In the Alex Delaware novels, Alex Delaware is a child psychologist who consults with the Los Angeles Police Department. He works alongside Detective Milo Sturgis to solve crimes. I have read most of Jonathan Kellerman’s novels in this series and I am so excited a new one is out. 

Jonathan Kellerman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than forty crime novels, including the Alex Delaware series, “The Butcher’s Theater,” “Billy Straight,” “The Conspiracy Club,” “Twisted,” “True Detectives,” and “The Murderer’s Daughter.” With his wife, bestselling novelist Faye Kellerman, he co-authored “Double Homicide” and “Capital Crimes.” With his son, bestselling novelist Jesse Kellerman, he co-authored “The Burning,” “Half Moon Bay,” “A Measure of Darkness,” “Crime Scene,” “The Golem of Hollywood,” and “The Golem of Paris.” He is the author of two children’s books and numerous nonfiction works, including “Savage Spawn: Reflections on Violent Children” and “With Strings Attached: The Art and Beauty of Vintage Guitars.” In his new book “Unnatural History: An Alex Delaware Novel,” the most enduring detectives in American crime fiction are back in an electrifying thriller of art and brutality. (Amazon, 2023)

“Unnatural History” – Los Angeles is a city of stark contrast, the palaces of the affluent coexisting uneasily with the hellholes of the mad and the needy. That shadow world and the violence it breeds draw brilliant psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis into an unsettling case of altruism gone wrong.

On a superficially lovely morning, a woman shows up for work with her usual enthusiasm. She is the newly hired personal assistant to a handsome, wealthy photographer and is ready to greet her boss with coffee and good cheer. Instead, she finds him slumped in bed, shot to death. The victim had recently received rave media attention for his latest project: images of homeless people in their personal “dream” situations, elaborately costumed and enacting unfulfilled fantasies. There are some, however, who view the whole thing as nothing more than crass exploitation, citing token payments and the victim’s avoidance of any long-term relationships with his subjects. Has disgruntlement blossomed into homicidal rage? Or do the roots of violence reach down to the victim’s family—a clan, sired by an elusive billionaire, that is bizarre in its own right? Then new murders arise, and Alex and Milo begin peeling back layer after layer of intrigue and complexity, culminating in one of the deadliest threats they have ever faced.

Excerpt available.