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Alex Delaware #6
Private Eyes
The voice belongs to a woman, but Dr. Alex Delaware remembers a little girl. It is eleven years since seven-years-old Melissa Dickinson dialed a hospital help line for comfort--and found it in therapy with Alex Delaware. Now the lovely young heiress is desperately calling for psychologist's help once more. Only this time it looks like Melissa's deepest childhood nightmare is really coming true ... Twenty years ago, Gina Dickinson, Melissa's mother, suffered a grisly assault that left the budding actress irreparably scarred and emotionally crippled. Now her acid-wielding assailant is out of prison and back in L.A.--and Melissa is terrified that the monster has returned to hurt Gina again. But before Alex Delaware can even begin to soothe his former patient's fears, Gina, a recluse for twenty, disappears. And now, unless Delaware turns crack detective to uncover the truth, Gina Dickinson will be just one more victim of a cold fury that has already spawned madness--and murder.
16 pages, Audiobook
First published October 1, 1992
1310 people are currently reading
2787 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Kellerman
199 books5,795 followersJonathan Kellerman was born in New York City in 1949 and grew up in Los Angeles. He helped work his way through UCLA as an editorial cartoonist, columnist, editor and freelance musician. As a senior, at the age of 22, he won a Samuel Goldwyn Writing Award for fiction.
Like his fictional protagonist, Alex Delaware, Jonathan received at Ph.D. in psychology at the age of 24, with a specialty in the treatment of children. He served internships in clinical psychology and pediatric psychology at Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles and was a post-doctoral HEW Fellow in Psychology and Human Development at CHLA.
IN 1975, Jonathan was asked by the hospital to conduct research into the psychological effects of extreme isolation (plastic bubble units) on children with cancer, and to coordinate care for these kids and their families. The success of that venture led to the establishment, in 1977 of the Psychosocial Program, Division of Oncology, the first comprehensive approach to the emotional aspects of pediatric cancer anywhere in the world. Jonathan was asked to be founding director and, along with his team, published extensively in the area of behavioral medicine. Decades later, the program, under the tutelage of one of Jonathan's former students, continues to break ground.
Jonathan's first published book was a medical text, PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF CHILDHOOD CANCER, 1980. One year later, came a book for parents, HELPING THE FEARFUL CHILD.
In 1985, Jonathan's first novel, WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS, was published to enormous critical and commercial success and became a New York Times bestseller. BOUGH was also produced as a t.v. movie and won the Edgar Allan Poe and Anthony Boucher Awards for Best First Novel. Since then, Jonathan has published a best-selling crime novel every year, and occasionally, two a year. In addition, he has written and illustrated two books for children and a nonfiction volume on childhood violence, SAVAGE SPAWN (1999.) Though no longer active as a psychotherapist, he is a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and Psychology at University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine.
Jonathan is married to bestselling novelist Faye Kellerman and they have four children.
Like his fictional protagonist, Alex Delaware, Jonathan received at Ph.D. in psychology at the age of 24, with a specialty in the treatment of children. He served internships in clinical psychology and pediatric psychology at Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles and was a post-doctoral HEW Fellow in Psychology and Human Development at CHLA.
IN 1975, Jonathan was asked by the hospital to conduct research into the psychological effects of extreme isolation (plastic bubble units) on children with cancer, and to coordinate care for these kids and their families. The success of that venture led to the establishment, in 1977 of the Psychosocial Program, Division of Oncology, the first comprehensive approach to the emotional aspects of pediatric cancer anywhere in the world. Jonathan was asked to be founding director and, along with his team, published extensively in the area of behavioral medicine. Decades later, the program, under the tutelage of one of Jonathan's former students, continues to break ground.
Jonathan's first published book was a medical text, PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF CHILDHOOD CANCER, 1980. One year later, came a book for parents, HELPING THE FEARFUL CHILD.
In 1985, Jonathan's first novel, WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS, was published to enormous critical and commercial success and became a New York Times bestseller. BOUGH was also produced as a t.v. movie and won the Edgar Allan Poe and Anthony Boucher Awards for Best First Novel. Since then, Jonathan has published a best-selling crime novel every year, and occasionally, two a year. In addition, he has written and illustrated two books for children and a nonfiction volume on childhood violence, SAVAGE SPAWN (1999.) Though no longer active as a psychotherapist, he is a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and Psychology at University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine.
