One character in particular, a bipolar witness called LaBelle, lights up the page with her energy and observations. Kellerman tackles the impoverished community with his trademark keen eye for detail and dialogue. One senses that this is the author himself, a child psychologist by training and profession, on his soapbox.

There’s a page or two where Alex Delaware expounds on the terrible state of the LA mental health policies, how patients are released from hospitals to fend for themselves, and how disturbed people on the street deserve care and structure. When Klement’s down-and-out models also start turning up dead, it looks like something very sinister is going on, as well as a chance for Kellerman to take an uncharacteristic detour into social commentary. It’s out of the comfort zone for our heroic pair. Homelessness is a significant problem in cities on the US west coast today, and Unnatural History sends our detectives into the slums and camps looking for clues. Milo and Alex leave the wealthy suburbs and canvass the shelters along Pico Boulevard. But he’d been working on an art project in which he paid homeless people to sit for his camera. The initial murder is of a wealthy photographer on the north side of Venice Boulevard: Adonis ‘Donny’ Klement, shot in the chest in his bed. Unnatural History takes us to some of the grimier parts of California that he doesn’t often explore. While the mystery structure might be time-tested, the locations and suspects are a departure for Kellerman. Sturgis, by contrast, is a comfort-eating, grouchy, workaholic, gay detective whose experiences haven’t stopped him from being a kind boss or a generous tipper. The story is punctuated by his going home to tune his guitar, pet his dog, and enjoy ‘romance’. Meanwhile, Delaware and his girlfriend, Robin, have a tediously comfortable relationship. “Individuals of his persuasion don’t guess, they hypothesise,” Sturgis explains to his squad. Despite or perhaps because of his traumatic childhood, Delaware remains an empathetic observer of human nature. Delaware is a consultant who helps Sturgis solve mind-boggling murder cases. The characters’ voices remain compelling, the traffic-clogged streets seem real, and the murders are puzzling.ĭr Alex Delaware and his detective pal are an unlikely duo. The story unfolds as fans would expect, but it’s a pleasant familiarity, not a plodding one – the formula works. Psychologist Alex Delaware and LAPD lieutenant Milo Sturgis have been investigating deaths in the LA suburbs since the award-winning When The Bough Breaks, and now here is Unnatural History, the 38th in the series. It feels like Kellerman crime novels come as regularly as the tides on Venice Beach.

Jonathan kellerman unnatural history