Product Description
Before he became a novelist, Michael Connelly was a crime reporter, covering the detectives who worked the homicide beat in Florida and Los Angeles. In vivid, hard-hitting articles, Connelly leads the listener past the yellow police tape as he follows the investigators, the victims, their families and friendsand, of course, the killersto tell the real stories of murder and its aftermath. Connellys firsthand observations would lend inspiration to his novels, from The Black Echo, which was drawn from a real life bank heist, to Trunk Music, based on an unsolved case of a man found in the trunk of his Rolls Royce. And the vital details of his bestknown characters, both heroes and villains, would be drawn from the cops and killers he reported on: from loner detective Harry Bosch to the manipulative serial killer, the Poet. Connellys reporting is filled with captivating people, vivid atmosphere and the telling clues that take the reader into the mindset of an investigator. Stranger than fiction and every bit as gripping, these pieces show once again that Michael Connelly is not only a master of his craft, but also one of the great American writers in any form. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

PROOF THAT TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION

Whoever said truth was stranger than fiction might have been referring to bestselling author Connelly's first foray into non-fiction, Crime Beat.While all of us recognize his name thanks to such list toppers as The Lincoln Lawyer, Chasing the Dime and Blood Work, few may know that before writing novels he was a crime reporter, assigned to homicides.

Crime Beat is a collection of the pieces he wrote during that time and are, if you can believe it, often even more chilling than his fictional tales.Admittedly, he found inspiration for many of his novels in his reporting days yet the pieces included in Crime Beat are even more compelling as they are related in the voices of the victims, their families, and the detectives who handled the cases.

And, what voices they are!Len Cariou captures with his stage trained elocution and knife sharp diction.This Tony winner gives a first rate performance as the initial narrator explaining how Connelly came to be fascinated by police work.

The second voice we hear is that of actress Nancy McKeon who grips listeners with her reading of the heartbreak of a victim's family.Many audio edition fans will remember her narration of Faye Kellerman's Street Dreams.

Actor/director Carl Franklin whose films as a director include Devil A Blue Dress and One True Thing rounds out this stellar trio, reading with cool assurance.

An added bonus is an introduction by Connelly.As for the actual crimes?Listening is believing and frightening, indeed,ranging from a psychopathic mass murderer who posed as a fashion photographer to a husband who hired someone to beat his wife to death.

True crime enthusiasts will be enthralled.

- Gail Cooke
... Read more

Product Description
THE GARDEN OF EDEN AND OTHER CRIMINAL DELIGHTS features one never-before-published short mystery, The Garden of Eden, where Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus find themselves investigating the death of a neighbor.The volume also contains two Decker-Lazarus short mysteries: Bulls Eye, introducing Cindy Decker, who works with her father to find the killer of a police academy instructor; and A Woman of Mystery, in which Rina and Peter solve the mystery of a student with amnesia. The remaining tales are classic Kellerman, and include Mummy and Jack, cowritten with her son, Jesse. With bonus stories and personal essays drawn from Fayes personal life, this audiobook is a must-have for all Kellerman fans and new crime fiction enthusiasts alike. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Great Price, Great Product, Shipped as expected!
The price of this book was unbelievable.Product was new and in perfect condition.Received as requested.

Thanks so much,

Island Life Shop

Garden of Eden
I have read all of Faye Kellerman books and have enjoyed them all. She has made the
Peter Decker series very enjoyable and easy to read.

Great book!
I enjoyed this book very much - it was a tight, exciting, well-coordinated plot with engaging and life-like characters.Definitely a great read!

Tales of Kellerman
Faye Kellerman's early novels were decent though nothing spectacular, with their main virtue being the glimpses it provided into a modern Orthodox Jewish community in Los Angeles.Since then, Kellerman has gotten even better, so even if she is not a top-tier mystery writer (a category I reserve to true masters of the genre like Michael Connelly, James Lee Burke or Elmore Leonard), she is definitely one of the near-greats.Of course, this is only based on her novels; short-story writing has different requirements.The Garden of Eden and Other Criminal Delights gives her fans a chance to see if she is as successful in the short form as the long form.

