Bone Box

Bone Box is amazingly Faye Kellerman's 24th mystery novel.  The Rina Lazarus and Peter Decker series of books that started in New York when a woman was attacked at a mikvah in the novel, Ritual Bath has traveled to California and now has returned to New York, now upstate.

Rina and Peter are happily married, with children and grandchildren, both from their previous marriages and together.  Rina still keeps Judaism a relevant and important constant in their ever chaotic lives.  Though they have traveled far from a Jewish neighborhood, and added "adopted"
step-children into their lives who are not Jewish, Rina continues to follow the rules of Shabbat and kashrut.

In this novel, the mystery plot has Rina discovering a long buried body on a nature trail in the small college community they live in.  This unearths disagreements and long buried relationships at the local colleges as Decker and his young sidekick, Tyler McAdams start re-interviewing students and professors that have been around for more than five years. Kellerman makes this storyline very current with discussions of homosexuality, transgender and the LBGTQ community.  Beyond trying to follow the who done it, the reader gets a chance to think about feelings and ideas surrounding the transgender issue.

Also in this novel Kellerman brings back all of Decker's friends and colleagues from the past.  It . is nice to see old friends.  With a possible missing person in California connected to the case, Peter's old partner, Marge Dunn, is brought onto the case.  As the case heats up at home in Greenbury, NY, Decker calls on both Chris Donatti and Scott Oliver to help keep Rina safe and out of trouble.

Incredibly, Kellerman has been able to sustain the characters, making them feel like old friends.  She has keep the plots interesting, fresh and diversified to make this reader coming back for each new mystery novel she delivers.  Also waiting patiently for the next one after not be able to put the current one down until the very last page.