City of the Dead

The 37th Alex Delaware thriller (after Serpentine) is Kellerman at his best. When two movers riding through a Los Angeles neighborhood accidentally hit something with their van, Detective Milo Sturgis and his crew get a baffling case. As always when dealing with possible psychological motives, Milo calls on his friend and colleague, Alex Delaware, for assistance. It seems that the movers hit a naked man, not an animal, and the victim appears to have died before the crash. As the detectives examine the crash scene, they find a blood trail leading into a house where they find a woman’s body. Could the two deaths be related? When Alex recognizes the dead woman as Cordelia Gannett, an internet influencer who passed herself off as a psychologist in a child custody case, things become more complicated, as Cordelia had a difficult childhood and troublesome adult relationships. Milo and Alex follow the clues and discover a surprising and shocking motive.