The Ritual Bath

At a remote orthodox Jewish yeshiva in the hills near Los Angeles, a young married woman is raped leaving the mikvah, a bathhouse for performing ritualistic cleansing. Rina Lazarus, a math teacher at the yeshiva who also cares for the mikvah, finds the woman and calls the police. Police Detective Peter Decker arrives to investigate and seems almost immediately to be drawn to Rina. While the rape investigation is continuing, Rina and Decker begin to draw closer to one another and Rina is conflicted about her growing feelings for Decker, a man who is not Jewish.

I really enjoyed this mystery. It was informative and engaging, and I was very drawn to the two main characters, Rina and Decker. I also loved the setting of the yeshiva in the show more foothills. I have the next book in the series already, and I look forward to seeing where this relationship is heading. show less

This is the first book in yet another mystery series, starring LAPD Detective Peter Decker, and his romantic interest, Orthodox Jewish widow Rina Lazarus. I absolutely loved this book. Peter and Rina are both well developed, as is the description of life in a yeshiva. The plot (involving rape and murder in a place where Rina and other women feel most safe) is disturbing, but the chemistry between Peter and Rina is light and natural in the most dark and unnatural of circumstances. Highly recommended, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series. Four and a half stars.

"Het rituele bad vormde voor mij een aangename kennismaking met het duo Decker en Lazaris en ik ben benieuwd of Decker zijn versierpogingen verder zal zetten in de volgende delen. Kellerman heeft er alvast een lezer bij!"
https://elinevandm.wordpress.com/2019/07/17/het-rituele-bad-van-faye-kellerman-4....

Thriller piacevole e ben costruito, con una insolita connotazione etnica, quella degli ebrei ortodossi d'america.
La protagonista in particolare è molto ben delineata, una donna colta e intelligente, che ha scelto del tutto volontariamente i limiti della religione, che rispetta rigorosamente ma senza bigottismo e fanatismo.
Nel libro viene sfiorato anche il tema dell'antisemitismo, che però è giustamente limitato a quello che è in relatà: la scusa degli ignoranti per giustificare i propri fallimenti.

The ritual bath, the mikvah, is a necessity to the orthodox women of the yeshiva. A place of spirituality and meaning and, unfortunately, vulnerability. Detective Peter Decker is called in to investigate a rape at the mikvah but the violence doesn't stop there. While Decker finds the community's rules a challenge to work within, he's fairly certain an attractive, young widow is at the heart of the case. And with every day that passes she's getting closer to his heart as well.

I was surprised at how fast I blazed through this one. Even with all the Hebrew/Yiddish in it, it's very readable. It was predictable in the way that most mysteries tend to follow patterns and pacing. I was on the fence about the widow, Rina Lazarus. She was fragile show more and strong, hot and cold, and I didn't like that. What I really enjoyed was the characterization of Peter Decker. Kellerman dropped enough breadcrumbs to make me curious about him. I think I'll have to visit the second book in the series... show less

In the first book in the Decker/Lazarus-series, a woman is raped on her way home from the mikveh and Detective Peter Decker teams up with the witness, Rina Lazarus, to find the assailant. As far as the mystery-part is concerned, this is business-as-usual; the stakes are high and the characters interesting. Where this story really stands out, though, is in the locale - it takes place on the grounds of a Yeshiva and the main characters are Orthodox Jews, which is a world that is probably unfamiliar to most readers. Kellerman does a great job explaining the various religious and cultural concepts, but some of the lines (in transliterated Yiddish and Hebrew) are left untranslated so that we can emphasize with the bemused Detective. All in show more all, a very decent beginning of a potentially very decent series. show less

Dieses Buch habe ich bereits vor vielen Jahren zum ersten Mal gelesen, die Reihe aber dann irgendwie aus den Augen verloren. Jetzt habe ich beschlossen, der Reihe erneut eine Chance zu geben und mit einem Reread dieses ersten Bandes anzufangen. Diesmal habe aber zum englischen Original gegriffen. Dabei ist mir wieder einmal die Tendenz aufgefallen, Krimis mit biblisch oder sinnspruchartig klingenden Titeln zu versehen (so wird aus The Ritual Bath Denn rein soll deine Seele sein).

Die Krimihandlung selbst war logisch aufgebaut, nachvollziehbar, aber nicht sonderlich überraschend oder ungewöhnlich. Was das Buch für mich damals eigentlich interessant gemacht hat, sind die nachvollziehbaren Beschreibungen des Lebens in einer nach außen show more abgeschotteten Religionsgemeinschaft und die Probleme, die die religiösen Differenzen für die Ermittlung, aber auch für die aufkeimende Zuneigung zwischen Peter Decker und Rina Lazarus darstellt. Die Figuren sind interessant genug dargestellt, damit ich mehr über sie erfahren will. Band 2 befindet sich bereits auf meinem eReader. show less