 While Cindy and her mother Jan are Jewish, they are not as religiously observant as Peter's second wife Rina Lazarus, which calls for minor adjustments in the earliest books.Cindy, a teenager in the earliest books, takes on a more active role in solving crimes in later novels.In "Grievous Sin," Cindy helps care for her infant half-sister Hannah Decker, after her stepmother has a difficult childbirth, and helps investigate the disappearance of another infant from the hospital ward where Hannah is being cared for.