Juliet Kipper, a gifted painter, is strangled in the LA gallery where her first solo show has opened to critical acclaim, and Milo Sturgis takes on the murder investigation as a favour to an old friend. He consults Alex Delaware, who, researching parallels with other deaths, looks for artists killed when on the verge of a breakthrough or comeback. And he finds two others. A few weeks earlier, blues player Edgar Michael 'Baby Boy' Lee was stabbed just after finishing his set at The Snakepit. The remains of China Maranga, a punk singer, were found by the Hollywood sign a month after her disappearance three years ago. And Alex discovers both were clients of Robin Castagna, his ex-lover. The investigation points to a gruesome, sadistic pattern of death, taking Milo and Alex into the dark side of the art world, and Robin into terrible danger

It came in a plain brown wrapper, no return address – a tape recording of a horrifying, soul-lacerating scream, followed by the sound of a childlike voice delivering the enigmatic and haunting message: 'Bad love. Bad love. Don't give me the bad love…' For child psychologist Dr Alex Delaware, the chant, repeated over and over like a twisted nursery rhyme, is the first intimation that he is about to enter a living nightmare. Others soon follow: disquieting laughter echoing over a phone line that suddenly goes dead, a chilling trespass outside his home, a sickening act of vandalism. A carefully orchestrated campaign of vague threats and intimidation rapidly builds to a crescendo as harassment turns to terror, mischief to madness. Searching his memory for the phrase 'bad love', Alex recalls a symposium he attended over a decade ago commemorating the work of Dr Andres de Bosch who ran a clinic for troubled adolescents. But when he tries to contact the other delegates, Alex discovers a seemingly random series of violent deaths amongst them. As he delves deeper into the history of the clinic, the escalating pattern of violence becomes inescapably clear. And if Alex fails to decipher the twisted logic of the stalker's mind-games, he will be the next one to die

The second Alex Delaware mystery which was first published in 1986. In this story the child psychologist tries to track down a child with leukaemia whose parents have run away with him, and traces him to a bizarre Californian cult

When it comes to writing deftly layered, tightly coiled novels of suspense, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman reigns supreme as 'master of the psychological thriller' (People). Now, Kellerman has worked his magic again in this chilling new masterpiece. The anonymous caller has an ominous tone and an unnerving message about something 'real dead… buried in your marsh.' The eco-volunteer on the other end of the phone thinks it's a prank, but when a young woman's body turns up in L.A.'s Bird Marsh preserve no one's laughing. And when the bones of more victims surface, homicide detective Milo Sturgis realizes the city's under siege to an insidious killer. Milo's first move: calling in psychologist Alex Delaware. The murdered women are prostitutes-except the most recent victim; a brilliant young musician from the East Coast, employed by a wealthy family to tutor a musical prodigy, Selena Bass seems out of place in the marsh's grim tableau. Conveniently-perhaps ominously-Selena's blueblood employers are nowhere to be found, and their estate's jittery caretaker raises hackles. But Milo's instincts and Alex's insight are too well-honed to settle for easy answers, even given the dark secrets in this troubled man's past. Their investigation unearths disturbing layers-about victims, potential victims, and suspects alike-plunging even deeper into the murky marsh's enigmatic depths. Bizarre details of the crimes suggest a devilish serial killer prowling L.A.'s gritty streets. But when a new murder deviates from the pattern, derailing a possible profile, Alex and Milo must look beyond the suspicion of madness and consider an even more sinister mind at work. Answers don't come easy, but the darkest of drives and desires may fuel the most devious of foes. Bones is classic Kellerman-relentlessly peeling back the skin and psyches of its characters and revealing the shadows and sins of the souls beneath. With jolt after jolt of galvanizing suspense, it drives the reader through its twists and turns toward a climax as satisfying as it is shattering

Psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware meets beautiful and emotionally fragile TV actress Zelda Chase when called upon to evaluate her five-year-old son, Ovid. Years later, Alex is unexpectedly reunited with Zelda when she is involuntarily committed after a bizarre psychotic episode. Shortly after Zelda’s release, an already sad situation turns tragic when she is discovered dead on the grounds of a palatial Bel Air estate. Having experienced more than enough of L.A.’s dark side to recognize the scent of evil, Alex turns to his friend LAPD Lieutenant Milo Sturgis for help in finding out who ended Zelda’s broken life. At the same time, Alex is caught up in another quest: the search for Zelda’s missing son. And when other victims vanish from the same upscale neighborhood, worry turns to terror. As Alex struggles to piece together the brief rise and steep fall of a gorgeous, talented actress, he and Milo unveil shattered dreams, the corruption of a family, and a grotesque betrayal of innocence. With each devastating revelation and damning clue, Alex’s brilliant mind is challenged as never before — and his determination grows to see a killer caged and the truth set free

