REVIEW for Murder 101

Thank you so much to William Morrow for allowing me the opportunity of reading this ebook.

TITLE:                Murder 101

AUTHOR:           Faye Kellerman

GENRE:             Mystery/Thriller

RATING:            

I have read everything by Faye Kellerman.  She has really grown as an author and I love that she writes the same characters in every book - giving us the opportunity of growing with the "Decker" family.

Addtionally, I am so grateful that Kellerman has substantially toned down the religious aspect of her stories.  I have no problem with incorporating some religion in the story if it will make it move forward, but at some point, she was spending so much time telling us about Rena's beliefs and myriad of traditions that it seriously took away from the storyline - after all, this is a thriller - not a book on religion.

Why I liked this story so much?  The combining of Decker and Harvard was perfect.  At first, I wasn't sure, but by a few chapters, I was loving the back and forth between the two partners.  It was amusing and engaging and I felt myself rooting for them to remain partners......

The whodunit is mild enough - a theft of art that ends up being a homicide which Decker investigates through NYC and Boston (great way for Kellerman to get Decker back in the big city for a bit).

A word of warning, when you start reading this book pay very close attention because there are so many people "involved' in this "art" theft/murder that you are going to lose the thread if you don't pay attention.  Ditto on the details about which country stole what heirloom.  I think Kellerman could have toned it down a bit here.

However, in true Kellerman style, while there is a bit of action, the story is mostly about solving the mystery with brains and good old fashion investigating.

The one thing that Kellerman still needs to do is tone down the propaganda when it comes to Rina.  Wow, between Decker, Harvard and absolutely everybody else in this story, Rina is made out to be a saint.  She never says anything wrong, every person around her loves her instantly, she is welcome at meetings where she should clearly not be and she is the center of absolutely everyone's world.  Its getting old and it feels fake and takes away from the rest of the story.

Honestly, I think the future stories would highly benefit from reducing Rina's role SIGNIFICANTLY or better still, remove her completely.

Overall though, this was a strong book.