Faye Marder Kellerman (born July 31, 1952) 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''.

Early life

Kellerman was born on July 31, 1952, in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

. She attended

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, where she earned a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

in 1974. In 1978, she received her doctorate of dental surgery, but she has never practiced

dentistry Dentistry, also known as dental medicine and oral medicine, is the branch of medicine focused on the Human tooth, teeth, gums, and Human mouth, mouth. It consists of the study, diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases, dis ...

and was a

housewife A housewife (also known as a homemaker or a stay-at-home mother/mom/mum) is a woman whose role is running or managing her family's home—housekeeping, which may include Parenting, caring for her children; cleaning and maintaining the home; Sew ...

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."

Personal life

Kellerman is a practicing

Orthodox Jew Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as literally revealed by God on Mount Sinai and faithfully tran ...

, as are her husband and son, novelists

Jonathan Kellerman Jonathan Seth Kellerman (born August 9, 1949) is an American novelist and psychologist known for his mystery novels featuring the character Alex Delaware, a child psychologist who consults for the Los Angeles Police Department. Born on the Low ...

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 The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), alternatively the Great Commission Baptists (GCB), is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist organization, the largest Protestantism in the United States, Pr ...

, 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 A yeshiva (; ; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The stu ...

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

Plagiarism lawsuit

In 1999, Kellerman sued the writers of the 1998 film ''

Shakespeare in Love ''Shakespeare in Love'' is a 1998 period romantic comedy film directed by John Madden, written by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, and produced by Harvey Weinstein. It stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth, B ...

,'' who 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 Miramax, LLC, formerly known as Miramax Films, is an American independent film and television production and distribution company owned by beIN Media Group and Paramount Global. Based in Los Angeles, California, it was founded on December 19, ...

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". An out-of-court settlement was reached.

Bibliography

The Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus series

# ''The Ritual Bath'' (1986) (Winner of the 1987

Macavity award 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 "Macavity, mystery cat ...

for Best First Novel, nominated for the 1987 Anthony Award in the same category) # '' Sacred and Profane'' (1987) # ''

Milk and Honey Milk and Honey may refer to: Music * The Milk and Honey Band, an English band * Milk and Honey (album), ''Milk and Honey'' (album), a 1984 album by John Lennon and Yoko Ono * Milk & Honey (Crowder album), ''Milk & Honey'' (Crowder album), 2021 * M ...

'' (1990) # ''Day of Atonement'' (1991) # ''False Prophet'' (1992) # ''Grievous Sin'' (1993) # ''Sanctuary'' (1994) # ''Justice'' (1995) # ''Prayers for the Dead'' (1996) # ''Serpent's Tooth'' (1997) # ''Jupiter's Bones'' (1999) # ''Stalker'' (2000) # ''The Forgotten'' (2001) # ''Stone Kiss'' (2002) # ''Street Dreams'' (2003) # ''The Burnt House'' (2007) # ''The Mercedes Coffin'' aka ''Cold Case'' (2008) # ''Blindman's Bluff'' (2009) # ''Hangman'' (2010) # ''Gun Games'' (2011) aka ''Blood Games'' (2012) # ''The Beast'' aka ''Predator'' (2013) # ''Murder 101'' (2014) # ''The Theory of Death'' (2015) # ''Bone Box'' (2017) # ''Walking Shadows'' (2018) # ''The Lost Boys'' (2021) # ''The Hunt'' (2022)

Other novels

*''The Quality of Mercy'' (1989) *''Moon Music'' (1998) *''Double Homicide'' (2004) – written with

*''Straight Into Darkness'' (2005) *''The Garden of Eden and Other Criminal Delights'' (2006) *''Capital Crimes'' (2006) – written with

*''Prism'' (2009) – written with Aliza Kellerman *''Killing Season'' (2017) ''(Source
Bookreporter.com – Author Bibliography – Faye Kellerman Bibliography
''

References

External links

Faye Kellerman's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kellerman, Faye 1952 births Living people American mystery writers American Orthodox Jews Jewish American novelists Macavity Award winners Writers from St. Louis University of California, Los Angeles alumni Novelists from Los Angeles American women novelists American women mystery writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American women writers UCLA School of Dentistry alumni Novelists from Missouri 21st-century American Jews Jewish women writers American detective fiction writers