Internationally bestselling husband and wife Jonathan and Faye Kellerman team up for a powerful one-two punch with Capital Crimes, a gripping pair of original crime thrillers. MY SISTER'S KEEPER: BERKELEY Some of progressive state representative Davida Grayson's views have made her unpopular. Although her foes are numerous no one suspects that any buttons Davida might push could evoke deadly force. But now Davida lies brutally murdered in her office, and Berkeley homicide detectives Will Barnes and Amanda Isis must unravel Davida's complex, before the killer pulls off a repeat performance. MUSIC CITY BREAKDOWN: NASHVILLE Baker Southerby, the son of musicians, was a child prodigy performer. But something Baker won't talk about leads him to quit the honky-tonk circuit, become a Nashville cop, and never look back. His partner, Lamar Van Gundy, is a would-be studio bassist from up North who never quite made the cut in Music City, so instead earned himself a detective's badge. Now both men are members of Nashville PD's elite Murder Squad, with a solid record for solves. But when they catch a homicide that's high-profile even for a city where musical celebrity is routine, their skills are tested: Jack Jeffries, a rock legend who cast aside personal demons and emerged from retirement to perform at a charity benefit, has been discovered in a ditch near the Cumberland River, his throat slashed

Un día en una fiesta, el psicólogo infantil Alex Delaware se reencuentra con un viejo amor, Sharon Ransom. Ella solicita su ayuda, pero Alex, demasiado embebido en sus propios asuntos sentimentales, no le hace caso. Dos días más tarde, Sharon se suicida. Alex no puede dejar de sentirse responsable de la desesperada decisión de Sharon. Y en parte por ello, en parte por resolver los enigmas de aquella relación -la mayoría creados por la oscura personalidad de Sharon- el psicólogo se embarca en una investigación en la que el dinero, el azar de los genes y un pasado trágico configuran el escenario de una prolongada orgía de sexo, dominio y manipulación psicológica al servicio de los menos nobles impulsos del ser humano

Once again, the depths of the criminal mind and the darkest side of a glittering city fuel #1 New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman’s brilliant storytelling. And no one conducts a more harrowing and suspenseful manhunt than the modern Sherlock Holmes of the psyche, Dr. Alex Delaware. A tipsy young woman seeking aid on a desolate highway disappears into the inky black night. A retired schoolteacher is stabbed to death in broad daylight. Two women are butchered after closing time in a small-town beauty parlor. These and other bizarre acts of cruelty and psychopathology are linked only by the killer’s use of luxury vehicles and a baffling lack of motive. The ultimate whodunits, these crimes demand the attention of LAPD detective Milo Sturgis and his collaborator on the crime beat, psychologist Alex Delaware. What begins with a solitary bloodstain in a stolen sedan quickly spirals outward in odd and unexpected directions, leading Delaware and Sturgis from the well-heeled center of L.A. society to its desperate edges; across the paths of commodities brokers and transvestite hookers; and as far away as New York City, where the search thaws out a long-cold case and exposes a grotesque homicidal crusade. The killer proves to be a fleeting shape-shifter, defying identification, leaving behind dazed witnesses and death – and compelling Alex and Milo to confront the true face of murderous madness

