Mystery

An Alex Delaware Novel

By: Jonathan Kellerman

Narrated by: John Rubinstein

Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Few know the city of Los Angeles the way number one best-selling author and acclaimed suspense master Jonathan Kellerman does. His thrilling novels of psychological drama and criminal detection make the capital of dreams a living, breathing character in all its glamour and infamy. That storied history of fame, seduction, scandal, and murder looms large in Mystery, as Alex Delaware finds himself drawn into a twisting, shadowy whodunit that’s pure LA noir - and vintage Kellerman.

The closing of their favorite romantic rendezvous, the Fauborg Hotel in Beverly Hills, is a sad occasion for longtime patrons Alex Delaware and Robin Castagna. And gathering one last time with their fellow faithful habitués for cocktails in the gracious old venue makes for a bittersweet evening. But even more poignant is a striking young woman - alone and enigmatic among the revelers - waiting in vain in elegant attire and dark glasses that do nothing to conceal her melancholy. Alex can’t help wondering what her story is and whether she’s connected to the silent, black-suited bodyguard lingering outside the hotel.

Two days later, Alex has even more to contemplate when 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 with a mutilated body and no DNA match, she remains as mysterious in death as she seemed in life. And even when a tipster’s sordid revelation finally cracks the case open, the dark secrets that spill out could make Alex and Milo’s best efforts to close this horrific crime not just impossible but fatal.

Psyched? Listen to all of Jonathan Kellerman's Dr. Alex Delaware thrillers.

©2011 Jonathan Kellerman (P)2011 Random House

Mystery

This was rather a let down. Too many characters that didn't do anything much for the story. The retired "madam" (nice word for "pimp") was difficult to endure, her foul mouth, dying cigarette-cancer vocal chords - she, along with most of the characters - were just totally unredeemable, nothing made them sympathetic, not even Alex Delaware was anything like what I used to like. So much seemed to be aimed at how trashy and porny the author could make it. Not a redeemable character in the bunch. The narrator did a good job, though. Sometimes he slipped and made two or more characters sound alike, but overall he was good. Just didn't have characters with anything to say worth listening to. The episode where the killer was exposed was dragged out to the point where I thought the author was getting a high on his own words. The melodrama of the son losing his madam pimp mother and her sister who was left behind did nothing to stir me. Glad when the book came to an end.

Too long. Too confusing.

A really ridiculous plot with a bunch of surreal characters. Takes too long to develop and once developed you wonder why you wasted your time getting there.

Yuck.

If this had been the first Alex Delaware I'd ever read, I'd never have read another.

The Delaware novels seem to getting old to me

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Better linkage in the plot to the killer. I did see the story in the last 30 minutes, but until then I did not see much of a path. It all hinged on a huge coincidence in Delaware seeing a man at an event that just caught his attention. Then one leap after another and the crime is solved.

Also the dialogue style has gotten annoying to me. All interviews are always one way. This style is practiced by both Milo the cop and Delaware the psychologist. Not saying it is not realistic. Just boring and annoying dialogue.

Would you ever listen to anything by Jonathan Kellerman again?

maybe

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment. Loved the introduction of the girl Mystery. She would have been a more interesting character.

Why did I buy this book? Reviewed by Mary

Mystery is one of the worst books I have ever picked out to buy. The author should have been in Japan helping out. That makes more sense than why he stayed in the USA and decided to write a book. Take a look at this thing and see if you can find one redeeming feature in it. I would ask for my money back but Audible doesn't do that. So all of you out there in iPod land will just have to
see that this book is truly a MYSTRY.

Not his best.. sorry

Boring and slow moving. Disappointing since I am always thrilled to see a new JK release. I am writing this six weeks after I read it; I actually had to re-read the synopsis to remind me what it was about.

Guess you have to be a fan

Finally gave up on it. I tried hard, but the snarky protagonist and his cartoonish sidekick were less than endearing. I know the whole film noir thing is supposed to be kitschy, but this was over the top. It felt like the author was phoning it in. I found myself fast forwarding through long passages of self-indulgent over description when I wasn't yelling at the narrator to get on with it already. Would have been nice if his editor had asked the author to leave a few adverbs for the other authors to play with.