Another great Milo and Alex team-up! I love that they spent most of the book together working on the case and shaking out the suspects and there was no personal drama this time.

I did feel like the story meandered all over the place, and there was like no chance for the reader to figure out who dunnit before it all wrapped up pretty quickly at the end. But the journey was so interesting and enjoyable to follow, as usual.

Overall, another solid installment in this great series.

I have been reading Alex Delaware for . . . well, over 25 years. It's hard to believe that Kellerman can still write such great story with these same characters. But he can. I love getting back into one of these books and this one was really, really good. In fact, I'd say the last several are some of the best I've read.

This can be read as a standalone, and if you're intimidated by starting such a long series, go ahead and jump in here to see what you think. The mystery is good and the interplay between characters is strong. However, the rich character development gets only more nuanced if you have the benefit of the long story of these characters and their history.

I always enjoy spending some time with Dr. Delaware but really . . . this is a good one. Pick it up.

Five Stars!
I’ve only read a few of the Alex Delaware series by Jonathan Kellerman and I really have no excuse for that. I don’t know why, although I guess it’s great that there’s a HUGE back catalog to keep me busy catching up while I wait for new ones. No complaints here -- I really enjoy this series!

Even though I’m a relative newbie I had no problems jumping into the series at this point. Even after thirty-eight books, they are solid and well written, fast paced, with the characters and relationships clearly defined enough for City of the Dead to work more or less a stand-alone book.

I am so grateful to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/Ballantine Books for the opportunity to read and review City of the Dead.

Jonathan Kellerman forever!! I have been reading his books forever and love Alex Delaware and Milo Sturgis so much. Their dynamic is unmatched. They are the best team. And they are always smarter than the perp. Read this book. And if you like it read them all!

I like Alex Delaware a lot, and this was an enjoyable mystery (which could easily stand alone, although reading the rest of the series is also great!) It starts with a moving van hitting a naked man in the hours before dawn, in a fairly safe neighborhood of Los Angeles. When another victim is discovered, Alex is brought in to help the police.

It was a quick read with interesting suspects/characters. Watching as Alex and Milo uncover information about the victims, their families and friends, and various motives was great. And I really liked the ambience - I think the author does a good job with not a lot of words to get a feel for characters, especially Alex.

Thanks to netgalley for letting me read this great mystery!

This book brings Alex into a crazy investigation when a woman and a young man wind up dead with no idea what happened Alex helps the police figure out what happened. The closer they look the more crazy these two people look like with their quirks and things they did.

I found myself falling fast into the world of Alex and how easy it was to travel with him as he does what he does. I enjoyed it and I haven't read much by this author but I definitely plan to read more of this series so good. It's great for fans of Alex Cross and Kay Scarpetta

City of the Dead is the 37th Alex Delaware procedural mystery by Jonathan Kellerman. Released 8th Feb 2022 by Penguin Random House on their Ballantine imprint, it's 336 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This has been such a solid and dependable long-running series. The returning characters are so well defined at this point, with so much background written in, that they really seem to live and breathe. Dr. Delaware himself is always insightful and the "odd couple" aspects of his relationship with Milo Sturgis are fun and engaging to read. I don't think I'm familiar with a series which is this long running which doesn't have moments which feel less vital and less well written. This series has delivered solidly since 1985 which is stupendous.

This is a modern procedural and, as in the other books, the descriptions and themes can be graphic. There are aspects of aberrant psychology or behavior and themes which may be upsetting for some readers.

The mystery itself and all necessary back-story are written in, so it works quite well as a standalone. I recommend the whole series, but readers who are new to the characters won't have any trouble keeping up.

Four stars. A solid mystery in a solid, very long-running series.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes

Very strange dead bodies, a child in need, a tough talking cop, and a compassionate child psychologist and of course it is an Alex Delaware novel. The plot always takes a roundabout route with a cast of interesting (usually a bit weird) characters, Although this is a typical Alex Delaware book, these stories are never dull and always hard to put down.

In the early hours of the morning, a pair of movers are involved in an accident with a pedestrian. Milo Sturgis, intrepid detective, is called in and he brings his resident pocket psychologist Alex Delaware with him: in a shocking twist, the pedestrian is traced back to a house where Dr Delaware knows the current resident…and she has also been murdered. The victim’s checkered past leads the two on a wild chase to track down exactly who killed her and the man hit by the moving van.

This one was really good. Really really good. All of Kellerman’s Alex Delaware books are solid mysteries, well written with most questions neatly tied up by the end of the book, but this one was a step above many of them. You won’t be disappointed if you pick up this latest installment!

Huge Jonathan Kellerman fan ! I have read every Alex Delaware novel ! Never disappoints ! Murder, mayhem yet always humorous as well. Not sure how he does it, but every single book is fantastic. Very involved murder story, couple of different story line that come together ! Excellent !

Always a fan of the Kellerman clan and this book does not disappoint. Again Kellerman takes you on an adventure with twists and turns in an awesome who-done it.

City of the Dead
An Alex Delaware Novel
by Jonathan Kellerman
Pub Date 08 Feb 2022
Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Ballantine Books
General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thriller






I am reviewing a copy of City of the Dead through Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine and Netgalley:





The city of Los Angeles is a city of sunlight, celebrity, and possibility. But the L.A that is often experienced by by Homicide Lt. Detective Milo Sturgis and psychologist Alex Delaware, is a city of the dead.