Masterly storytelling and expert insight into the darkest of human compulsions make #1 New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware novels as compelling as they are addictive. And just when you think he has taken his spellbinding tales of mystery and psychological suspense to the limit, with Deception he takes a bold leap into terrifying and uncharted new territory. Her name is Elise Freeman, and her chilling cry for help – to whoever may be listening – comes too late to save her. On a DVD found near her lifeless body, the emotionally and physically battered woman chronicles a year-and-a-half-long ordeal of monstrous abuse at the hands of three sadistic tormentors. But even more shocking than the lurid details is the revelation that the offenders, like their victim, are teachers at one of L.A. 's most prestigious prep schools. With Elise now dead by uncertain means, homicide detective Milo Sturgis is assigned to probe the hallowed halls of Windsor Prep Academy. And if ever he could use Dr. Alex Delaware's psychological prowess, it's now. From the get-go, this case promises to be an uphill climb for truth and a down and dirty fight for justice. Allegations of rape, assault, and possibly murder at this esteemed institution renowned for molding Ivy Leaguers make for a social and political time bomb – especially given that one of the students has connections high up in City Hall. As the scandal-conscious elite of L.A. close ranks around Windsor Prep, Alex and Milo must penetrate the citadel of wealth and scholarship to expose the hidden anguish, dirty secrets, and deadly sins festering among society's manor-born. But power and position are not easily surrendered, for that's when the best and the brightest turn brutal and ugly. Searching for predators among the privileged, Alex and Milo may well be walking into a highly polished death trap

Alex Delaware is asked by a colleague to look into the case of a child who has suffered a variety of ills in her short life and has had to undergo a devastating number of medical investigations. Every time, the clinicians come up with one big zero. Could someone be inducing the symptoms?

Two masters of the thriller genre break new ground with their first collaboration, introducing two different sets of cops in two different cities, faced with two very different murders. In Santa Fe, Darrel Two Moons and Steve Katz are working the 4pm-2am Special Investigation shift when they're called to the scene of a blunt-force homicide. The victim: a wealthy art dealer with a shady reputation, very few friends and an awful lot of enemies who're not sorry to see him dead. Did he stumble on a burglar stealing a priceless painting, or did someone whose life he'd ruined finally seek revenge? Dorothy Breton and her partner McCain are called to downtown Boston the same night Dorothy found a revolver in her teenage son's backpack. Now her elder son is a witness to the killing of a promising athlete in a shoot-out. At least the evidence is stacked against the obvious culprit – until the autopsy shows the young man didn't die of gunshot wounds, and Dorothy has to dig a lot deeper to find the shocking truth

"[Kellerman] has shaped the psychological mystery novel into an art form." – Los Angeles Times Book Review "More than satisfying… Kellerman delves deep into the psyche of his characters, peeling back the layers of secrets to uncover a stunning truth." -The Orlando Sentinel "Kellerman uses bloody killings, psychological intrigue and a straight-ahead writing style to keep readers turning pages well into the night." -The Denver Post "Often, mystery writers can either plot like devils or create believable characters. Kellerman stands out because he can do both. Masterfully." – USA Today "[An] intriguing thriller… A heady blend of criminal profiling and police procedural and another surefire hit for the bestselling Kellerman." -Booklist *** People are voluntarily dying before their time in California. Some call it assisted suicide when cancer or heart disease or painful old age make the quality of life unbearable. Others say it is murder, that no-one has the right to help others take their own life. As the debate rages over whether euthanasia should be legalised or not the man at the centre of the row, nick-named Doctor Death, continues his work. Dr Alex Delaware joins in the argument, but when Detective Milo Sturgis comes to him with the suspicion that some of Doctor Death's patients are not willing collaborators, Delaware finds himself on the front line of the affair, and increasingly believes that euthanasia is not the prime motivation. So what is driving Doctor Death to kill so many?

1 New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman writes unforgettable tales of crime and detection that expose the shadowy side of glittering Los Angeles. And in Evidence, readers are once again in the dexterous grip of a master storyteller and stylist equally skilled at teasing your brain and taking your breath away. In the half-built skeleton of a monstrously vulgar mansion in one of L.A. 's toniest neighborhoods, a watchman stumbles on the bodies of a young couple-murdered in flagrante and left in a gruesome postmortem embrace. Though he's cracked some of the city's worst slayings, veteran homicide cop Milo Sturgis is still shocked at the grisly sight: a twisted crime that only Milo 's killer instincts-and psychologist Alex Delaware's keen insights-can hope to solve. While the female victim's identity remains a question mark, her companion is ID'd as eco-friendly architect Desmond Backer, who disdains the sort of grandiose superstructure he's found dead in. And the late Mr. Backer, it's revealed was also notorious for his power to seduce women. The rare exception is his ex-boss, Helga Gemein, who's as indifferent to Desmond's death as she apparently was to his advances. Though Milo and Alex place her on their short list of suspects, the deeper they dig for clues the longer the list grows. An elusive prince who appears to harbor decidedly American appetites, an eccentric blueblood with an ax to grind, one of Desmond's restless ex-lovers and her cuckolded husband-all are in the homicidal mix spiced with eco-terrorism, arson, blackmail, conspiracy, and a vendetta that runs deep. But when the investigation veers suddenly in a startling direction, it's the investigators who may wind up on the wrong end of a cornered predator's final fury

