Jupiter's Bones : A Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus Novel (Peter Decker & Rina La zarus Novels

Avon, 2000. Fine. Faye Kellerman's 11th Peter Decker-Rina Lazarus mystery takes police lieute nant Decker into the enclave of a Heaven's Gate-style pseudoscientific reli gious cult, the Order of the Rings of God. The cult's leader, a former worl d-class physicist who styles himself Jupiter, has died of an ungodlike comb ination of liquor and prescription drugs, but whether it was accident, suic ide, or murder is suspiciously murky. The death is mysteriously reported by Jupiter's estranged daughter Europa, a scientist who has nothing to do wit h the cult, and when the police arrive on the scene, they find that Jupiter 's followers, particularly his four unpleasantly ambitious personal attenda nts, range from uncooperative to downright hostile. Decker's suspicions kic k into high gear when two other cult members go missing and another body tu rns up. But with the tense situation threatening to unravel as explosively as Jonestown or Waco, it's Marge, Decker's professional sidekick, who penet rates the cult's inner sanctum and effects a scary eleventh-hour rescue. For Decker, as always, the mystery serves to offset the tempestuous Orthodox Jewish family life that he married into. Sammy, Rina's older son, wants to study in a politically unstable region of Israel, and Jake, the younger, is teetering on the edge of a most unorthodox social scene of girls, porn movies, and pot. Kellerman knows how to craft a compelling mystery, but it's the honesty of Decker's unique religious and family struggles that keeps mystery fans interested book after book. If you're new to this series, you'll want to begin at the beginning with The Ritual Bath.