The Mercedes Coffin

I really enjoy Faye Kellerman's writing and her characters. I enjoy them as people; they're ethical and real. This story is as gripping as the others. I wish only that there were more of her books that were unabridged on Audible. I only read full versions.

The Mercedes Coffin starts with promised and weaves a good web of intrigue for the first half. However, Ms Kellerman finishes poorly with a loosely developed plot and conveniently uses death of main characters to avoid having to spin a reasonable web to answer the many questions regarding the crimes involved in the plot. She fails to bring the plot to a plausible conclusion, choosing instead to allow the main character to "guess" at what might have happened. Some readers may enjoy a book where many loose ends remain. However, this reader prefers an author, such as David Baldacci, who weaves a complex plot but closes the mystery with facts, rather than suppositions. I, for one, will not invest any more money or time in Ms. Kellerman books.

This was not the author's best work. I have read all of her books, so I have a basis for comparison. I found the plot confusing and it had a non-ending. I realize that, in real life, many murder cases aren't solved; so, perhaps Ms. Kellerman was trying to give a different perspective on detective work than in her prior books where Decker et. al. crack the cases wideopen. However, this ending left me empty. Also, I can't for the life of me figure out what the purpose was for the character Genoa Greeves. Can anyone enlighten me?
I will still read anything Faye Kellerman writes!

I just finished listening to "The Ritual Bath" by Ms. Kellerman and looked forward to enjoying another excellent audiobook. Sadly, "The Mercedes Coffin" falls short of the mark.

The plot moved slowly, and I had a hard time maintaining interest. Like other reviewers, I found the lack of resolution at the end of the book was unsatisfying. Having said that, the final 45 minutes of the book, minus the final five featuring Decker's speculations, are the best in terms of listening pleasure.

The narrator did an excellent job, and the familiar characters take on a little more depth, and age.

I was glad to finally be done with this book. I'll be slow to pay out for another Kellerman book.

The clues presented are not solved at the end. It seems that Ms. Kellerman could not find a staisfactory solution to the clues that she put in the early stages of her story, so she had the main suspect killed and the clues go unsolved. The whole story ends in an anticlimax plus a shmaltzy ending that leaves a bad after taste.

I found the story was a little long. I felt that some good editing would have been beneficial. However, having said that the story is true Faye Kellerman and therefore does not disappoint if this is a style that you enjoy. Good narration which certainly assists the reader to keep listening.

I enjoy Kellermans work but this is a poorly executed plot. There is too much introspection and dialogue that goes nowhere. The ending is a a series of strands that are not tied together. As usual the characters are interesting and well defined. The first part of the story is engaging and then it gets confused and lost. Forget this one.

This Peter Decker novel is a little different in that there is just a little about his family or his Jewish traditions. It was a light summer detective novel...not great, but not bad.

Good narrator and good story line.I liked the characters also.
One good mystery. Keeps you guessing.

I woul recommend this story despite the awful narration

The narrator has an emotionless dis interested style of narrating , it is really distracting from the story

It's a great story as always ,well written by Faye Kellerman it is such a shame Australian listeners can not listen to the whole series