Jonathan is married to bestselling novelist Faye Kellerman and they have four children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 342 reviews
May 4, 2021
This book is part of a series but can be read as a stand alone. In this one, Melissa was a patient of Alex's when she was a child. Nine years later she calls Alex because her mother suffers from agoraphobia. Next thing you know the mother goes missing and Alex and Milo have been dragged into a case.
I liked this book even though it did have problems. I liked the look into agoraphobia and the problems it leads to for the person who suffers from it as well as their loved ones. Exploring mental diseases is one thing that this series does well. The story and the mystery intrigued me for all of it as we had plenty of suspects and the reader wasn't sure of why and what happened throughout. This was written over thirty years ago and it does show its age with the reason. It is a product of its time even though there is still work to do in this area. The problem with this book is the length and the time to get to the meat of the story. I have noticed that is the problem with the early Alex Delaware novels. Too much time to get to the point and too much descriptive detail on rooms, clothes, or characters. By the time we get to the actual mystery the reader wades through too much set up.
Like I said this book suffers from the problems I have noticed with the early books from this series. The story is excellent and it kept me captivated. You just have to go through the extra stuff to get to the good. I will definitely read the next one in this series.
I liked this book even though it did have problems. I liked the look into agoraphobia and the problems it leads to for the person who suffers from it as well as their loved ones. Exploring mental diseases is one thing that this series does well. The story and the mystery intrigued me for all of it as we had plenty of suspects and the reader wasn't sure of why and what happened throughout. This was written over thirty years ago and it does show its age with the reason. It is a product of its time even though there is still work to do in this area. The problem with this book is the length and the time to get to the meat of the story. I have noticed that is the problem with the early Alex Delaware novels. Too much time to get to the point and too much descriptive detail on rooms, clothes, or characters. By the time we get to the actual mystery the reader wades through too much set up.
Like I said this book suffers from the problems I have noticed with the early books from this series. The story is excellent and it kept me captivated. You just have to go through the extra stuff to get to the good. I will definitely read the next one in this series.
July 10, 2024
I have read a few books in this series and I do enjoy it. I really like Dr. Delaware and the way he mixes his psychotherapy with almost acting like a private eye. This one is especially fun for more because of all the older references like phone books, answering services, and pay phones. I did think this one moved too slowly and I think quite a bit of it could have been cut out. I did like the overall mystery, I just thought it could have moved so much quicker. Dr. Delaware is surprised when he gets a call from an old patient about a decade later. After reminiscing (this part was pretty interesting to me) he meets with her and is happy to help her. Before they can really get to the work her agoraphobic mother goes missing and Dr. Delaware recommends his friend and detective on a temporary leave of absence to help investigate. The last 30 pages were full of fascinating twists and turns and was great.
July 12, 2024
3 Stars. Excellent, but it loses focus in places and it's too long. With all the distractions of the 21st century, can a 500-page mystery / thriller hold readers? Tolstoy's "War and Peace" from 1869 was 1,225 pages, but they didn't have social media, 500-channel TV, and professional sporting events every evening - speaking as a male of the species! There's a bonus with "Private Eyes." One of my favourite characters, Detective Milo Sturgis of the LAPD, is on a six-month suspension without pay. For assaulting a senior officer - not surprising. He takes up Delaware's offer to work as a private investigator because he needs the money. He and Alex are the private eyes. A young woman, Melissa Dickinson, calls Dr. Alex out of the blue. He had treated her as a girl years ago. Now she's concerned for her mother who is agoraphobic - afraid to leave home. Twenty years earlier, a man tossed acid on her and disfigured her terribly. This man McCloskey has just been released on parole and Gina Dickinson is terrified. Soon she disappears. Alex and Milo work well together but unfortunately, they both charge by the hour - too expensive for a repeat performance? (No2022/Jul2024)
September 24, 2012
It took me two months to get through this, as I couldn't read more than two pages at a time without getting bored to tears. Finally, after 400 pages, it started to get good. But like every single other Alex Delaware mystery, it ends with him randomly figuring out who the bad guy is, knowing exactly where to find him, and then the bad guy just confesses every single detail of his crimes.
400 pages of dullness and an unbelievably boring premise, and then the reader is suddenly thrown into an horrific torture scene and the crazily diabolical plans that were never even hinted at in the previous pages. What happened at the end, the reason for Gina's disappearance, could have been explored more fully and satisfactorily throughout the story. Readers who are not familiar with the ideas that this "bad guy" has, or who are not aware that these ideas existed not so long ago, are going to miss an important part in psychological and civil rights history.
