims of the crimes in Decker's police cases. Somehow she fails to do either in this latest book in the series.

The title of the book refers to two murders which occur 15 years apart. In both murders the victim is put in the trunk of a Mercedes-Benz after being shot execution-style. The first victim is a well-liked teacher, Dr. Ben Little, and the second is an unscrupulous music producer named
Primo Ekerling. Decker and his cohorts spend the majority of the book looking into possible connections between the two murders. Scenes in the Decker home are brief and uninspiring with wife Rina's appearances being short and without much substance. Hopefully author Faye Kellerman will rediscover the formula of blending Peter Decker's ... Read More

Rating:

- Too many characters
As others have said, there are too many characters in this book. Each one is referred to by first name, last name, and often a nickname - sometimes in the same paragraph. There's a Rudy and a Ryan, Melinda and a Marilyn, not to mention Cal and Cal J (a red herring that went nowhere), and so many times I said to myself "Who's Mudd again?" I love the series, but the last two books have gone downhill.

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