City of the Dead

The pretty people of Los Angeles are still being murdered and psychologist Alex Delaware and LAPD Lt. Detective Milo Sturgis are still hunting them down. Kellerman mixes humor into the latest addition (no. 37) of his well-received “Alex Delaware” series, but as usual, this atypical crime fighting duo is brave, insightful, and ingenious. When a morally ambiguous and self-promoting internet influencer and fraudulent psychologist, with whom Alex previously had an interaction, is butchered in a grisly double homicide, the event launches what is only the beginning of the chase. The comfort of many of the familiar characters and locations from the series, mixed with new a new set of twists and turns, including those of the victim’s secrets, makes this an especially fun, yet still cerebral, read. Narrator John Rubinstein shines in the subtlety of his cadence and his ability with accents, adding an additional element to the story.