Faye Kellerman | |
---|---|
Born | St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. | July 31, 1952
Occupation | Author |
Language | English |
Education | Doctor of Dental Surgery |
Alma mater | University of California, Los Angeles |
Genre | Mystery |
Notable works | Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus novels |
Spouse | Jonathan Kellerman |
Children | 4, including Jesse Kellerman [1] |
Faye Marder Kellerman [1] (born July 31, 1952 [2] ) 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.
Kellerman was born in St. Louis, Missouri. She attended UCLA, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics in 1974. Four years later, she received her doctorate of dental surgery, but she has never practiced dentistry and was a housewife 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." [3]
Kellerman is a practicing Orthodox Jew, as are her husband and son, novelists Jonathan Kellerman 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, 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 .
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; a son, Jesse, and three daughters, Rachel, Ilana, and Aliza. Their oldest child, Jesse, is a bestselling novelist and award-winning playwright. Their youngest, Aliza Kellerman, co-wrote Prism (2009), a young adult novel, with her mother.
In 1999 Kellerman sued the writers of the 1998 film Shakespeare in Love, whom 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 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". [4] [5] An out-of-court settlement was reached.
(Source: Bookreporter.com – Author Bibliography – Faye Kellerman Bibliography)
Jonathan Seth Kellerman is an American novelist, psychologist, and Edgar- and Anthony Award–winning author best known for his popular mystery novels featuring the character Alex Delaware, a child psychologist who consults for the Los Angeles Police Department.
The Quality of Mercy or Quality of Mercy may refer to:
Caroline Graham is an English playwright, screenwriter and novelist.
Jesse Oren Kellerman is an American novelist and playwright. He is the author of the novels Sunstroke (2006), Trouble (2007), The Genius (2008), The Executor (2010), and Potboiler (2012). He has co-authored numerous books with his father Jonathan Kellerman, including The Golem of Hollywood (2014).
Jeff Abbott is an American suspense novelist. He has degrees in History and English from Rice University. He lives in Austin, Texas. Before writing full-time, he was a creative director at an advertising agency. His early novels were traditional detective fiction, but in recent years he has turned to writing thriller fiction. A theme of his work is the idea of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary danger and fighting to return to their normal lives. His novels are published in several countries and have also been bestsellers in the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, Germany, France and Portugal. He is also Creative Director at Springbox, a Prophet company.
Peter Decker is a fictional character in a series of mystery novels by Faye Kellerman. A lieutenant in the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), Decker is assisted in solving crimes by his Orthodox Jewish wife Rina Lazarus.
Rina Lazarus is a fictional character in a series of mystery novels by Faye Kellerman.
Cindy Decker is a fictional character in a series of mystery novels by Faye Kellerman. She is the daughter of the protagonist, Peter Decker, a Los Angeles police lieutenant, by his first marriage. While Cindy and her mother Jan are portrayed as Jewish, they are not as religiously observant as Peter's second wife Rina Lazarus.
Margaret Maron was an American writer, the author of award-winning mystery novels.
Kenneth Martin Edwards is a British crime novelist, whose work has won multiple awards including lifetime achievement awards for his fiction, non-fiction, short fiction, and scholarship in the UK and the United States. In addition to translations into various European languages, his books have been translated into Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Taiwanese. As a crime fiction critic and historian, and also in his career as a solicitor, he has written non-fiction books and many articles. He is the current President of the Detection Club and in 2020 was awarded the Crime Writers' Association's Diamond Dagger, the highest honour in British crime writing, in recognition of the "sustained excellence" of his work in the genre.
The Macavity Awards, established in 1987, are a literary award for mystery writers. Nominated and voted upon annually by the members of the Mystery Readers International, the award is named for the "mystery cat" of T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. The award is given in four categories—best novel, best first novel, best nonfiction, and best short story. The Sue Feder Historical Mystery has been given in conjunction with the Macavity Awards.
Nancy Pickard is an American crime novelist. She has won five Macavity Awards, four Agatha Awards, an Anthony Award, and a Shamus Award. She is the only author to win all four awards. She also served on the board of directors of the Mystery Writers of America. She received a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri and began writing when she was 35 years old.
Sacred and Profane is a 1987 novel by Faye Kellerman. It is second in the Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus series, a Fawcett Crest book published by Ballantine Books.
Milk and Honey is a 1990 novel by Faye Kellerman, published by William Morrow and Company as part of the Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus series. It takes place about 18 months after Sacred and Profane, when Decker is 41, in Los Angeles, in the Foothill Division of the LAPD.
Jane K. Cleland is a contemporary American author of mystery fiction. She is the author of the Josie Prescott Antiques Mysteries, a traditional mystery series set in New Hampshire and featuring antiques appraiser Josie Prescott, as well as books and articles about the craft of writing. Cleland has been nominated for and has won numerous awards for her writing.
Bouchercon is an annual convention of creators and devotees of mystery and detective fiction. It is named in honour of writer, reviewer, and editor Anthony Boucher; also the inspiration for the Anthony Awards, which have been issued at the convention since 1986. This page details Bouchercon XVIII and the 2nd Anthony Awards ceremony.
Under the Beetle's Cellar, is a 1995 suspense novel by American author Mary Willis Walker, the second in her "Molly Cates" series.
Sue Henry was an American writer of mystery thriller fiction. She was also a librarian, college administrator, and instructor at the University of Alaska.
Sharan Newman is an American historian and writer of historical novels. She won the Macavity Award for Best First Mystery in 1994.
Art Taylor is an American short story writer, book critic and an English professor.