When Alex Delaware first saw Lauren Teague she was a sullen teenager with the usual problems: bad grades at school, moody, uncommunicative with her parents – which is why they thought she needed to see a psychologist. Then years later, a shock: at a bachelor party for a fellow doctor, Delaware finds himself uncomfortably watching two strippers going through a degrading display – and one of them is Lauren Teague. And now her mother is pleading for help once again. Lauren has disappeared – and she thinks Delaware can find her. He's not so sure – but when her disappearance turns into a murder investigation, he knows he owes it to the dead girl to find out what demons drove her to such a horrifying end

No one conducts a more chilling, suspenseful, thoroughly engrossing tour through the winding corridors of criminal behavior and the secret chambers of psychopathology than Jonathan Kellerman, the bestselling “master of the psychological thriller” (People). Now the incomparable team of psychologist Alex Delaware and homicide cop Milo Sturgis embark on their most dangerous excursion yet, into the dark places where risk runs high and blood runs cold. It's a story tailor-made for the nightly news: Dylan Meserve and Michaela Brand, young lovers and fellow acting students, vanish on the way home from a rehearsal. Three days later, the two of them are found in the remote mountains of Malibu -battered and terrified after a harrowing ordeal at the hands of a sadistic abductor. The details of the nightmarish event are shocking and brutal: The couple was carjacked at gunpoint by a masked assailant and subjected to a horrific regimen of confinement, starvation and assault. But before long, doubts arise about the couple's story, and as forensic details unfold, the abduction is exposed as a hoax. Charged as criminals themselves, the aspiring actors claim emotional problems, and the court orders psychological evaluation for both. Michaela is examined by Alex Delaware, who finds that her claims of depression and stress ring true enough. But they don't explain her lies, and Alex is certain that there are hidden layers in this sordid psychodrama that even he hasn't been able to penetrate. Nevertheless, the case is closed – only to be violently reopened when Michaela is savagely murdered. When the police look for Dylan, they find that he's gone. Is he the killer or a victim himself? Casting their dragnet into the murkiest corners of L.A., Delaware and Sturgis unearth more questions than answers – including a host of eerily identical killings. What really happened to the couple who cried wolf? And what bizarre and brutal epidemic is infecting the city with terror, madness, and sudden, twisted death?

At nearly one hundred years old, Thalia Mars is a far cry from the patients that child psychologist Alex Delaware normally treats. But the charming, witty woman convinces Alex to meet with her in a suite at the Aventura, a luxury hotel with a checkered history. What Thalia wants from Alex are answers to unsettling questions — about guilt, patterns of criminal behavior, victim selection. When Alex asks the reason for her morbid fascination, Thalia promises to tell all during their next session. But when he shows up the following morning, he is met with silence: Thalia is dead in her room. When questions arise about how Thalia perished, Alex and homicide detective Milo Sturgis must peel back the layers of a fascinating but elusive woman’s life and embark on one of the most baffling investigations either of them has ever experienced. For Thalia Mars is a victim like no other, an enigma who harbored nearly a century of secrets and whose life and death draw those around her into a vortex of violence

Hay algo espectral en este caso. El suicidio de un violador de niños, una red oculta de pervertidos, todos ellos gente de clase alta, y una aterrada niña que podría atar cabos sueltos… si el psicólogo infantil Alex Delaware logra hacerle recordar los horrores de que ha sido testigo. Pero cuando lo hace, la policía parece falta de interés. Obsesionado por un caso que pone en peligro tanto su carrera como su vida, Alex queda atrapado en una telaraña de maldad, acercándose más y más a un antiguo secreto que hace que incluso el asesinato parezca un asunto limpio