The one plus that differentiated this book from Kellerman's previous by-the-numbers stories is there was only a small pile of dead bodies at the end, as opposed to his usual GIANT pile of dead bodies.
I think I only have it in me to try one more in this series. Kellerman has such great characters in Delaware and his friend Milo, and the plot ideas are so intricate and interesting... but the actual deliveries of these plots are working less and less for me.
400 pages of dullness and an unbelievably boring premise, and then the reader is suddenly thrown into an horrific torture scene and the crazily diabolical plans that were never even hinted at in the previous pages. What happened at the end, the reason for Gina's disappearance, could have been explored more fully and satisfactorily throughout the story. Readers who are not familiar with the ideas that this "bad guy" has, or who are not aware that these ideas existed not so long ago, are going to miss an important part in psychological and civil rights history.
The one plus that differentiated this book from Kellerman's previous by-the-numbers stories is there was only a small pile of dead bodies at the end, as opposed to his usual GIANT pile of dead bodies.
I think I only have it in me to try one more in this series. Kellerman has such great characters in Delaware and his friend Milo, and the plot ideas are so intricate and interesting... but the actual deliveries of these plots are working less and less for me.
March 30, 2013
Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware series is one that I haven't read in order. I pick them up at book sales though and save them for times when I need an Alex Delaware fix. I just love this character, a pediatric psychologist who solves crimes, often with his friend Det. Milo Sturgis of LAPD. Delaware is smart, caring, and at the moment of this story lonely. Sturgis is gay and takes a lot of you-know-what from other LAPD cops. In this story he has been put on suspension for a period of months and Delaware talks him into taking a case as a private eye.
For those who love Delaware's former girlfriend Robyn as I do, she does make an appearance in this book. She has been through a bad time and of course Delaware is there for her.
The case involves a former patient of Delaware's, a rich girl whose mother is agoraphobic, her father dead, new stepfather in the picture, and the effects of all those on the girl. Melissa is bright and after two years of treatment had seemed capable of going on without Delaware. He doesn't take patients now except for former patients, and now Melissa needs help for her mother. Mom had been horribly scarred years earlier when someone threw acid in her beautiful face. She hasn't left the house since. The guilty parties have served time and one is dead, but the other is out of prison now. Meanwhile, Melissa has talked her mother into getting treatment for her agoraphobia but doesn't like the way things are going.
Kellerman is a master at characterization which is what keeps me on the lookout for his books that I haven't gotten to yet. In this one I sometimes thought Melissa was a little over the top, but maybe not considering her situation. I figured out the bad guy fairly early on, but I didn't know the reasoning behind the crimes. It was a harrowing mystery.
Highly recommended reading - the whole series.
Source: book sale find
For those who love Delaware's former girlfriend Robyn as I do, she does make an appearance in this book. She has been through a bad time and of course Delaware is there for her.
The case involves a former patient of Delaware's, a rich girl whose mother is agoraphobic, her father dead, new stepfather in the picture, and the effects of all those on the girl. Melissa is bright and after two years of treatment had seemed capable of going on without Delaware. He doesn't take patients now except for former patients, and now Melissa needs help for her mother. Mom had been horribly scarred years earlier when someone threw acid in her beautiful face. She hasn't left the house since. The guilty parties have served time and one is dead, but the other is out of prison now. Meanwhile, Melissa has talked her mother into getting treatment for her agoraphobia but doesn't like the way things are going.
Kellerman is a master at characterization which is what keeps me on the lookout for his books that I haven't gotten to yet. In this one I sometimes thought Melissa was a little over the top, but maybe not considering her situation. I figured out the bad guy fairly early on, but I didn't know the reasoning behind the crimes. It was a harrowing mystery.
Highly recommended reading - the whole series.
Source: book sale find
April 15, 2014
One word. BORING.
All those hundreds of pages, just about a client whose agorophobic mother went missing and I just lost all my interest. Darn shame because at least this time, Milo was doing some private investigating outside of LAPD. But I didn't like the client much (sounded whiny to me). And as always, there was lots and lots of things that I thought could just be left out. I didn't really care about the 'flashback' moments of Alex and Melissa. I didn't care about the solution. It was dull. I skimmed a lot.
Probably should take a break first before moving with the next Delaware stories. I like the characters all right, but gah, Kellerman could tone down the details a bit. It just drags the book down for me.
