Part of Alex Delaware, book 41
First published 2026
Detective Milo Sturgis thinks he has an easy case when a young woman turns up dead at her kitchen table. DNA evidence on cigarette butts points straight to an ex-boyfriend with a criminal history. Then the evidence stops adding up and the slam dunk becomes a puzzle. Sturgis calls his longtime friend Alex Delaware, the psychologist who helps him crack the difficult cases. Soon they face a second murder that hits closer to home. An elderly woman lies brutally killed in a deep freeze, her body mutilated. Sturgis recognizes the victim as someone from his past. Her house tells its own disturbing story. Years of hoarding have made the place nearly impossible to navigate, filled with trash and seemingly worthless items. Hidden among the debris, they find envelopes stuffed with cash. As Delaware and Sturgis investigate both crimes, they uncover surprising connections between the victims. The cases merge into a complex and dangerous mystery that will test their partnership against the backdrop of Los Angeles.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Los Angeles
244 pages · Hardcover · Ballantine Books
Content warnings: death, graphic-violence, murder