STALKER

In the 11th Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus novel (Jupiter's Bones, 1999, etc.), both spouses recede into supporting roles, leaving the star turn to Ivy-educated daughter Cynthia. Though her decision to become a rookie cop doesn't exactly delight her detective lieutenant dad, he’d surely manage to come to terms with it—if only she'd learn to lower her profile for the sake of personal safety and career advancement. Circumspect, however, does not appear in feisty Cynthia's lexicon. Her smart mouth gets her a disproportionate share of attention, seldom beneficial, from such resentful LAPD colleagues as her boss, chauvinistic Sergeant Tropper. Though you wouldn’t think her unabashed ambition would win her any new companions, it seems to be doing so. A series of carjackings, some dubious real-estate speculations, a murder—taken together, they provide what Cynthia sees as opportunity. She leaps at it, investigates on her own, and then, to her considerable discomfort, discovers that someone seems to be investigating her—a stalker. Is he trying to scare her into backing off? Or is he, as a friend suggests, a mean-spirited fellow officer who just doesn't like her red hair, or maybe likes it too much?

Skeptical Decker and Rina, his orthodox Jewish wife, get less room than usual for domestic drama, but robust, uninhibited Cynthia easily takes up the slack. The downside, as ever, is Kellerman's slapdash, cliché-prone prose.