Murder 101

A Decker/Lazarus Novel, Book 22

By: Faye Kellerman

Narrated by: Richard Ferrone

Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times best-selling author Faye Kellerman's beloved Decker and Lazarus embark on a new life in upstate New York - and find themselves entangled in deception, intrigue, and murder in picturesque elite college town.

As a detective lieutenant with the LAPD, Peter Decker witnessed enough ugliness and chaos for a lifetime. Now, he and his devoted wife, Rina Lazarus, are ready to enjoy the quiet beauty of upstate New York, where they can be closer to their four adult children and their foster son.

But working for the Greenbury Police department isn't as fulfilling as Decker hoped. While Rina has adapted beautifully to their new surroundings, Decker is underwhelmed and frustrated by his new partner, Tyler McAdams, a former Harvard student and young buck with a bad 'tude. Just when he thinks he's made a mistake, Decker is called to his first real crime here - a possible break-in at the local cemetery.

At first, it seems like a false alarm until it's discovered that a mausoleum's stunning Tiffany panels have been replaced by forgeries. Then, a coed at one of the exclusive local colleges is brutally murdered. Poking into the hallowed halls of academia to find a killer, Decker and McAdams are drawn deep into a web of dark secrets, cold-case crimes, international intrigue, and ruthless people who kill for sport.

Suddenly, the job is anything but boring. This case just might be too much to handle and Decker will have to draw on every ounce of experience that he has garnered in the past 30 years as a homicide cop. And then again, even that might not be enough!

©2014 Plot Line, Inc. (P)2014 HarperCollins Publishers

wrong narrator for these characters

the story was entertaining as always, but this narrator sucked the life out of the characters. they all sounded the same.

If You Hate Change, Listen Anyway

Any additional comments?

I waited over two years before giving this a listen. I'm completely unfair to most authors of series novels - I allow them some minute character development and growth book-to-book, but for the most part I like to come back to "familiar" - it's why I've been such a fan of Ms Kellerman's (and her husband's) books over the years. When I saw in the synopsis that Decker had retired to New York and cold and snow (without consulting me!), I couldn't bring myself to spend the credit - until now. Ms Kellerman took a leap, and she did it well. We get a whole cast of newbies along with weaving in some old friends, and she hasn't lost her ability to tell the tale. Now I've got some catching up to do!

STORY WAS ALL OVER THE PLACE

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

No. Although Richard Ferrone does a fine job even he couldn't save this one. The plot is all over the place, stretched beyond belief with a confusing ending.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Murder 101?

Having a would-be killer break into Decker's home.

What about Richard Ferrone’s performance did you like?

Richard Ferrone's voice is remarkable. He brought life to the story.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. I listened to it quickly but not in one sitting.

Narrated by Hell's Angels

This was one of the best and amazing stories written by Faye Kellerman. why on earth would you skimp and hand it off to this narrater who sounds like he smokes 3 packs a day and has very little variation in his voice between the rich group of characters.

Rina shines, narrator wrong for this book

liked the story, narrator too gravelly to be Decker and was unconvincing as different characters.

Slow.

It was a struggle to listen. The narrators voice is more monotone than usual and that caused me to stop listening for entire sections.

Long winded

I did enjoy the story but did not really feel that the ending was interwoven well. Seemed just long winded and abstract

production quality was lacking

I really like Faye Kellerman's Decker Lazarus series and I liked this one too and the narrator was not bad as far as the voices he used but it was super annoying to hear every swallow and breath he took. I felt that the production could have edited this background noise out, so no points for the production team!

New Town, New Narrator, Same Saints

"Murder 101" is much better than "The Beast," the book that preceded it in the Decker/Lazarus saga--but then, almost anything would be. That said, as a longtime fan of the series I enjoyed this one, including the new setting, new characters, and the new narrator.

New setting: Peter Decker has left the LAPD and taken a "semiretirement" job as detective for the Greenbury, NY police department, a quiet town whose claim to fame is being the host of five small but prestigious colleges (hence the academic reference in the title). The move means Peter and Rina now live within easy driving distance of their myriad (and multicultural) kids and grandkids. Rina is still hosting Shabbos dinners, teaching Hebrew, and baking cookies. Peter has not acclimated quite so well, but perks up when a local art theft leads to murder and he's suddenly pulling all-nighters, living on coffee and bagels, and getting shot at again.

New character: Decker is also back in his Wise Old Dad role. His new partner, Tyler McAdams, is a Park Avenue trust funder, a recent Harvard grad who is resisting the law school road his loudmouthed, overbearing, 1-percent-entitlee father insists on. Like Chris Donati and Gabe Whitman before him, Tyler is a young man with a chip on his shoulder and daddy issues. And, like Chris and Gabe, he soon comes to respect and admire Saint Peter and to venerate Saint Rina (if I may be excused the mixed religious metaphor in referring to the Orthodox Jewish Deckers).

New Narrator: I really like Richard Ferrone's narration. Upbeat and energizing, yet easy to listen to. The one (minor) flaw is that he does not even try to do feminine voices, and I was often taken aback to realize that Rina had been the one speaking. Peter and Tyler sound a little too much alike, but interestingly all the minor characters--college frat boys, New York art dealers, Park Avenue matrons, Boston police, and Harvard profs--are subtly and neatly distinguishable.

I think if you’ve enjoyed other books in the series you’ll probably like this one. It’s not the place to start the Decker’s long story, over which they’ve aged in real time (among the very few series regulars to do so), although Rina at 50-something is apparently still quite astonishingly beautiful.

There was one aspect of the book that I found distracting at first and eventually just found amusing. The fictional town of Greenbury and its fictional 5 colleges is at different points in the book described as being in upstate New York; closer to Boston than to Manhattan; about 1.5 hours by car from Boston; *and* closer to the Hamptons than to Manhattan. Now, I’m not geographically challenged, but I couldn’t triangulate any location in the northeast that met all those criteria. But I enjoyed my visit anyway.

Worst narrator I've ever listened to

I have many in this series and over 400 audio books and this is the first time I ever almost stopped listening because of the narrator. His voice sounds like a creepy whisper perfect for Halloween. I found it difficult to concentrate on the story I was so put off by it. Obviously I skipped a lot in the series and would go back to catch up BUT will NEVER listen to another book narrated by Richard Ferrone. WARNING, WARNING, WARNING.