The Mercedes Coffin

By: Faye Kellerman

Narrated by: George Guidall

Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

Billionaire genius Genoa Greeves never got over the shocking death of her favorite teacher, Bennett "Dr. Ben" Alston Little, murdered execution-style and stuffed into the trunk of his Mercedes-Benz. No arrests were ever made, no killer charged for the brutal crime.

Fifteen years later, the high-tech CEO reads about another execution-style murder; this time the victim is a Hollywood music producer named Primo Ekerling. There is no obvious connection, but the case is eerily similar to Little's, and Genoa feels the time is right to close Dr. Ben's case once and for all - offering the L.A.P.D. a substantial financial "incentive" if justice is finally served for Little.

Lieutenant Peter Decker resents having to commit valuable manpower to a 15-year-old open case simply because a rich woman says "Jump!" Still, the recent murder of Primo Ekerling does bear a disturbing resemblance to Little's case, even though two thug suspects are currently behind bars for the Ekerling murder. Decker can't help but wonder about a connection. His first phone calls are to the two primary investigators in the Little case, retired detectives Calvin Vitton and Arnie Lamar. Lamar is cooperative, but Vitton is not only reluctant to talk, he winds up dead of a suspicious suicide 12 hours later.

Decker's team of top investigators not only includes his favorite homicide detectives, Scott Oliver and Marge Dunn, but also his newly minted Hollywood detective daughter, Cindy Kutiel, whose help proves to be invaluable.

A relentlessly gripping tale spun by a master, Faye Kellerman's The Mercedes Coffin races through a dangerous urban world of fleeting fame and false dreams, making heart-pumping hairpin turns at each step of a terrifying journey, where truth and justice are fine lines between life and death.

©2008 Plot Line, Inc. (P)2008 HarperCollins Publishers

Solid Kellerman effort

The characters are enjoyable and funny. Decker (the main character) is charming and carries the story along with a fair amount of humor and coolness. The story itself isn't the most complicated, but it is an entertaining read (listen) and you'll want to follow it to the very end.

Not great, but good

I do believe this book was just not really thought out. Too many characters, just keep it simple is my thought. I do believe it could have been better too.

Pleasure to listen to

I really like Faye Kellerman's writing style and I love the Peter/Rina books. This does not disappoint. I enjoy seeing the characters grow in age and maturity and look forward to the next one!

Realistic

Mercedes Coffin portrayed a cold case accurately, in my opinion. The reader can relate to the events in this book. I found nothing hokey about the story. It gets a 10 for suspense. The characters are interesting. I especially enjoy the teenaged Hannah Rose and her older sister Cindy.

Another Faye Kellerman Success!!

Faye Kellerman successful book. The twists and turns keep you guessing right up to the end!!

The Mercedes Coffin

Interesting and a fairly good plot- I could recomment it as good reading.

Not exciting

made myself finish -was not particularly excited by the book nor its characters it was just trodding police work

Very confusing, crowded with characters...

...for whom I could not work up interest or empathy. Oh well, always scenes of Decker-Lazurus domestic harmony and disharmony to spice things up.....still a faithful fan.

Good book, poor narration

I read this book before downloading it for my wife. And while I thought it was excellent, my wife couldn't get past the first disk due to the narrator's voice dropping in volume at the end of many sentences

Disappointed

I went straight from Book 14 to Book 17.

Book 15 is no longer available in Audio Format, and besides from what I understand it’s all about Cindy anyway and since I was not impressed by her adventures in Book 12 I don’t feel like I missed out.

I listened to Book 16 AGES ago, twice in fact. The first time in 2007, then completely forgot all about it and picked it up again in 2015 . That second time, I was drawn in enough by the background story that I decided to try Book 1 and see if I liked it enough to dive in to the series. I did! And so since May 2015, I’ve been working though all the installments in order.

Ironically, what I like about the series in general is exactly what I did not like about Book 17. I like the background story of Peter and Rina better than the cop-dramas, and this book didn’t give me enough of what I wanted. Subsequently, it just felt like an “ordinary” murder mystery… in fact, I found it more confusing than intriguing because there were too many players and I had trouble keeping track of them all.

Overall, I wasn’t drawn in and I’m pretty disappointed. I am hoping for more in Book 18!