Faye Kellerman - The Beast

Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus have been through quite a bit in their years together, but The Beast gets Peter involved in one of the most bizarre cases of his career.

Reclusive billionaire Hobart Penny is found dead in his apartment. His pet cat, a full-grown female Bengal tiger, initially appears to be the killer, but a bit of investigation by Decker and his colleagues, Marge Dunn and Scott Oliver, eliminates the beast as the perpetrator and points to the victim’s kinky sex life with prostitutes as a factor. The sleuths follow a trail to a wildlife sanctuary in the San Bernardino Mountains and Las Vegas night clubs, but they find little. Decker ends up making the difficult choice to consult his underworld connection, Chris Donati. Donati is also the father of Decker’s foster son, Gabriel Whitman. Gabriel, a talented pianist, has his own problems with an upcoming recital and a budding romance with a Persian Jewish girl. As the case draws to a conclusion, Decker and his wife find themselves contemplating the impact of their jobs on their lives and wondering whether some changes are needed. Readers will be waiting for Ms. Kellerman’s next book to see what they do.