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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?
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One of the major criticisms of the last few Delaware novels is the fact that we didn't learn more about Alex and Milo - the plots need not have involved them at all. Kellerman tackles this with, for the first time, giving us a detailed description of Milo's earlier life and start in the police force. Things that have been alluded to in earlier books, for example his tour of Vietnam, are made concrete here. It's also interesting to find out that he gets annoyed at Alex sometimes!
Kellerman also changes the usual structure of the Delaware novels, much like he did in "Survival of the Fittest", to great effect. I would say that almost half the novel is told in the third person from Milo's point of view. This devices generates unbelievable suspense towards the end of the novel. Alfred Hitchcock said that if there are two people talking in a movie and a bomb explodes under the table, this is shock. But if the audience knows there is a bomb under the table before it goes off, this is suspense. With multiple viewpoints, we know that certain characters are in danger before they do - something that cannot be achieved when writing purely in the first person. The ending of this book is the most exciting of all the Delaware novels. It's also more violent than usual. On this note, no one describes the full horror and violence of people getting shot than Kellerman!
The book isn't perfect, hence the 4 stars - Alex's fight with Robin only really slows the pace down, and the story does take a bit to get going. But once it does, the multiple viewpoints, intricate plotting and sheer quality of the writing make "The Murder Book" one of the best Kellerman has written in years.
Kellerman also take an opportunity to delve more deeply into Milo's past - and his present, including several chapters in which Delware is absent, written in the third person. We learn more about the prejudice and bigotry that Milo faced in his early years as a homicide detective, and far more about his relationships with Rick Silverman and Alex Delaware than we've ever seen before. Rick and Milo even have some scenes alone together - finally adding some flesh to the bones of characters and relationships that have been merely wallpaper for the past 15 novels.
The main storyline concerns the usual mysterious murder, and the mind games played by all involved. This is classic Kellerman country, with twists and turns, danger and dénouements a plenty.
Personally, I found the change in style and content a refreshing change - a little reward for having stuck with these guys for so long.
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