Part of Alex Delaware, book 24
First published 2009
A security guard discovers two corpses arranged in a grotesque embrace inside an unfinished Los Angeles mansion. Detective Milo Sturgis arrives to find a crime scene that defies explanation. The male victim is quickly identified as Desmond Backer, an environmentally conscious architect with a reputation for seducing women. The female remains a mystery. Milo calls in his longtime partner, psychologist Alex Delaware, to help untangle the psychological threads of the case. Their investigation reveals Backer had no shortage of enemies or spurned lovers. Each lead spawns new suspects, creating an ever-expanding web of potential killers. The partners follow the evidence through Los Angeles, piecing together Backer's final days and the circumstances that led to his death. Just when they think they understand the crime, the case takes an unexpected turn. The hunters suddenly become the hunted as they close in on a killer who refuses to go quietly.
Genres: mystery, crime, detective, psychological-thriller
Vibes: dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Los Angeles
292 pages · Kindle Edition · Ballantine Books