Jonathan Kellerman: City of the Dead (USA 2023)

From the Publisher:
"Kellerman at his best... [He] uses his training as a psychologist to construct a crime and perpetrator that will have readers turning pages and guessing until the very end." -- Library Journal

Los Angeles is a city of sunlight, celebrity, and possibility. The L.A. often experienced by Homicide Lt. Detective Milo Sturgis and psychologist Alex Delaware, is a city of the dead.

Early one morning, the two of them find themselves in a neighborhood of pretty houses, pretty cars, and pretty people. The scene they encounter is anything but. A naked young man lies dead in the street, the apparent victim of a collision with a moving van hurtling through suburbia in the darkness. But any thoughts of accidental death vanish when a blood trail leads to a nearby home.

Inside, a young woman lies butchered. The identity of the male victim and his role in the horror remain elusive, but that of the woman creates additional questions. And adding to the shock, Alex has met her while working a convoluted child custody case. Cordelia Gannett was a self-styled internet influencer who'd gotten into legal troubles by palming herself off as a psychologist. Even after promising to desist, she's found a loophole and has continued her online career, aiming to amass clicks and ads by cyber-coaching and cyber-counseling people plagued with relationship issues.

But upon closer examination, Alex and Milo discover that her own relationships are troublesome, including a tortured family history and a dubious personal past. Has that come back to haunt her in the worst way? Is the mystery man out in the street collateral damage or will he turn out to be the key to solving a grisly double homicide? As the psychologist and the detective explore L.A.'s meanest streets, they peel back layer after layer of secrets and encounter a savage, psychologically twisted, almost unthinkable motive for violence and bloodshed.

"One of [Kellerman's) best." -- Mystery & Suspense
"As always, Kellerman provides fascinating insight into the motivations of his damaged characters." -- Publishers Weekly
"A gripping, readable thriller that combines elements of the police procedural, murder mystery, and psychological thriller genres." -- Booklist

Jonathan Kellerman: City of the Dead. An Alex Delaware Novel. Ballantine, ISBN: 9780525618607 (January, 2023), 342 p., $9.99.

Jonathan Kellerman: City of the Dead (UK 2022)

From the Publisher:
A DOUBLE HOMICIDE. A TRAIL OF DEADLY SECRETS.
In an upscale LA neighbourhood a naked man lies dead in the street. A blood trail leads to a nearby home where a woman has been murdered.

When LAPD homicide lieutenant Milo Sturgis calls brilliant psychologist Alex Delaware to the scene, the case gets even more complicated. Delaware has met the woman before. She's a psychologist too.

Are the two deaths linked? Or is there a darker force at work?

'His exploration of warped minds is as gripping as the kinks in the complex plot' -- THE TIMES
'An intelligent and dark ride' -- PETERBOROUGH TELEGRAPH
'A book that will delight... with its familiar. mix of detection and psychological insight' -- SHOTS MAGAZINE

Jonathan Kellerman: City of the Dead. If only they could speak... Penguin, ISBN: 9781804940051 (October, 2022), 319 p., £9.99.

Jonathan Kellerman: City of the Dead (UK 2022)

From the Publisher:
A DOUBLE HOMICIDE. A TRAIL OF DEADLY SECRETS.
In an upscale LA neighbourhood a naked man lies dead in the street. A blood trail leads to a nearby home where a woman has been murdered.

LAPD homicide lieutenant Milo Sturgis and psychologist Alex Delaware cannot identify the male victim, but Alex has met the woman before.

As Alex and Milo dig deeper, they soon discover her relationships include a tortured family history and a dubious past.

Now the pair must peel back layers of secrets and confront a savage motive for violence and bloodshed.

Jonathan Kellerman: City of the Dead. If only they could speak... Century, ISBN: 9781529125948 (February, 2022), 319 p., £14.99.

Jonathan Kellerman: City of the Dead (USA 2022)

From the Publisher:
The past comes back to haunt psychologist Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis when they investigate a grisly double homicide and uncover an even more unspeakable motive in this riveting thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense.

Los Angeles is a city of sunlight, celebrity, and possibility. The L.A. often experienced by Homicide Lt. Detective Milo Sturgis and psychologist Alex Delaware, is a city of the dead.

Early one morning, the two of them find themselves in a neighborhood of pretty houses, pretty cars, and pretty people. The scene they encounter is anything but. A naked young man lies dead in the street, the apparent victim of a collision with a moving van hurtling through suburbia in the darkness. But any thoughts of accidental death vanish when a blood trail leads to a nearby home.

Inside, a young woman lies butchered. The identity of the male victim and his role in the horror remain elusive, but that of the woman creates additional questions. And adding to the shock, Alex has met her while working a convoluted child custody case. Cordelia Gannett was a self-styled internet influencer who'd gotten into legal troubles by palming herself off as a psychologist. Even after promising to desist, she's found a loophole and has continued her online career, aiming to amass clicks and ads by cyber-coaching and cyber-counseling people plagued with relationship issues.

But upon closer examination, Alex and Milo discover that her own relationships are troublesome, including a tortured family history and a dubious personal past. Has that come back to haunt her in the worst way? Is the mystery man out in the street collateral damage or will he turn out to be the key to solving a grisly double homicide? As the psychologist and the detective explore L.A.'s meanest streets, they peel back layer after layer of secrets and encounter a savage, psychologically twisted, almost unthinkable motive for violence and bloodshed.

This is classic Delaware: Alex, a man Milo has come to see as irreplaceable, at his most insightful and brilliant.

Jonathan Kellerman: City of the Dead. An Alex Delaware Novel. Ballantine, ISBN: 9780525618584 (February, 2022), 319 p., $28.99.