The Ritual Bath by Faye Kellerman

I remembered that these books were really good, but somewhere several years ago I stopped picking them up. I guess I lost track of several series that I like because we really don't have a proper bookstore - and I don't much like paying the standard shipping and handling fee for a paperback. Anyway, I am going to enjoy rereading - and reading for the first time the ones that I have missed.

This one, naturally enough, sets up the general background. Decker and Rina meet. It is established that she is a widow with two small children. The attraction between them is immediate. She resists him and makes it clear that she will only consider dating a Jew and preferably one who is observant.

Decker and his partner are part of the LA version of what we all now know as the SVU (well, all good L&O fans do). I didn't remember that, it could be that he does go back to homicide in a later story. A serial rapist is working their part of town, and they drew the case. Then there is a rape at the yeshiva where Rina lives and works. Her husband had been part of the school, and they found work for her after his death. She teaches math at the school and she is the custodian for the mikvah, the ritual bath.

Rina discovers the victim at the yeshiva and becomes the unofficial liaison between the yeshiva and the police as the community closes ranks. The victim is unable to set aside her religious issues and talk to the police, and the community is unwilling to consider that the rapist might be a part of the yeshiva - after all, there is a serial rapist out there, and by rights it ought to be him!

Although the two series of crimes are completely separate, the similarities and differences make the story a coherent whole. I'm already looking forward to rereading the next one.