Two murder victims have been discovered in the boots of their cars. The first was would-be actor, Richard Dada; the second Dr Claire Argent, a psychiatrist at a maximum security hospital. Milo Sturgis tends to think there will be plenty of suspects amongst her clientele, but as his friend Alex Delaware remarks, none of his patients ever killed anyone and as they investigate the backgrounds of both victims it appears that Milo needs to look elsewhere, because neither of them are who they made themselves out to be. As they slowly unravel the strands of their lies another, truly monstrous, character emerges: a man who gains his pleasure not from mere mutilattion and murder but from making his victims watch their own forthcoming death on film. And somehow he has control over some of the Claire Argent's patients, apparently securely behind bars. In one of the most complex plots he has yet devised, Jonathan Kellerman has created a devastating mystery thriller

Patty Bigelow pensaba que por fin había conseguido enderezar su vida, pero de repente, su rebelde hermana Leila abandona a su hija, Tanya, en la puerta de su casa. Tía y sobrina aprenden con dificultad a vivir juntas con la ayuda profesional del doctor Alex Delaware, psiquiatra. Ahora, quince años después, Tanya acude de nuevo a la consulta de Alex porque la única madre que ha tenido, Patty Bigelow, ha fallecido dejando a la joven un extraño legado: le confesó, en su lecho de muerte, haber matado a un hombre años atrás. Este acto de barbarie abrirá inevitablemente un túnel al pasado en el que los secretos, junto con los cadáveres, han sido profundamente enterrados

Where there is life there is devotion. Where there is death there is obsession. Patty Bigelow thought she’d finally figured life out. Then her wayward sister Leila abandons her child, Tanya, on her doorstep. The aunt and troubled niece slowly learn to live together, with the help of Dr Alex Delaware’s counselling. Now, fifteen years later, Tanya is back in Alex’s office, a self-possessed Harvard student, about to enter graduate school in clinical psychology. Patty – the only real mother she's ever known – has died and left Tanya with a chilling legacy: a deathbed confession that her aunt murdered a man years earlier. Tanya has tried to let go of the confession. But it soon becomes clear that nothing short of finding out the truth will do. And she needs Alex’s help…

Psychologist Dr Alex Delaware has always looked on Melissa Dickinson as one of his greatest triumphs. A terrified, tormented seven-year-old when she first appeared in his Los Angeles surgery, Melissa after two years seemed totally recovered. But nine years later Melissa contacts Alex again, anxious this time for her mother. As Alex recalls, weatlthy widow Gina Dickinson has problems of her own. For two decades she has hidden herself away from the eyes of the world – ever since a vicious acid attack destroyed the face of Hollywood actress Gina Prince. Then the reclusive Gina climbs into her car – and totally disappears. And as Alex and Detective Milo Sturgis lead the search for her, they find their quest taking them out of the here and now and into a grotesque, labyrinthine private history as violent and sinister as any bad dream… How well did Alex ever understand his star patient Melissa? How could he have 'cured' her when he never even guessed at the evil and hatred that formed her inheritance?

In a host of consecutive bestsellers, Jonathan Kellerman has kept readers spellbound with the intense, psychologically acute adventures of Dr. Alex Delaware-and with excursions through the raw underside of L.A. and the coldest alleys of the criminal mind. Rage offers a powerful new case in point, as Delaware and LAPD homicide detective Milo Sturgis revisit a horrifying crime from the past that has taken on shocking and deadly new dimensions. Troy Turner and Rand Duchay were barely teenagers when they kidnapped and murdered a younger child. Troy, a remorseless sociopath, died violently behind bars. But the hulking, slow-witted Rand managed to survive his stretch. Now, at age twenty-one, he's emerged a haunted, rootless young man with a pressing need: to talk-once again-with psychologist Alex Delaware. But the young killer comes to a brutal end, that conversation never takes place. Has karma caught up with Rand? Or has someone waited for eight patient years to dine on ice-cold revenge? Both seem strong possibilities to Sturgis, but Delaware's suspicions run deeper… and darker. Because fear in the voice of the grownup Rand Duchay-and his eerie final words to Alex: "I'm not a bad person"-betray untold secrets. Buried revelations so horrendous, and so damning, they're worth killing for. As Delaware and Sturgis retrace their steps through a grisly murder case that devastated a community, they discover a chilling legacy of madness, suicide, and multiple killings left in its wake-and even uglier truths waiting to be unearthed. And the nearer they come to understanding an unspeakable crime, the more harrowingly close they get to unmasking a monster hiding in plain sight. Rage finds Jonathan Kellerman in phenomenal form-orchestrating a relentlessly suspenseful, devilishly unpredictable plot to a finale as stunning and thought-provoking as it is satisfying

