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Mystery
Cover of Mystery
Mystery
An Alex Delaware Novel
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BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Jonathan Kellerman's Victims.
The closing of the grand old Fauborg Hotel in Beverly Hills is a sad occasion for longtime patrons Alex Delaware and Robin Castagna, who go there one last time for cocktails. But even more poignant—and curious—is a striking young woman in elegant attire and dark glasses, alone there and waiting in vain. Two days later, police detective Milo Sturgis comes seeking his psychologist comrade’s insights about a grisly homicide. To Alex’s shock, the brutalized victim is the same beautiful woman whose lonely hours sipping champagne at the Fauborg may have been her last. But when a sordid revelation finally cracks the case open, the secrets that spill out could make Alex and Milo’s best efforts to close this crime not just impossible but fatal.
BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Jonathan Kellerman's Victims.
The closing of the grand old Fauborg Hotel in Beverly Hills is a sad occasion for longtime patrons Alex Delaware and Robin Castagna, who go there one last time for cocktails. But even more poignant—and curious—is a striking young woman in elegant attire and dark glasses, alone there and waiting in vain. Two days later, police detective Milo Sturgis comes seeking his psychologist comrade’s insights about a grisly homicide. To Alex’s shock, the brutalized victim is the same beautiful woman whose lonely hours sipping champagne at the Fauborg may have been her last. But when a sordid revelation finally cracks the case open, the secrets that spill out could make Alex and Milo’s best efforts to close this crime not just impossible but fatal.
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Excerpts-
  • Chapter 1 CHAPTER 1

    Like a con man on the run, L.A. buries its past. Maybe that's why no one argued when the sentence came down: The Fauborg had to die. I live in a company town where the product is illusion. In the alternate universe ruled by sociopaths who make movies, communication means snappy dialogue, the scalpel trumps genetics, and permanence is mortal sin because it slows down the shoot. L.A. used to have more Victorian mansions than San Francisco but L.A. called in the wrecking ball and all that handwork gave way to thirties bungalows that yielded to fifties dingbats, which were vanquished, in turn, by big-box adult dormitories with walls a toddler can put a fist through. Preservationists try to stem the erosion but end up fighting for the likes of gas stations and ticky-tack motels. Money changes hands, zoning laws are finessed, and masterpieces like the Ambassador Hotel dissolve like wrinkles shot with Botox. The Fauborg Hotel was no Ambassador but it did have its charm. Four somber stories of Colonial brick-face, it sat on a quiet block of Crescent Drive in Beverly Hills, wedged between a retirement home and a dry cleaner. A short walk but a psychic universe from the Eurotrash cafés of Canon Drive and the shopping frenzy on Beverly and Rodeo, the Fauborg appeared in few guidebooks but managed to boast one of the highest occupancy rates in the city. Built in 1949 by a French Holocaust survivor, its design aped the mansions in the American movies that had transfixed Marcel Jabotinsky as a teenager. Jabotinksy's first guests were other postwar émigrés seeking peace and quiet. That same desire for low-key serenity continued with the hotel's clientele, divided between the genteel grandparents of Eurotrash and the odd knowledgeable American willing to trade glitz and edgy and ironic for a decent night's sleep. I knew the Fauborg because I drank there. The lounge at the back was smallish and dim with nothing to prove, paneled in dark rift oak and hung with middling Barbizon landscapes. The eighty-year-old hunchback behind the bar concocted the best Sidecar in town and Robin likes Sidecars. An assortment of pianists, mostly former studio musicians on pension, worked the big black Steinway in the left-hand corner, never intruding upon the pleasant buzz of conversation and the harmonious clink of crystal glasses. The staff was attentive without being nosy, the snacks were decent, and you left the place feeling as if you'd been recivilized. Robin and I spent a lot of Sunday evenings in a cracked leather rear booth, holding hands, nibbling on cheese crackers, and inhaling Gershwin. One Saturday morning in the spring, Robin was delivering a new guitar to an aging rock star who lived in the flats of Beverly Hills and the drive took her past the Fauborg. A sign strung up over the fanlight announced: LAST NIGHT TOMORROW: COME CELEBRATE-OR MOURN-WITH US. THANKS FOR THE GOOD TIMES. The Family of Marcel Jabotinsky Robin shouldn't have been surprised; the previous week we'd shown up at a Thai place we'd enjoyed for half a decade only to find an abyss surrounded by chain-link where the building had stood. The month before that, she'd run into an old high school friend and asked how her husband was. "Which one?" "Jeff." The woman laughed. "Jeff's ancient history, sweetie. Cliff's recent history but he's gone, too." Tissue paper city. Robin said, "Not much of a choice, is it? Surrender to the inevitable or risk a whole bunch of mawkish nostalgia." We sat on the living room couch with Blanche, our little French bulldog, squeezed between us and following the back-and-forth. I said, "I can go either way." She pulled on a curl, let it spring back. "What the heck, I'll...

