The Blindman’s Bluff by Faye Kellerman

This is the first book of the author Faye Kellerman that I have read. She was recommended to me by a friend who also loves murder mysteries. The central character is a Lieutenant who heads a homicide team in LA. It is strange that when I was recommended this series I was told it is about a Jewish detective. It probably stands out to some extent as there is some of the customs and terminology related to that culture is evident. It is not very common to actually see the religious faith brought out for most murder mysteries detectives.

I found the relationships of family and friendships within the team, fairly easy grasp. The story begins with a picture of daily life in the Decker household with a discussion about how a police detective’s wife was allowed to be selected on to a jury. With this little background, the story really being when phone call tells Decker there have been multiple homicides at the very prominent and rich Kaffey’s home. The family is very rich and have very large business dealing both on the west coast as well as east coast of USA. Among the dead are the head of the family, his wife and a maid, while one of the sons’ who was there was seriously injured. There were supposed to be 2 guards at the gate and 2 in the house. Of these two were laying shot dead and the other 2 were missing. There is a lot of evidence to be gathered, a lot of people to be investigated and stories and alibi to be corroborated.

Who would gain was the usual first question to be asked. The next was who held a grudge that could merit this level of violence. There was definitely more than one person involved in the shooting. Since there were no forced entries and the house was actually like a maze that unless one knew the place it would not have been possible to find the exact rooms people were in, this has to be an inside job. Many of the people employed to work in and around the house, as well as security were Spanish speaking with some of the security people being ex-gang members. The plot is nicely woven and takes you through the nuances of different characters that come into the story. Is the blind man who is a court translator telling the truth about the conversation he overheard? Is he really that good that he can pick up identity the culprits in a voice line up? Does he even realise that while trying to do his civic duty he may be putting himself in harm’s way?

The search for the missing security men leads to a small town from which one of those guys has come. He used to be the deputy sheriff at that small town. There are small shanty towns of immigrant works around there and some of the surnames seem familiar. So what will they find when they visit the place? Why was there a drive by shoot outside the hospital when The Kaffey brothers and their uncle come out? The uncle and the head of security get injured. Is any of the family involved as there seems to be a lot of money being spent for what can only be described as hits? It seems that no one in the remaining Kaffeys trust each other.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the novel. The plot is well woven and tight. The characters seem real and there is camaraderie in this hard working team. I am sure the rest of the novels will be as intriguing.