It's always a pleasure to begin a new story with a familiar lead character that has always appealed (this is Kellerman's 24th Alex Delaware novel). Readers/listeners know what to expect, and in this case it's an extremely well crafted crime novel that leaves us in suspense until the last page. A great deal of the enjoyment in an Alex Delaware novel is the friendship and working relationship between Delaware, a consulting psychologist, and Mike Sturgis, an LAPD homicide detective. Their verbal exchanges as the two dig in to solve a crime are thought provoking and entertaining.
Kellerman knows how to pen an attention grabbing and keeping opener - with Evidence the bodies of a young couple are found, obviously they've been murdered and were left in a ghoulish embrace. They're discovered by a night watchman doing routine rounds through a "rich-idiot neighborhood." The site is a half-finished house that would rival a castle when completed. The male half of this post mortem placement is Desmond Backer, an architect who when still breathing would have hated the kind of structure he's found dead in. Desmond, it seems also had a way with women - better said his way with women as he's described as one who "jumps anything with ovaries." Clearly as dead as Desmond is a young woman who is not immediately identified.
One female Desmond had not been able to charm was his ex-boss, Helga Gagman, who sorrows not at all upon hearing of his untimely death. Milo and Alex soon have a long list of suspects that eventually narrows and places them in mortal danger. There are clues leading to eco-terrorism, a multi-level conspiracy, and all manner of evil doings.
Only with the stunning conclusion do we fully realize the intricacy of Kellerman's careful plot and it all makes sense - but, we never could have figured it out for ourselves!
Tony Award winner John Rubinstein is the long running narrator of the Delaware series, and rightfully so as he reads with an actor's trained voice and total immersion in his material. It's not always easy to effectively voice a conversation between two men and make each character immediately identifiable but Rubinstein pulls this off without a hitch.
- Gail Cooke