Kellerman, Jonathan

A noted (but not universally liked) photographer is murdered. Did someone connected with his recent project bear him a grudge? Or is there a secret buried deep in the history of the victim?s rather eccentric family? Forensic psychologist Alex Delaware and LAPD detective Milo Sturgis soon learn that there won?t be any easy answers, as the mystery only deepens the more they dig into the victim?s life.

LAPD Lieutenant Milo Sturgis has solved a lot of murder cases. On many of them, the ones he calls "different", he taps the brain of brilliant psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware. But neither Alex nor Milo are prepared for what they find on an early morning call to a deserted mansion in Bel Air. This one's beyond different. This is predation, premeditation, and cruelty on a whole new level. Four people have been slaughtered and left displayed bizarrely and horrifically in a stretch limousine. Confounding the investigation, none of the victims seems to have any connection to any other, and a variety of methods have been used to dispatch them. As Alex and Milo make their way through blind alleys and mazes baited with misdirection, they encounter a crime so vicious that it stretches the definitions of evil.

LAPD homicide lieutenant Milo Sturgis is a master detective. He has a near-perfect solve rate and he's written his own rule book. Some of those successes, the toughest ones, have involved his best friend, the brilliant psychologist Alex Delaware. But Milo doesn't call Alex in unless cases are 'different.' This murder warrants an immediate call. Milo's independence has been compromised as never before, as the department pressures him to cater to the demands of a mogul: a hard-to-fathom, megarich young woman who is obsessed with reopening the coldest of cases, the decades-old death of the mother she never knew. The facts describe a likely loser: a mysterious woman found with a bullet in her head in a torched Cadillac that has overturned on infamously treacherous Mulholland Drive. No physical evidence, no witnesses, no apparent motive. And a slew of detectives have already worked the case and failed. But as Delaware and Sturgis begin digging, the mist begins to lift. Too many coincidences. Facts turn out to be anything but. And as they soon discover, very real threats lurking in the present.

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. 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.

Psychologist-detective Alex Delaware probes into the dark life of Lauren Teague, a young woman he treated years earlier when she was a troubled teenager, whose corpse has been found dumped in an alley.

Deputy Coroner Clay Edison has his hands full. He's got a new baby who won't sleep. He's working the graveyard shift. And he's trying, for once, to mind his own business. Then comes the first call. Workers demolishing a local park have made a haunting discovery: the decades-old skeleton of a child. But whose? And how did it get there? No sooner has Clay begun to investigate than he receives a second call, this one from a local businessman, wondering if the body could belong to his sister. She went missing fifty years ago, the man says. Or at least I think she did. It's a little complicated. And things only get stranger from there. Clay's relentless search for answers will unearth a history of violence and secrets, revolution and betrayal. Because in this town, the past isn't dead. It isn't even past. It's very much alive. And it can kill.

LAPD Lieutenant Milo Sturgis is a fine homicide detective, but when he needs to get into the mind of a killer, he leans on the expertise of his best friend, the brilliant psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware. While Sturgis has a knack for piecing together the details of a crime, Delaware can decipher the darkest intents driving the most vicious of perpetrators. And there's no better place for the doctor's analytical skills to shine than a rowdy hall full of young men and women intoxicated on life and lust; and suddenly faced with the specter of death.

When a West Oakland party gets violent, Alameda County coroner's deputy Clay Edison gets a call. The bad news: several people are dead. The really bad news: there's a victim no one can identify, and she's been strangled instead of shot.

Even with all his years of experience, LAPD homicide detective Milo Sturgis knows there are crimes his skill and savvy cannot solve alone. That's when he calls on brilliant psychologist Alex Delaware to read between the lines, where the darkest motives lurk. And if ever the good doctor's insight is needed, it's at the scene of a murder as baffling as it is brutal. There's no spilled blood, no evidence of a struggle, and, thanks to the victim's missing face and hands, no immediate means of identification. And no telling why the disfigured corpse of a stranger has appeared in an upscale L.A. family's home. Chet Corvin, his wife, and their two teenage children are certain the John Doe is unknown to them. Despite that, their cooperation seems guarded. And that's more than Milo and Alex can elicit from the Corvins' creepy next-door neighbor, a notorious cartoonist with a warped sense of humor and a seriously antisocial attitude. As the investigation ensues, it becomes clear that this well-to-do suburban enclave has its share of curious eyes, suspicious minds, and loose lips. And as Milo tightens the screws on potential persons of interest; and Alex tries to breach the barriers that guard their deepest secrets; a strangling web of corrupted love, cold-blooded greed, and shattered trust is exposed. Though the grass may be greener on these privileged streets, there's enough dirt below the surface to bury a multitude of sins. Including the deadliest.

Natural causes or foul play? That's the question Clay Edison must answer each time he examines a body. Figuring out motives and chasing down suspects aren't part of his beat; not until a seemingly open-and-shut case proves to be more than meets his highly trained eye.