Dr Alex Delaware doesn't see many private patients any more, but for a young woman called Lucy Lowell he's prepared to make an exception. Referred to him by the police detective Milo Sturgis, Lucy had been a juror at the harrowing trial of a serial killer, and having survived that trauma is now being subjected to further emotional stress: a recurrent nightmare of a young child in a forest at night, watching something as furtive as it is disturbing. Now Lucy's dream is starting to disrupt her waking life, and Alex believes the power of the dream and its grip on her emotions may be a repressed childhood memory of something very real

Psychologist-sleuth Alex Delaware hunts for clues to the death of an old flame, Sharon Ransom, a search that takes him through California 's wealthy enclaves and one family's dark past

Una e un quarto di notte. Petra Connor, l’affascinante detective della squadra Omicidi di Los Angeles, è svegliata da una telefonata del distretto di polizia: strage al Paradiso Club. Quattro morti. Adolescenti che avevano partecipato a un concerto hip-hop. Perché quell’orrendo massacro? Oltre al gravoso incarico di decifrare il rebus, Petra deve fare da baby sitter al ventiduenne dottorando Isaac Gomez, impegnato in una ricerca statistica sui crimini avvenuti in città dal 1991 al 2001. Il suo Q.I. è superiore alla media, come la sua timidezza e la miseria in cui versa la sua famiglia. E se fosse proprio il giovane e impacciato cervellone a fornire la chiave dell’enigma? Incrociando i dati risultano infatti sei efferati delitti commessi negli ultimi sei anni, tutti subito dopo la mezzanotte. E tutti il 28 giugno. L’assassino sembra divertirsi un mondo a fracassare il cranio delle vittime osservandone colare la materia grigia. Quale disegno segue la follia? E quale legame con la carneficina del Paradiso?

The slightly retarded fifteen-year-old daughter of a diplomat dies on a school field trip – forced or lured into a deserted corner of the Santa Monica mountains and killed in cold blood. Her father adamantly denies the possibility of a political motive, which leaves LAPD detective Milo Sturgis and his longtime friend Alex Delaware to pose the question: why? The victim's father is so intent on controlling the investigation that Alex and Milo start to wonder if he wants to bring out the truth – or make sure it stays buried. Then there is another killing, and within days Alex finds himself ensnared in one of the darkest, most menacing cases of his career. Driven to find answers, he and Milo will work closely with Inspector Daniel Sharavi, the brilliant Israeli police detective introduced in Jonathan Kellerman's The Butcher's Theatre, but it is Alex who goes undercover, alone, to expose the smug brutality of a murderous conspiracy and a terrifying contempt for human life. Weaving together the threads of a mystery that lead from a child's murder to a young scientist's suicide, Jonathan Kellerman draws one of the most chilling, frighteningly realistic portraits of evil you will ever experience

Alex Delaware nigdy jeszcze nie spotkał się z podobnym przypadkiem. Pięcioletni Woody Swope jest bardzo ciężko chory, a jednak jego rodzice nie wyrażają zgody na kurację, która może uratować mu życie. Alex jedzie do szpitala, by przekonać ich do zmiany decyzji. Na miejscu okazuje się, że zarówno rodzice, jak i syn zniknęli, a w obskurnym pokoju hotelowym, w którym się zatrzymali, pozostałą tylko plama krwi a podłodze… Delaware i jego przyjaciel, detektyw z wydziału zabójstw, Milo Sturgis, nie mają wyboru – będą musieli działać na pograniczu prawa. Przenikają zatem do amoralnego półświatka, w którym można kupić wszystko: narkotyki, marzenia i seks…

Thieves, liars, killers, and conspirators – it's a criminal world out there, and someone has got to write about it. An eclectic collection of the year's best reportage, The Best American Crime Reporting 2008 brings together the murderers and the masterminds, the mysteries and missteps that make for brilliant stories, told by the aces of the true-crime genre. This latest addition to the highly acclaimed series features guest editor Jonathan Kellerman, bestselling author of more than twenty crime novels, most recently Compulsion and the forthcoming Bones