About the Author-
  • Jonathan Kellerman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than three dozen bestselling crime novels, including the Alex Delaware series, The Butcher’s Theater, Billy Straight, The Conspiracy Club, Twisted, and True Detectives. With his wife, bestselling novelist Faye Kellerman, he co-authored Double Homicide and Capital Crimes. With his son, bestselling novelist Jesse Kellerman, he co-authored the first book of a new series, The Golem of Hollywood. He is also the author of two children’s books and numerous nonfiction works, including Savage Spawn: Reflections on Violent Children and With Strings Attached: The Art and Beauty of Vintage Guitars. He has won the Goldwyn, Edgar, and Anthony awards and has been nominated for a Shamus Award. Jonathan and Faye Kellerman live in California, New Mexico, and New York.
Reviews-
  • Publisher's Weekly

    February 14, 2011
    When Lt. Milo Sturgis of LAPD homicide asks psychologist Alex Delaware to view the faceless corpse of a young woman in Kellerman's enjoyable if only average 26th Alex Delaware novel (after Deception), Alex is shocked to recognize the gunshot victim as someone he and wife, Robin, saw the night before in a restaurant bar. A link turns out to exist between the dead woman and a sinister-looking man Alex and Robin observed outside the bar that night. An anonymous tip leads to an online service that matches "sugar daddies" with "star-quality sweeties." The victim, who called herself "Mystery," had a "daddy," Markham McReynolds, whose wealthy, anything-goes family offers plenty of suspects, including McReynolds's wife, two sons, and two daughters-in-law. Kellerman's bantering detectives make it look almost too easy as they put together the clues and possible scenarios, despite the unusual solution to the crime.

  • Library Journal

    November 1, 2010

    Mystery turns out to be the nickname of a young woman found mutilated to death, but before he learns that, Alex Delaware realizes that he's seen her before--two nights ago at a restaurant that was just closing. So much for easy leads. Kellerman is a powerhouse; buy multiples.

    Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

  • Booklist

    January 1, 2011
    Alex Delaware, the L.A. psychologist and crime-solver, returns to tackle another tricky case. A woman has been murdered, her body mutilated. Homicide detective Milo Sturgis, Delawares frequent partner, brings Alex into the case, hoping for some insight into the psychology of the killer. Alex is surprised to discover that the victim is familiar to him; Alex and his girlfriend saw her at a restaurant only hours before her death. But how can Alex and Milo expect to find any usable clues when the restaurant is now out of business? The Delaware series has been going since 1985, and its long since settled into a comfortable formula, which is just fine as far as fans are concerned. The books star a pair of engaging protagonists and, for the most part, are well plotted. In addition, Kellerman usually tosses in a couple of twists to keep readers on their toes. This installment is nothing out of the ordinary for the series, but its a solid entry that will please the established audience.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)

  • Publisher's Weekly

    May 30, 2011
    Psychologist Alex Delaware assists his friend, LAPD Det. Lt. Milo Sturgis, in sussing out the identity of a mutilated Jane Doe—a woman that Alex, by coincidence, had noticed the night before when she appeared to be awaiting a date in a hotel lounge. The investigation follows convoluted pathways through Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, and cyberspace to puzzle out the mystery woman's identity. John Rubenstein has narrated numerous Kellerman books and is on familiar ground. His confident, seasoned reading gives the recurring characters distinctive voices and matches the dramatic story with a steady, moderate tempo. A Ballantine hardcover.

  • Library Journal

    February 1, 2011

    New Hollywood meets old when Kellerman pairs his most popular investigative duo (True Detectives) again in this fast and fun crime drama. Psychologist Alex Delaware and LAPD homicide detective Milo Sturgis search for the killer of a Jane Doe who just happened to be seen by Delaware and his wife the night of the murder. Anonymous leads send them searching online dating websites and digging through the lives of one of the richest families in California. A secondary story line concerning a former patient, an ex-Hollywood madam on her deathbed, proves vital in making headway in the investigation. Although the reveal of the whodunit is a little cliched, getting there is no less fun. VERDICT Although exposing no significant changes in the personal narratives of Delaware or Sturgis, Kellerman offers a solid and entertaining mystery that series fans will enjoy, along with anyone seeking a glimpse inside the seedy and hedonistic side of L.A. [Library marketing; see Prepub Alert, LJ 11/1/10.]--Amanda Scott, Cambridge Springs P.L., PA

    Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

  • Orlando Sentinel

    "Jonathan Kellerman's novels are an obsession; once started it is hard to quit."

  • Detroit Free Press

    "Kellerman doesn't just write psychological thrillers--he owns the genre."
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An Alex Delaware Novel
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