YAWN
All those hundreds of pages, just about a client whose agorophobic mother went missing and I just lost all my interest. Darn shame because at least this time, Milo was doing some private investigating outside of LAPD. But I didn't like the client much (sounded whiny to me). And as always, there was lots and lots of things that I thought could just be left out. I didn't really care about the 'flashback' moments of Alex and Melissa. I didn't care about the solution. It was dull. I skimmed a lot.
Probably should take a break first before moving with the next Delaware stories. I like the characters all right, but gah, Kellerman could tone down the details a bit. It just drags the book down for me.
YAWN
April 24, 2020
An ex-patient Melissa (from 10 years earlier), contacts Delaware about her agoraphobic mum, Gina (who'd had been the victim of an acid attack before Melissa's birth) who subsequently disappears. With the help of Milo, Delaware begins an investigation into the disappearance finding a multitude of suspects in Gina's life. Another great case, but this time tended to have so much detail at times, it was often difficult to maintain interest. 6 out of 12.
November 28, 2021
Totally dull until the last quarter of the book or so - and even then the ending dragged on forever, especially the final scene with the antagonist.
In this one, Alex reconnects with former patient Melissa Dickinson, whom he treated from ages 7-9. She had been experiencing night terrors, bed wetting, and irrational fears of the dark, and her mother, an agorophobe, was incapable of helping her. Ten years later, Melissa calls a now-retired Dr. Delaware out of the blue because the man who triggered her mother's phobia has been released from jail.
This plot was kind of a weird one. As a child, Melissa was a spoiled little rich girl who had to shoulder too much responsibility too young. The focus of all her worry, her mother, makes hardly an appearance in the book. She was too mysterious for too long; neither Melissa nor any of their household staff would talk about her. When facts about her started surfacing at the end of the book, it was too little, too late for me.
Although a lot happened, it read like nothing happened - if that makes sense. Meh.
In this one, Alex reconnects with former patient Melissa Dickinson, whom he treated from ages 7-9. She had been experiencing night terrors, bed wetting, and irrational fears of the dark, and her mother, an agorophobe, was incapable of helping her. Ten years later, Melissa calls a now-retired Dr. Delaware out of the blue because the man who triggered her mother's phobia has been released from jail.
This plot was kind of a weird one. As a child, Melissa was a spoiled little rich girl who had to shoulder too much responsibility too young. The focus of all her worry, her mother, makes hardly an appearance in the book. She was too mysterious for too long; neither Melissa nor any of their household staff would talk about her. When facts about her started surfacing at the end of the book, it was too little, too late for me.
Although a lot happened, it read like nothing happened - if that makes sense. Meh.
August 24, 2018
Interesting story. A little throwback effect reading about pay phones and fax machines in 2018, but it fits. Kellerman kind of overdoes it with the descriptive narrative. Do I really need to know that the adhesive tape fastening a "knock" sign above a broken doorbell had "turned the color of three day old newspaper"? The worst part, it made me wonder: What the hell does that look like? Was the newspaper out in the rain? Was it in direct sunlight? Just what would this newspaper look like in a week???? Writing this now I'm wondering what kind of paper the sign was made of. Enough! On to the next book.
December 28, 2022
Another psychological murder mystery by Jonathan Kellerman. Alex Delaware and police detective friend Milo Sturgis take on the case. It started with a long ago client of Alex's recontacting him. Her mother had been the victim of an acid attack to the face and her attacker has just been released from prison. Then she goes missing and foul play is almost assured as she's been refusing to leave her home for the last decade.
The copy I had, and audiobook, was abridged, and I know this is heresy but I liked it better than all of the other Kellerman/Delaware novels. I think it beneffited from the decreased length, especially from the mush shorter descriptions of everything.
The copy I had, and audiobook, was abridged, and I know this is heresy but I liked it better than all of the other Kellerman/Delaware novels. I think it beneffited from the decreased length, especially from the mush shorter descriptions of everything.
December 2, 2021
It was pretty good. It was also way too long and meandered so it could have done with some editing. The plot was an interesting one. You never know what you are going to get in this series and I love that. I was a little disappointed that the child psychologist had yet another case that did not involve children. The closest this one comes is a former patient who was once a child but is now an adult which leads to a child psychologist and a story devoid of children. Why not just make him a normal psychologist if the cases are going to have nothing to do with kids? Ok, rant over. I like the characters. I like the stories. I will continue with this series and hope it improves a bit in the next book!
June 13, 2020
2...So very slow...The story didn't pick up for me until the last several chapters...Great case but getting there took so long, I didn't care once we got there! Here's hoping this is not a reoccurring theme...