For many years, some of the most vital, creative, and exciting fiction published in America has been in the field of mystery, crime, and suspense. Now Robert B. Parker and Otto Penzler — both Edgar winners — have assembled the best that 1997 had to offer: twenty terrific, titillating tales from such masters of the genre as Elmore Leonard, Elizabeth George, James Crumley, Jonathan Kellerman, and Andrew Klavan, from newcomers like Brad Watson, and from well-known literary writers such as Joyce Carol Oates and Michael Malone

She was found stabbed to death on a quiet, shaded street in one of Los Angeles ' safest neighbourhoods. For three months the police have found no clues to the murder of Hope Devane, psychology professor and controversial author of a pop-psych bestseller, and angry indictment of men. Now homicide detective Milo Sturgis, newly assigned to the case, turns to his friend, psychologist Dr Alex Delaware, looking for insights into Devane's life. To both men the cold stalking of Hope Devane suggests calculation fuelled by hate – an execution. They discover why as they unlock, one by one, the very private compartments of her life: her marriage, her shadowy work for a Beverly Hills clinic, the Conduct Committee she ran with an iron hand at the University, and her baffling link to another murder victim. But it is when Alex delves into her childhood that he begins to understand the formidable woman she was – and the ties that entangled her life until the horrifying act of betrayal that ended it

Dedicated young psychologist Dr. Jeremy Carrier is unschooled in the ways of violent crime and incalculable evil – until his life is irreversibly touched by both. When his romance with nurse Jocelyn Banks is cut short by her kidnapping and brutal murder, he is left emotionally devastated and being warily eyed by police seeking a prime suspect in the unsolved killing. To escape the pain, he buries himself in his work. But when more women turn up murdered in the same gruesome fashion as Jocelyn, the suspicion surrounding Jeremy intensifies and the only way for him to prove his innocence is to follow the trail of a cunning psychopath. Spurring on Jeremy's investigation is Dr. Arthur Chess, an enigmatic pathologist who harbors a keen fascination with the darker deeds committed by the living. Arthur draws Jeremy into the confidence of a cryptic society devoted to matters unknown and unspoken. But when Arthur suddenly slips away, Jeremy is left to contend with an onslaught of anonymous clues – and the growing realization that a harrowing game of cat and mouse has been set in motion

Alex Delaware's relationship with his longterm partner is on the rocks. He is floored when Robin announces she's heading off on a three-month music tour. But he soon has other things to think about. He is sent an envelope with no return address. Inside, he finds an album with gold letters on it – THE MURDER BOOK. It's full of macabre pictures of murders, with brief descriptions of how, and why, the victims died. One picture is marked 'Not solved' – the horrifically mutilated body of a young woman. Unsettled, Alex calls his friend, LAPD detective Milo Sturgis, who seems strangely familiar with the case. What connects the photograph with Milo 's past? What's more, why has it been sent to Alex – and by whom? Ingenious, shocking, unpredictable, THE MURDER BOOK is a masterpiece of suspense fiction that is Jonathan Kellerman at his best

A brilliant, deeply dedicated psychologist, Grace Blades has a gift for treating troubled souls and tormented psyches — perhaps because she bears her own invisible scars: Only five years old when she witnessed her parents’ deaths in a bloody murder-suicide, Grace took refuge in her fierce intellect and found comfort in the loving couple who adopted her. But even as an adult with an accomplished professional life, Grace still has a dark, secret side. When her two worlds shockingly converge, Grace’s harrowing past returns with a vengeance. Both Grace and her newest patient are stunned when they recognize each other from a recent encounter. Haunted by his bleak past, mild-mannered Andrew Toner is desperate for Grace’s renowned therapeutic expertise and more than willing to ignore their connection. And while Grace is tempted to explore his case, which seems to eerily echo her grim early years, she refuses — a decision she regrets when a homicide detective appears on her doorstep. An evil she thought she’d outrun has reared its head again, but Grace fears that a police inquiry will expose her double life. Launching her own personal investigation leads her to a murderously manipulative foe, one whose warped craving for power forces Grace back into the chaos and madness she’d long ago fled

