Milk and HoneyMilk and Honey is the third book in the Peter Decker/Rena Lazarus series by Faye Kellerman and of the three of read, it was my least favorite. By this point in the story that Rena’s roll is just as Peter’s love interest as it appears she will have little to do with solving mysteries as the stories progress, so why she is included in the “series title” I am not sure. But that’s not what bothered me about the story.

What bothered me about the story is that it wasn’t a single story. There were several side mysteries (Peter’s war buddy accused of rape, the search for a missing child) completely unrelated to the initial mystery. These side stories took away from the pace of the main mystery and really didn’t add much to the overall story than to show us some other sides of Peter’s personality which could have been accomplished in an easier manner that wouldn’t turn what should have been a 300-400 page story into one that’s over 500 pages.

Furthermore, what initially attracted me to the series, insight into the Ultra Orthodox Jews and the interaction with the outside world has been minimalized and really trivialized as most of it is now handled “off-camera.”

Anyway, these books are library takeouts so I’m going to give at least one more a chance as it’s free but I fear I may not be long for this series…