The Burnt House

by: Faye Kellerman

Published by: Harper

Reviewed by Bob Pike CSP, CPAE

Shortly after 8 a.m. a commuter plane takes off from Burbank airport. It will never reach cruising altitude. Instead it will crash into an apartment building, incinerate it, and both cover up and uncover two murders–one that happened that day, and one that happened over twenty years earlier.

Pete Decker is an LAPD Detective Lieutenant. It will be up to him and his team to figure out who died, and when. And as things progress Decker has more suspects, not less. Roseanne Dresden, a WestAir flight attendant went missing the same time as the plane crash and her stepfather is convinced that her husband is to blame for her death and that her body will be found in the ashes. He’s equally convinced that the police don’t care and the only way to get action is to stay in Decker’s face.

Then there’s Dresden’s mysterious paramour. Her husband constantly played around, so why shouldn’t she? She had broken off the affair–or had she? Mix that in with a twenty-year-old, defunct pot-smoking, free-love church group that lived commune-like in the apartment building that burned in the crash. Two members that went missing and there’s plenty to keep both you and Lt. Decker guessing–and chasing.

Kellerman surrounds Decker with a cast of characters that add depth to the story. I felt that the story got bogged down with overly long explanations of the family celebrations of religious holidays and the meals that go with them. I’d welcome these stories in another type of book but here I felt they slowed the action without adding much meaning. On the other hand the character development of family and friends involved in providing thinking and resources used to solve the case added to the story for me.

Armchair Interviews says: Lt. Decker is back in the thick of things again.