This collection begins with four stories (around a third of the book) with her series characters Peter and Rina Decker (and Peter's daughter Cindy).The Garden of Eden has Rina's gardening friend Cecily being found dead of an apparent heart attack; she was old, so death is not unexpected, but two greedy daughters and some missing cash throws some mystery into the equation.Open House has Peter investigating a murder within an empty house that's up for sale; not even a dead body, though, will stand in the way of a house purchase in a seller's market.Bull's-eye gives the reader a glimpse into Cindy Decker's police academy days, and A Woman of Mystery has Rina assisting a young woman with amnesia.

Most of the remaining stories are standalone mystery stories.The Stalker, Bonding, Discards and Tendrils of Love are rather standard stories.Mummy and Jack is a period piece which offers a different take on a certain historical figure (who most readers will easily figure out).Malibu Dog, The Back Page, Mr. Barton's Head Case and Holy Water all are essentially comic stories (which is unusual for Kellerman, whose novels may have bits of humor but are all serious).

The last four stories fit more into the slice-of-life category than mystery.Free Parking and Luck of the Draw are fictional, and Small Miracles and The Summer of My Womanhood are both autobiographical.

There is nothing wrong with any of these stories, but none really stand out either; they're decent enough to rate a low four stars.Kellerman is obviously better at novel-length stories, where she gets a chance to really develop both her characters and plot.In short story form, she cannot fully use her gifts.(By means of comparison, look at Lawrence Block, who is both an excellent novelist and short story writer, with different strengths in each form.)If you are a Kellerman fan (especially a Peter and Rina fan), you will not be disappointed in this collection; if you are unfamiliar with Kellerman, you should start with one of her novels; this is not the best example of her work.

Faye Kellerman leaves little to the imagination.
Faye Kellerman, is one of the best authors i have read. Her diversity in this book of short stories, shines through impeccibly.
She not only writes about Peter Decker and Rina Lazerus, but other stories, such as a touch on Jack the Ripper, in my opinion!!
She puts such detail, in such a small story, that it's not overwhelming. Like many authors, we are left sitting there after reading, thinking and pondering what we have just read. Sometimes we even have to re-read a passage or two.
But with Faye Kellerman's novels all you have to do, is sit back, read and enjoy!

... Read more

Product Description
From New York Times bestseller Faye Kellerman comes a new novel featuring Detective Peter Decker, who teams up with his wife and daughter to solve a crime rooted in both the past and present. While on routine patrol, LAPD Officer Cindy Decker rescues a newborn abandoned in an alley dumpster. But she can't call it a night until she sees the infant safe in a hospital. Now, the hunt is on for the mother, more than likely a desperate girl in need of medical attention. Armed with advice from her overworked detective father, Cindy searches through inner-city Hollywood, following a treacherous trail filled with drug lords. But with each new lead, the twisted journey gets darker, battering Cindy's complex personal relationships--and endangering her very life. When Decker and Decker join forces, can this edgy duo put personal issues aside to catch a vicious culprit before he strikes again? AUTHORBIO: Faye Kellerman lives with her husband, bestselling novelist Jonathan Kellerman, in Southern California. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (61)

A mixed review
I've read this series for years.One reason is that like Rina and Peter, I am a religious Jew.Also like Rina, I am a child of survivors.I didn't mind the lack of mystery for the sake of developing the story of Cindy and Koby; I thought that was a strength of the novel.However, I have gotten a bit sick of "saint" Rina, Peter's explosive temper, and now situational religiosity: Koby says he keeps kosher but eats out vegetarian (it doesn't work that way); has nonmarital sex (also doesn't work that way); mostly keeps the Sabbath unless there's a cool party Koby's invited to (oh really)?I can understand (my family lives in LA) living in Silver Lake and not in Los Feliz (the price differential is breath-taking), but Kellerman should know better- she has Rina explaining to Peter in an earlier book what's wrong with eating vegetarian out, etc.

