Publisher: Century (Trade Paperback – 4 February 2020)

Series: Alex Delaware – Book 35

Length: 348 pages

My Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

Amazon     Book Depository

Prepare for a compelling and intricate novel from one of the leading authors of the murder mystery genre as I check out The Museum of Desire, the newest novel from Jonathan Kellerman.

The Museum of Desire is the latest book in Kellerman’s Alex Delaware series of murder mystery books, which is the author’s main body of work. This series has been running since Kellerman’s 1985 debut, When the Bough Breaks, and the author has since released over 50 books, several of which he has co-written with either his wife or his daughter. I only started reading Kellerman’s novels last year when I picked up a copy of the previous book in the Alex Delaware series, The Wedding Guest, which contained a rather clever mystery that I had a great time reading. As a result, I made sure to keep an eye out for Kellerman’s next release and I subsequently found myself deeply intrigued when I saw the plot for his latest novel, The Museum of Desire, and really wanted to check it out. This latest Kellerman novel is the 35^th novel in the Alex Delaware series and it contains another intriguing and complex murder mystery storyline that I had a lot of fun unravelling.

In the aftermath of a wild party in a Beverly Hills mansion, the cleaner assigned to the property makes a terrible discovery: a limousine containing four blood-soaked dead bodies. Each of the four has been murdered and artistically posed within the car, making for a grim and disturbed scene. To make matters even more unusual, the victims all appear to have been chosen at random, with none of the victims having any apparent connection to any of the others.

Realising that they are dealing with another special case, LAPD Lieutenant Milo Sturgis calls in his friend and frequent consultant, psychologist Dr Alex Delaware, to help unravel this mystery. Over the years that Alex and Milo have been working together, they have seen some particularly heinous and unusual murders, but these might be the most disturbing one yet. As the two begin running down the case, they find themselves on the trail of a vicious killer with a love for unusual art and a penchant for eliminating any potential witnesses to their crime. Worse, it soon becomes apparent that their killer is not yet done, and that many more people are going to die.

The Museum of Desire is another excellent release from Kellerman that delivers the reader an amazing and compelling murder mystery. The author has done a fantastic job with his latest mystery, coming up with a unique and interesting murder scenario, with four apparently random victims posed in a very distinctive manner. This turned into a quite a clever and complex mystery storyline that went in some very intriguing directions. Kellerman makes sure to fill the story up with a substantial number of twists, strong false leads and a raft of plausible suspects, making the real killer a bit hard to predict. I was certainly a bit surprised by who it turned out to be, but I thought it was quite a good twist. Kellerman makes sure to wrap this whole murder mystery storyline up with a memorable conclusion, which I thought was an incredible way to end this entire plot. The end result is a very captivating tale of passion, brutality and revenge, and I very much enjoyed unravelling this awesome mystery storyline.

One of the things that I really like about Kellerman’s books is the slower-paced, methodical style in which his protagonists investigate the various murders that they come across. Rather than coming to a massive conclusion off the smallest pieces of evidence, the two central characters slowly build up their case throughout the course of the book in order to work out what happened. This is mostly done by interviewing witnesses to the crime, as well as the friends and family of the murder victims, establishing what sort of people they were, where they spent their time and who they interacted with. With this information in hand, as well as some physical or forensic evidence and potentially some internet search results, they can create a rough picture of what happened and what sort of people they are dealing with in order to narrow down their suspects and come up with the necessary leads to identify the killers. This methodical approach to a murder investigation is quite distinctive and it makes the whole book feel a lot more realistic, like you are reading about a real investigation rather than one of those television shows where the crime is solved in a matter of hours. That being said, several breaks in the case are only coincidently revealed because the narrator happened to be driving by. This feeling of realism is backed up by the protagonists having to deal with things like delays in the lab, conflicting priorities within the department and a lack of manpower from overworked police officers who have multiple cases, all of which expands the investigative timeline out. I actually really like this style of crime writing from Kellerman, as it makes The Museum of Desire stand out from some of the other murder mysteries out there. I am a big fan of the realism that he installs in his work, and I feel that it makes the story even more compelling and enjoyable.

Another great part of the Alex Delaware books are the two main characters, Doctor Alex Delaware and LAPD Lieutenant Milo Sturgis. While this is the Alex Delaware series, with Alex Delaware serving as the books narrator and point-of-view character, Milo is just as important to the series. Both Alex and Milo are great characters in their own right. Alex is the brilliant child psychologist whose insights into the human mind are useful for many of the cases seen in these books and who also serves as a bit of stand-in for the author, who himself is a noted psychologist. Milo, on the other hand, is an openly gay veteran homicide detective who is heavily respected by both his fellow officers and the wider community he has been serving for years. While on paper this seems like a bit of an unusual partnership, Alex and Milo have been working together since the first book in the series and have now formed a rather effective team and a close friendship. It is a lot of fun watching the two of them solve crimes, especially as play off each other really well during the course of the book, with Milo providing the police knowledge and experience, while Alex brings his outside view and professional expertise to the game. While both are serious when it comes to the crimes they are investigating, Milo has a bit of a comedic edge to him, which works well as Alex is a bit more of the team’s straight man. Their views of the various people they meet and circumstances surrounding the cases are usually amusing, especially when dealing with unusual situations. The Museum of Desire is a great example of this, as you get to see them deal with art snobs, disrespectful rich kids, fierce landladies, a socially different teenager and unhelpful witnesses, and they have some good discussions about them later. Overall, I am a massive fan of this team up (although I like Milo a bit more as a character) and I cannot wait to see what crazy crimes and people they go up against in Kellerman’s next book.

With his latest novel, The Museum of Desire, Jonathan Kellerman has produced another captivating murder mystery. Featuring a unique case, a fantastic and twisty mystery and Kellerman’s trademark brand of investigation, this latest novel is an amazing and enjoyable read that pits his great protagonists against a clever killer. This was another awesome addition to the terrific Alex Delaware series, and readers are going to have an amazing time getting to the bottom of his latest case.

Amazon     Book Depository