I've become a big fan of Faye Kellerman, mainly after reading this early novel (I had read I think one other, later Decker/Lazarus novel before The Ritual Bath).  In some ways it's quite different from some of the later novels. Kellerman's next-to-last novel, Gun Games, focusing in considerable part on the relationship between 15-year-old "adopted son" Gabe, a musical prodigy, and a 14-year-old Persian girl and precocious opera lover, verges on being creepy. The Ritual Bath, however, is an engrossing introduction to Orthodox Jewish life combined with a solid murder mystery.  It introduces and lays the ground work for many of the characters who are in Kellerman's later novels.  I strongly recommend that you read it first, or at least early on, in your exploration of the generally excellent Decker/Lazarus series.