Part of Alex Delaware, book 17
First published 2003
Psychologist Alex Delaware gets a call from LAPD detective Milo Sturgis about a brutal killing at an art gallery. A young artist has been garroted on the night of her first major exhibition. Delaware examines the crime scene and recognizes the calculated nature of the attack. This isn't a spontaneous killing but the work of a methodical serial murderer. Delaware and Sturgis discover connections between the artist's death and the killing of a blues guitarist. Their investigation takes them from halfway houses to expensive estates, from college grounds to an unexpected destination: the home of Delaware's former lover Robin Castagna. More bodies surface as they work to decode the killer's pattern. Delaware must solve this twisted puzzle before a psychopath who treats murder as his personal art form strikes again.
Genres: mystery, crime, detective, psychological-thriller
Vibes: dark, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: LAPD, Los Angeles
Period: Contemporary
413 pages · Paperback · Ballantine Books
Content warnings: murder, violence