[Alex Delaware 16] • The Murder Book

**The Barnes & Noble Review**

As the multitudes of Jonathan Kellerman fans already know, his novels are a skillful blending of fast-paced action and adept character development. In his 13th gripping dark crime tale featuring L.A. psychologist [Alex Delaware](http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=alex+delaware), Kellerman turns in another engaging, cunningly crafted story that will leave you moved and electrified.

Alex receives an intriguing package containing a picture album entitled "The Murder Book," which features dozens of graphic photos of actual homicide cases. When he shows it to longtime friend detective Milo Sturgis, Milo is enticed by one particular photo: that of a girl brutally murdered 20 years earlier. It's a case the young Milo and his then-partner, Pierce Schwinn, failed to solve. After Schwinn was forced into retirement for questionable behavior, Milo was transferred to another squad, and the case went cold. Using some clues from two decades earlier, Alex and Milo immediately set their sights on a family of primary suspects: the wealthy and powerful Cossacks. As Alex finds himself drawn further into a web of madness, he seems unable -- or unwilling -- to stop himself from confronting all that the darkest heart of evil can show him.

A highly readable novel full of absorbing incidents, *The Murder Book* is another powerful entry in the Alex Delaware canon. Kellerman does an astounding job of fleshing out his characters, especially Milo Sturgis, whom we see as a young police officer trapped in an unfamiliar world of casual murder and decadence. Beautifully constructed, with a narrative voice that mesmerizes with its pace and finesse, *The Murder Book* is one you can't live without. *Tom Piccirilli*