Now living in upstate New York, former LAPD lieutenant Peter Decker is plunged into a bizarre web involving academia, underworld crime, and calculating killers in this compulsive novel in New York Times bestselling author Faye Kellerman's beloved Decker and Lazarus series.
Former LAPD lieutenant Peter Decker is relishing the quiet and slow pace of his new job with the Greenbury police department. The work is low stress and engaging, and it's been almost a year since the last murder in this sleepy upstate New York town.
Then the body of a nude man is found deep within the woods, shattering Decker's peace. The death appears to be a suicide—a single shot to the head, the gun by his side. But until the coroner's ruling, the scene must be treated as a suspicious crime. Without any personal effects near the body, Decker must dig to uncover his identity, a task made difficult by the department's tight budget and limited personnel. Luckily, Decker gets some unexpected help when his friend and former Greenbury colleague Tyler McAdams calls, looking for a quiet place to study for his law finals.
The investigation takes Decker and McAdams to Kneed Loft College, where they must penetrate the indecipherable upper echelons of mathematics and mathematical prodigies. Beneath the school's rarified atmosphere they discover a sphere of scheming academics, hidden cyphers—and most dangerous of all—a realm of underworld crime that transforms harmless nerds into cold, calculating evil geniuses. It will take all of Decker's experience and McAdams's brains to penetrate enigmatic formulas and codes and solve a dark, twisted crime devised by some brilliant and depraved masterminds.
Now living in upstate New York, former LAPD lieutenant Peter Decker is plunged into a bizarre web involving academia, underworld crime, and calculating killers in this compulsive novel in New York Times bestselling author Faye Kellerman's beloved Decker and Lazarus series.
Former LAPD lieutenant Peter Decker is relishing the quiet and slow pace of his new job with the Greenbury police department. The work is low stress and engaging, and it's been almost a year since the last murder in this sleepy upstate New York town.
Then the body of a nude man is found deep within the woods, shattering Decker's peace. The death appears to be a suicide—a single shot to the head, the gun by his side. But until the coroner's ruling, the scene must be treated as a suspicious crime. Without any personal effects near the body, Decker must dig to uncover his identity, a task made difficult by the department's tight budget and limited personnel. Luckily, Decker gets some unexpected help when his friend and former Greenbury colleague Tyler McAdams calls, looking for a quiet place to study for his law finals.
The investigation takes Decker and McAdams to Kneed Loft College, where they must penetrate the indecipherable upper echelons of mathematics and mathematical prodigies. Beneath the school's rarified atmosphere they discover a sphere of scheming academics, hidden cyphers—and most dangerous of all—a realm of underworld crime that transforms harmless nerds into cold, calculating evil geniuses. It will take all of Decker's experience and McAdams's brains to penetrate enigmatic formulas and codes and solve a dark, twisted crime devised by some brilliant and depraved masterminds.
Reviews-
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August 17, 2015
Set in Greenbury, N.Y., bestseller Kellerman’s plodding 23rd mystery featuring Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus (after 2014’s Murder 101) opens with the discovery in a forest of the corpse of college student Eli Wolf, who apparently shot himself. Decker, who now works for the Greenbury PD after recently retiring from the LAPD, investigates. Meanwhile, Tyler McAdams, who left Greenbury PD for Harvard Law School, returns home to study for his exams. Tyler tags along as Decker tries to determine why Eli, who comes from Mennonite stock and was a gifted mathematician, would have committed suicide. When one of Eli’s classmates turns out to be a woman who has had a crush on Tyler for years, she can’t be ruled out as a suspect in what develops into a murder case. Series fans will be pleased to see that the relationship between Decker and Lazarus, neither of whom has any flaws, remains as affectionate as ever. New readers should be prepared for plenty of schmaltz. -
May 15, 2015
You'd think former LAPD lieutenant Peter Decker could relax a little in small-town Greenbury, NY, where he heads the police department. But, no, a naked corpse has been discovered in the woods. Tracing the victim to nearby Kneed Loft College with the help of friend and former Greenbury colleague Tyler McAdams, Decker discovers a bunch of nerdy math types-turned-evil geniuses.
Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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Suspense Magazine
"The crimes, puzzles, mysteries, and thrills are all exciting when it comes to Kellerman's writing, but it is the perfect relationship between Decker and Lazarus that still holds the reader and grows better and better with each novel. — Suspense Magazine
"Kellerman writes with her usual sensitivity [...]. Writing to her strengths, Kellerman shows her customary compasion for isolated souls like Eli and social outliers like his Mennonite farm family." — New York Times Book Review
"THE THEORY OF DEATH is perfectly paced, full of quirky and, yes, malevolent characters populating a puzzling mystery, which, at its heart, concerns whether or not a crime actually has been committed. Faye Kellerman continues to impress and mightily so." — Bookreporter.com
