Sanctuary

Sanctuary, the seventh Peter Decker & Rina Lazarus mystery, takes place in Los Angeles and Israel, with a New York matter thrown in, but that place is not visited.

Peter and his partner, Marge Dunn, are both working homicide at the Devonshire station. Their new 'Loo,' an ex-marine called 'Tug' Davidson, is really getting on Marge's nerves. She complains that he treats her like a peon. Well, Davidson outsmarts himself by sending Marge on a call he thinks is nothing. He just wants to get Orit Bar Lulu off his back.

Mrs. Bar Lulu is very worried about her brother, Arik Yalom. She hasn't heard from him or his lovely wife, Dalia, or their teenaged sons, Gil and Dov, for two days. Orit, Arik, & Dalia are from Israel. Dalia is the daughter of a show more rich diamond dealer, Joseph Menkovitz. Arik is a diamond dealer, too, but small potatoes compared to his father-in-law.

Arik and Orit both learned how to cut diamonds from their father, whose family has been in the diamond business for generations. Moshe Yalom is good, but Arik is superb. His partner, Shaul Gold, is a good salesman, which Arik isn't. Dalia, who has known Shaul all her life, made Arik give him the job. Is Shaul in love with Dalia? Her sons call him 'Uncle Shaul'. Shaul and Arik argue a lot.

Peter is the one who notices two strange things about the quiet Yalom house. Still, he treats the case as Marge's. Their 'Loo' remains unconvinced that anything is wrong, so our detectives have to do part of the investigation on their own time.

Meanwhile, Honey Klein, an old classmate of Rina's, bringings herself and her four children (ranging from 5 to 15) to visit from their New York village. It's short notice. The Kleins disappear before Peter can break the news to Honey that her husband, Gershon, has been murdered. Is it only a coincidence that Gershon Klein was also a diamond dealer?

The trail leads to Israel. Peter is going on his own money, with the understanding that he'll be reimbursed if he's successful. Rina goes along as his interpreter. Does he need her!

There's plenty of excitement and danger in the Holy Land. Poor Peter gets to deal with culture shock. Rina finds out how much Israel has changed since she left it 12 years ago. The mysteries are solved, though I suspect one of the villains would have preferred another fate. (By the way, I loved the story Moshe Yalom came up with to get Rina past a guard.)

On the Decker family front, Rina and Peter's little Hannah is nine months old and a good baby. I enjoyed the scene with the boys and Rina's parents. Cindy, Peter's daughter by his first wife, doesn't appear. We do learn, from a conversation with Marge, that Cindy is still interested in police work and Peter is still unhappy about it.

It's another very good entry in a very good series.

Notes:

See chapter two for something going on in Honey Klein's village that has her Rebbe (Rabbi) floored.

The Bellson/Roberts affair mentioned in chapter 5 was in book six, Grievous Sin. It's also where we met nurse Nora, mentioned here in chapter 24.

The John List case mentioned in chapter 9 really happened. You might want to look it up.

Phileas Fogg, to whom Marge compares Arik Yalom in chapter 11, is the traveling hero of Around the World in 80 Days. While that's not my favorite Jules Verne adventure, it's a classic worth reading. You might also enjoy the Academy Award-winning 1956 film adaptation.

See book three, Milk and Honey for why Pete got upset with something Marge says in chapter 23.

See book four, Day of Atonement, for how Peter met his biological mother and her family, who get mentioned in chapter 24. It's also where you'll find out how he got the old bullet wound mentioned several times in this book.

Chapter 31 is where Rina explains Jewish divorce to Peter. I'm glad to read that some rabbis are trying to help the wives.

Cat lovers: Peter's barn cats just get a mention. Peter's horses get slightly more time.

Dog lovers: Ginger, Peter's Irish setter, not only gets to play games with little Hannah, she has an important role in solving one of the mysteries. show less

Sanctuary is a very good story that explores a lot of different themes. There is the Jewish marriage get and what happens if husband does not want to get divorced. What choices are there for the wife in a very Jewish society? Also discussed was greed. Having a lot of money is not enough for some people. What will a woman do to achieve more power? What kind of power does one have over another if he or she exposes the other one? All of these topics were woven into the story along with other topics creating a very good thriller story. Five stars were awarded to this book because of the many difficult topics that the characters faced.

When one diamond dealer and his family disappears and another diamond merchant is murdered, the hunt for the culprit(s) leads Peter Decker to Israel with wife Rina in tow as translator cum detective. This is one of my favorite installments of the series, partly because of the new locales (Jerusalem and Tel Aviv) and partly because Rina gets to have an actual impact on the mystery-plot. Definitely a must if you have an interest in Judaism, but a solid mystery even if you don't.

Although well plotted and with Faye Kellerman's usual good eye for character, the book seems to lose impetus half way through. Good but not among her best.

Der Diamantenhändler Arik Yalom und seine gesamte Familie verschwinden spurlos aus ihrer Villa in Los Angeles. Nichts im Haus deutet auf Gewaltanwendung hin. Trotzdem kann sich Detective Peter Decker von der Mordkommission Los Angeles des Gefühls nicht erwehren, daß irgend etwas nicht stimmt. Erste unverständliche Spuren tauchen auf. Dann verschwindet ein weiterer Diamantenhändler, diesmal in New York, und wird kurz darauf tot aufgefunden. Das Opfer ist der Ehemann von Rina Lazarus' Freundin Honey Klein, die soeben überraschend zu Besuch gekommen ist. Honey ist offensichtlich sehr verstört, weigert sich aber, über ihre Probleme zu sprechen. Bevor Decker seinem Hausgast die schreckliche Nachricht aus New York überbringen kann, show more findet man Honeys Wagen verlassen am Straßenrand vor. Was als Fall von vermißten Familien beginnt, wird für Peter Decker und Rina Lazarus eine Mörderjagd durch die Dreh- und Angelpunkte einer milliardenschweren Edelsteinindustrie, die sie bis nach Israel führt. Erst als sich dort die düsteren Schatten der Vergangenheit lichten, kann Decker einen der raffiniertesten Mordfälle seiner Karriere klären. (Klappentext) show less

Couldn't finish it.

It just got too boring to read about all the jewish stuff, as everything had to be explained and most of it did not add anything to the story.

Look, I knew quite a bit about the stuff anyway, so that made the whole explanations even worse! It ruined the flow.

Israeli diamond dealers disappear
2 mysteries — okay

A diamond dealer and his entire family have mysteriously disappeared from their sprawling Los Angeles manor, leaving the estate undisturbed and their valuables untouched. Investigating detective Decker is stumped--faced with a perplexing case riddled with dead ends. Then a second dealer is found murdered in Manhattan, catapulting Decker and his wife, Rina, into a heart-stopping maze of murder and intrigue that spans the globe...only to touch down dangerously in their own backyard.