After thirty years of attending to the phsical and mental health of the inhabitants of Knife Island, a tiny community in the Micronesian archipelago, Dr William Moreland feels it would be of benefit to his successor, and to his colleagues throughout the Pacific, if his records were properly analysed. Only too grateful to escape the violent atmosphere of Los Angeles and recoup their emotional resources, Dr Alex Delaware and his partner Robin accept Moreland's invitation to spend a sabbatical on the island to help him in the task. But Knife Island is not the paradise of the travel brochures. The murder of a young woman has created an atmosphere of division and fear. A potential development threatens a large part of the island with environmental pollution. And Dr Moreland is not universally regarded as the saintly healer of his own mythology. Co-habiting with cockroaches the size of dinner plates and spiders more venomous than rattlesnakes, Alex and Robin discover the doctor is concealing an older and darker mystery, a conspiracy of such startling magnitude that even Alex, with his knowledge of the depths of human depravity, is hard put to comprehend, or understand why he has been invited into such a horrific web of intrigue and abasement

Kellerman returns to series hero Alex Delaware after last year's gripping stand-alone, The Conspiracy Club. The success of the long-running Delaware series is testament to both the author's skills and the reading public's hunger for mysteries featuring compassionate, intelligent protagonists, interesting secondary characters (including complex villains), strong plot lines and clear, unpretentious writing. Kellerman delivers all these once again in a tale that opens with Alex at dinner with his best friend, L.A. police lieutenant Milo Sturgis, when the sound of a police siren calls them to a nearby double homicide. The two victims are found in a Mustang convertible; the young man's zipper is open, the young woman's pants are down and each has a bullet in the brain. The man is identified as Gavin Quick, but little is known about the woman other than she's wearing Armani perfume and Jimmy Choo shoes. Milo and Alex interview Gavin Quick's nutty mother, Sheila, and his father, Jerry, a metals dealer and all-around shady character, as well as Gavin's therapist, Mary Lou Koppel. From there, the list of characters branches into an ever-widening delta of suspects and dead bodies. The investigation marches relentlessly on as Milo and Alex run each new lead to ground, slowly constructing an intricate motive that includes abusive boyfriends, eccentric ex-husbands, Medi-Cal fraud, a bent parole officer and Rwandan genocide. This one's more methodical than suspenseful and the final shoot-out and revelations feel tacked on, but fans won't mind as Alex and Milo eventually wrap everything up nicely, and Kellerman provides intriguing details of Alex's new love interest, Allison Gwynn

The cheerful chaos of a California schoolyard is shattered one autumn day by gunfire. No children are hurt, but a sniper is shot down – and psychologist Dr Alex Delaware is called in to help the kids cope with the trauma. Then comes another stunning surprise: the identity of the sniper. And Delaware is intrigued by the chance to explore intimately the forces that created such a twisted personality. But as he becomes more deeply involved, he discovers an ever-widening net of malice has been cast – one that reaches far beyond the school compound, and which may already have claimed innocent lives… TIME BOMB is a masterpiece of psychological suspense which shocks…and shocks again

TRUE DETECTIVES follows Moe Reed and Aaron Fox on the twisted trail of a missing girl, a dark, baffling whodunit that forces the brothers to put aside their mutual animus – and to confront the unresolved family mystery that turned them into enemies. PIs can do things, legally, that cops can't. And cops have access to resources denied their private counterparts. Only by pooling their efforts – and by consulting a man both brothers respect, psychologist Alex Delaware, do Fox and Reed stand a chance of peeling back the secrets in high places that explain the fate of an outwardly innocent young woman. And, by doing so, the brothers learn about much more than murder

A year has passed since the Cold Heart murders and Detective Petra Connor is, once again, working Hollywood Homicide solo. She has just solved three gang-related killings and is feeling pretty good about herself – about life in general – when Isaac Gomez waltzes into her office and tells her he's found something she might want to take a look at. A twenty-two-year-old prodigy researching a Ph.D. in sociology, Isaac has gained access to LAPD case files. But while combing the files, the brilliant young man has come upon a series of apparently unrelated murders all committed shortly after midnight on the exact same date: June 28. Can this be purely coincidence? As Petra 's curiosity leads her to investigate further, she becomes convinced that something evil has managed to conceal itself within the dry pages of the cold-case files. Killings so diabolical and meticulously constructed that they would have remained invisible but for the probing mind of a young, naive genius. To make matters worse, June 28 is only a month away…

It began with a double murder: particularly vicious, particularly gruesome. There was only one witness: but little Melody Quinn can't or won't say a word. Which is where child psychologist Alex Delaware comes in - and takes the first step into a maelstrom of atrocities…A breathtaking novel about the sewer of perversion and corruption lying below the glittering surface of California cool