The secondary story of Rina and Peter was just too upsetting.Not just the material, but the premise.Peter needed R&R after the big shoot-out in New York, not let's play Nazi-hunter in Germany. And picking Munich for a vacation spot?Seriously?I found that most incredible of all.When they live a 40 minute plane ride from Lake Tahoe, one of the most beautiful places on earth?
Last peeve:When will Kellerman learn to count?The ages of most of the main characters are all wrong!

2.5, the good and the bad of this novel
I read over several of the other reviewers comments and I agree with some and disagree with others.

Quite a few people remarked that they didn't like Cindy Decker, I actually like the character.I think she's interestingly dynamic, in that she can be quite tough when she needs to be yet vulnerable.Her relationships are interesting and entertaining, her father and Jewish stepmother, those conversations, those glimpses are good.

However, I agree with other reviewers who found the racial tensions to be forced and distracting.I feel this was a blantant attempt by Kellerman to make her heroine seem more noble.A white red-haired beautiful police officer falls in love with an black Ethiopian Jew.That in and of itself is not the problem.It's her constant barrage of racial tensions, the oversexed pairing of the couple, Decker's lengthy "race" speeches.It all lacked nobility.It was an honest ploy by Kellerman to elevate Decker, and it's just bad form.

Secondly, was the fact that Kellerman, who expects the reader to admire Decker, has her give her gun to her boyfriend, whom she's only known a few weeks in a potentially dangerous situation, then directs him to lie about it and THEN, the most unbelievable portion of it all, she takes that gun, rolls down her window and fires aimlessly so that she will had gun residue on her hand in case they check.I absolutely could not believe that this author made her HEROINE do something so blantantly STUPID!She was in the city!She's not in the desert, she's not out in some isolated field, and she discharges her gun randomly out the window!!Are you kidding me??I don't think the most ridiculously stupid police officer in the world could commit that offense.It was unreal.What was Kellerman thinking??

I disagree about several reviewers saying the subplots were distracting, that's real police work, they have to run down every lead and it often branches out and the reality of police work is interviews, interviews, interviews.That part of the novel didn't bother me or distract me.

There you have the good and the bad, in my opinion.

Multi Story Line
Even though I have read several of Kellermans books I could not finish this one . I made it through chapter 6 and tossed the book .

There is just to many useless words to take up space that has nothing to do with current storyline . Like author goes into great detail to tell what a house looks like or what character is wearing , and there is parts in book where police's wifehas a friend read some sort of Jewish writting for her and the useless words just go on and on . WORST BOOK WRITTEN BY KELLERMAN TO DATE .

Lots of suspense
Street Dreams by Faye Kellerman is medium paced solid entertainment.A lot is going on in everybody's life and the stories from the past are woven together with family relationships that aren't part of the crimes, but highlight the tension between all of the characters involved.Everybody has agendas!Everybody has a life, and because Kellerman includes those everyday bits of everyone's lives the story has a lot more meat to it, it feels more real.The book has all the thrills and suspense you would expect from Kellerman, and a lot more.As for guessing whodunit, good luck!

Uninvolving unfortunately...
I've read many of Faye Kellerman's books and have always enjoyed them but this one was really weak. Cindy Decker is not a particularly interesting character and she certainly wasn't helped by a weak plot. I've never been a fan of multiple storylines and this book is no exception. The secondary story involving Rina's missing grandmother was really much more interesting than the primary story featuring Cindy. I would have loved the entire book to focus on the WW2 murder. Unfortunately there was no resolution whatsoever to this secondary plot and the resolution to the main story was very undramatic and appeared to be almost an afterthought as though the author said, "Uh oh, I better tie this up now". Since some of my favorite books have been by Faye Kellerman, I will still read her in the future but I certainly wouldn't recommend this one to start with. ... Read more