Masters of Thriller Writing --- Jonathan Kellerman

 

Tales of crime fighting duos do not end with the adventures of Spencer and Hawk (See earlier blog post) or with those of Pike and Cole (see even earlier post). We also have Alex Delaware and Milo Sturgis solving murders in and around LA in a remarkable series of murder mysteries, the first of which was published in 1985 and the most recent in Feb.2020.

Alex is a psychologist -- specializing in child psychology -- who has taken early retirement from regular work and spends his time consulting occasionally, feeding his koi fish (a species of Japanese carp) in the pond in his Japanese garden and solving murders with his best friend Milo of the LAPD. Alex has a long-term relationship with his girlfriend, Robin, who makes – yes, with her hands – high-end guitars while Milo is openly gay and lives with his doctor partner, Rick. The police department looks askance at Milo’s sexual orientation and despite his stellar record in solving homicide cases, treats him badly in general.

None of this, however, gets in the way of Alex and Milo working together and catching murderers. The plots are often dark, but always compelling, and the pace relentless. Once you read one you more or less need to read them all -- they are that good.

The story does not end here. The author, Jonathan Kellerman has a  PhD in psychology, specializing in child psychology, and is a Professor at a medical college in, yes, California! Born in 1949, he published his first crime novel in 1985, having published medical stuff earlier. With the runaway success of his novels -- awards and all -- Dr Kellerman gave up his private practice but remains a Prof. at the med school.

Talk about art imitating life, multitasking and what have you!

The psychology, as expected, is serious and often disturbing and the characters convincingly drawn. The books have been major hits and deservedly so. For all murder-mystery aficionados, Kellerman’s novels featuring Alex and Milo are a must read; and the great thing is that there are a lot of them!

Happy reading.