A treat for fans of crime fiction. Delaware and Sturgis are a durable duo.
Psychologist Alex Delaware and Lt. Milo Sturgis collaborate for the 40th time to solve a series of puzzling murders in the Los Angeles area.
Deep into a Saturday night, a car pulls up to a hospital and the driver dumps a body and speeds away. Despite first impressions, it’s not an overdose. But then the coroner finds no wounds on the body. Hmm, what’s going on? It’s the first in a cluster of killings that have the two friends working together again. The victim was a photogenic 25-year-old woman with images of herself posted online. It appears she may have hooked up with a fake movie producer. Then, a guy who is shot in the neck appears to have been responsible for the woman’s death. And then another, also shot with precision to hit the jugular and carotid artery at an exact angle. That victim may have been coming onto someone’s daughter a little too strongly. Perhaps these two separate victims were killed for two separate motives, “united in death by one hired killer.” Or “Mr. Sniper’s a knight-errant avenging victims of abuse.” Or he might be helping someone in a custody battle. In one case, a woman is shot in a rowboat in the middle of a lake, leaving her unharmed child wailing and helpless. Author Kellerman, a psychologist himself, applies his professional knowledge with a light touch, mixing in a generous helping of police procedure, so all the readers notice is that they’re being entertained. And speaking of helpings, Milo seems to enjoy helping himself to whatever is in the Delawares’ refrigerator. (What else would you expect? They’ve been friends since 1985.) The two men are the best at what they do and complement each other in cracking open difficult cases. Alex’s wife, Robin, helps him “zero in on a common theme” about the killings. What a great relationship: When she’s not pursuing her own interests, they’re either having thoughtful conversations or joyous sex. Meanwhile, Milo admires Alex for his intellect: “I go to sleep and produce night-music, you reinvent the wheel.” The story moves quickly and smoothly, with vivid descriptions such as a woman with “hoop earrings the size of drink coasters.”
A treat for fans of crime fiction. Delaware and Sturgis are a durable duo.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593497692
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2025
Recommended reading for every paranoid suburbanite who’s considering a move to the city, or to the Arctic wilds.
Character assassination reigns supreme, if not uncontested, in a Long Island suburb.
April Masterson loves her husband, corporate attorney Elliott; their 7-year-old, Bobby; and her YouTube channel, “April’s Sweet Secrets.” What she doesn’t love is whoever’s texting her warnings about how Bobby isn’t really in their backyard while she’s busy filming her videos or withering critiques of her baking show or veiled accusations about her past and threats about her present. Her best friend, former prosecutor Julie Bressler, may be bossy and opinionated, but surely she’d never turn on April this way. Who else might know enough to send April goodies like a picture of her kissing Mark Tanner, Bobby’s soccer coach? Though April struggles to get Elliot to take her ordeal seriously, even when she shows up at his office for a lunch date, he’s protected by his receptionist, Brianna Anderson, whose attachment to her boss goes far beyond loyalty. Then Julie turns on her; Maria Cooper, her friendly new next-door neighbor, turns on her; and in the most mind-boggling scene, Doris Kirkland, April’s mother, whose dementia has brought her to a nursing home, turns on her. McFadden releases an escalating series of toxins so deftly into the suburban atmosphere that it’s practically an anticlimax when someone gets killed and April instantly becomes the prime suspect. But that’s only a setup for the tale’s boldest move: switching its narrator from April to a fair-weather friend who frames the whole nightmare in dramatically different terms. As a special gift to her savviest fans, the author throws in an even more jolting epilogue that’s as hard to forget as it is to believe.
Recommended reading for every paranoid suburbanite who’s considering a move to the city, or to the Arctic wilds.Pub Date: March 3, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249600
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
Two hot people confronting their trauma, making passionate love, and solving violent crimes! ’Nuff said.
A heartbroken man lusts after his therapist while seeking revenge on a drug kingpin and his enforcer.
Mitch Haskell’s wife, Angela, died two years ago of an apparent suicide, but Mitch has always believed the scene was staged. Certainly, she would never have willingly left their young son, Andrew, behind. Consumed with a thirst for vengeance, Mitch—a former Marine and undercover agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration and currently a police detective—is struggling with alcohol dependency and uncontrolled rage. Andrew is living with his in-laws, who are making not-so-subtle suggestions that they might apply for permanent guardianship if Mitch can’t get it together. So his boss and best friend, John Bowie, mandates that he go into therapy, which puts him in the path of sexy Dr. Dylan Reede. Within a few days, Mitch makes a connection between two new murders and the death of his former partner; finds a big clue that points to the truth about Angela’s death; goes undercover as a homeless man; takes on a vicious drug cartel; and obnoxiously bullies Dylan with a charm offensive that leads them inevitably to bed. While Mitch seems to lean into the stereotype of the ex-soldier/cop with deeply buried trauma who believes that the ends justify the means—at least in law enforcement—Dylan offers the strength and sweetness to help him start breaking down his walls, allowing herself to be vulnerable in turn. Is passionate sex enough to ground a relationship and a family for the long term? For these characters, and the breakneck speed of this thriller, it’s as good a foundation as any.
Two hot people confronting their trauma, making passionate love, and solving violent crimes! ’Nuff said.Pub Date: March 17, 2026
ISBN: 9781538743027
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
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