One morning, while it’s still early the two of them find themselves in a neighborhood of pretty houses, pretty cars, and pretty people. The scene they encounter is anything but. A naked young man lies dead in the street, the apparent victim of a collision with a moving van hurtling through suburbia in the darkness. But any thoughts of accidental death vanish when a blood trail leads to a nearby home.


Inside the home, a young woman lies dead, butchered. The identity of the male victim and his role in the horror remain elusive, but that of the woman creates additional questions. And adding to the shock, Alex has met her while working a convoluted child custody case. Cordelia Gannett was a self-styled internet influencer who’d gotten into legal troubles by palming herself off as a psychologist. Even after promising to desist, she’s found a loophole and has continued her online career, aiming to amass clicks and ads by cyber-coaching and cyber-counseling people plagued with relationship issues.



When they examine closely, Alex and Milo learn that her own relationships are troublesome, including a tortured family history and a dubious personal past. Has that come back to haunt her in the worst way? Is the mystery man out in the street collateral damage or will he turn out to be the key to solving a grisly double homicide?





If you’re looking for a book that’s full of Mystery, then you can’t go wrong with Jonathan Kellerman’s City of Dead.



Five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

This book starts with a couple moving men trying to get a jump on traffic hitting a naked young man. It turns out not to be. My first read by the author, it won’t be the last. When Alex makes his appearance, things are seen in a different light.
What I liked was the walk through of possible scenarios and not as much detailed gore as some books. Enough to get the message through but not enough to totally be grossed out by it.
What I didn’t like: language, not as much as most like genres, but I am a prude I guess. Just don’t like it. I skimmed and went on. That being said I can recommend this book if you enjoy murder mysteries. I found nothing to rate below the 5 star rating.

Even though this was an uncorrected proof I think I might have only found one typo or grammar thing. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC introduction to this author. The review is my opinion.

This was an interesting murder mystery. Two people are murdered in a strange and unusual circumstances. With a psychologist help the police investigate trying to know who done it.
This was an easy read, kept you interested until the very end.
Thank you netgalley for complimentary copy.

This most recent of the Alex Delaware/Milo Sturgis novels begins in an unusual way, unusual even for Los Angeles. In the early morning hours, a naked man was killed when hit by a moving van. Sturgis’s team drew the case and one of his team noticed an unusual bit of blood outside a nearby house, separate from the traffic accident, while checking the neighborhood.

And so begins a much larger case. A woman is then found in the house at this separate scene, brutally murdered. Now all decisions about what has happened on this street must be slowed down. All thinking must begin again. The detectives have a much larger canvas to work with and will need the coroner's input as well.

It's a confusing picture, made all the stranger by the fact that Alex recognizes the female victim from one of his past child custody trials. This case moves in many directions and keeps a readers attention throughout. Once again. Kellerman is writing at the top of his game.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

The latest collaboration of Milo Sturgis and Dr. Alex Delaware finds them working on the case of a young man found dead and naked in the road. He is assumed to be a victim of a hit and run, but then why is he naked? And why was he in the road? Who hit him? The next scene they investigate sends them to a beautiful home and the dead body of Cordelia Gannett, a social media influencer who pretends to be a psychologist. Cordelia has a dark past that may have caught up to her.

I love a good mystery but I also enjoy reading about two of my favorite fictional characters. The friendship between Milo and Alex has developed over 37 novels, and we've seen them have personal ups and downs along the way. They feel like people I'd like to have over for dinner, and I think that's a mark of good characterization.

I generally enjoy Jonathan Kellerman’s books and this is a good one. Though I am sometimes put off by the gore associated with the murders, Alex Delaware is a favorite character. Kellerman pieces this one together like a jigsaw puzzle. A solid read.

This book was so good! I want to see more from this author in the future!! I couldn't put this book down. What a page turner!!!

City of the Dead is a crime novel featuring Detective Milo Sturgis and Psychologist Alex Delaware. The duo investigates a homicide in which they find a naked man in the middle of a street. Inside a nearby house, they also find a woman murdered. She is a well-known person, but the man is unknown, and they cannot seem to identify him. This is the 37th book in the Alex Delaware series, according to the author’s web site. The tale is set in Los Angeles, where Milo works for the LAPD.

Jonathan Kellerman continues to write excellent crime novels set in Los Angeles. This series is one of the better ones I have read. The other one is the Bosch series. If you like detective novels set in Los Angeles, these are my top two recommendations.

The beauty of having the same characters in multiple novels is that the reader can come to know the characters on a deeper level and sees them as real people. Their backstories are thoroughly developed, and the characters show growth as individuals within each novel and throughout the series. In this book, we get to see both characters looking at their own lives and struggling with their own issues. I won’t give any spoilers, so you’ll have to read the book to find out. Kellerman is great at building suspense in a mystery/thriller novel like this. Once you start reading, you will have a hard time putting the book down.

I recommend this for any fans of detective fiction, mysteries, thrillers, or suspense. You won’t be disappointed!

This is my first read of Jonathan Kellerman. I gave me 1920s cop show feels. I was a bit confused, then again I did not realize that it was number 37 of a series.