February 24, 2015
This book was a painful read. The first half of the book is invested in characterization and setting. One main character in particular is painstakingly and repetitively depicted as a take-charge, courageous, likeable child and then as a take-charge, self-centered, annoying young adult. No character, no matter how insignificant, is left unexplored. Setting—interior, exterior, and history—is ruthlessly depicted in mind-numbing detail. I found myself skipping entire pages, knowing I chanced missing a speck of information that may prove crucial later but lacking the will to plow through it. If I weren’t a Kellerman fan, I wouldn’t have finished Private Eyes.
Two-thirds of the way into the book, I found my mind drifting while reading. I had to force myself to focus on the print to make it through another page. I was committed. I had passed the point where I could set the book to the side. It’s not that the writing is bad. Au contraire. The dialogue is interesting and character-appropriate. The setting is vivid. I perceived all that the writer wanted to convey. There just wasn’t any attention-grabbing tension. Nothing happens in the first two-thirds of the book. I felt like I was reading a character study or a travelogue.
Plot in Private Eyes appears to be an afterthought. After 300-plus pages of character studies and set design, Kellerman realizes the reader might expect more. Common sense dictates he satisfy the reader’s response to scanty foreshadowing, perhaps answering his or her questions about the motive behind a vicious attack occurring decades ago. Why had a beautiful woman been so badly disfigured in her youth? In my opinion, the author didn’t know. When he realized he couldn’t go any farther with that storyline (or that the storyline wouldn’t prove commercial enough), he quickly, clumsily, introduces a new storyline, one that is certain to satisfy those readers who seek blood, gore, and sex over a well-crafted tale. Opting for graphic, wildly improbable, violence over sophisticated story-telling, Kellerman is finally able to put this book behind him.
A disappointing read. I loved the vivid descriptions, especially of the people, but anything in excess palls after time. I wanted to read a story. I wound up reading a graduate student exercise in character and setting.
Two-thirds of the way into the book, I found my mind drifting while reading. I had to force myself to focus on the print to make it through another page. I was committed. I had passed the point where I could set the book to the side. It’s not that the writing is bad. Au contraire. The dialogue is interesting and character-appropriate. The setting is vivid. I perceived all that the writer wanted to convey. There just wasn’t any attention-grabbing tension. Nothing happens in the first two-thirds of the book. I felt like I was reading a character study or a travelogue.
Plot in Private Eyes appears to be an afterthought. After 300-plus pages of character studies and set design, Kellerman realizes the reader might expect more. Common sense dictates he satisfy the reader’s response to scanty foreshadowing, perhaps answering his or her questions about the motive behind a vicious attack occurring decades ago. Why had a beautiful woman been so badly disfigured in her youth? In my opinion, the author didn’t know. When he realized he couldn’t go any farther with that storyline (or that the storyline wouldn’t prove commercial enough), he quickly, clumsily, introduces a new storyline, one that is certain to satisfy those readers who seek blood, gore, and sex over a well-crafted tale. Opting for graphic, wildly improbable, violence over sophisticated story-telling, Kellerman is finally able to put this book behind him.
A disappointing read. I loved the vivid descriptions, especially of the people, but anything in excess palls after time. I wanted to read a story. I wound up reading a graduate student exercise in character and setting.
September 28, 2010
An older Alex Delaware that I hadn't read has him treating a young girl and years later being contacted by the same girl and getting involved with her mother who is being treated by a couple of Drs. for acrophobia. There is a lot of time spent on the psychological aspect and less on the unfolding mystery until the mother goes missing. The search for her opens up a convoluted mystery that goes to nearly the end before being resolved. The psychological bits slowed things down, but all in all a decent yarn.
November 22, 2023
Private Eyes by Jonathan Kellerman is the 6th book in the Alex Delaware Mystery series. A former patient, Melissa Dickenson, contacts child psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware for advise regarding her agoraphobic mother who then goes missing. I found it difficult to get into this book as it took so long for anything to happen. I love the characters and like that Milo starts out on his own in this book, although we don't see very much of him. There really isn't much of an investigation and the ending was rushed and unexpected. Not one of the better books in the series.
March 17, 2022
Alex had treated Melissa when she was a little girl. Now she is 18 and calls him because she is worried about her mother, a severe agoraphobic. One thing leads to another -- including a murder or two and a very unethical psychologist -- but the good doctor and his buddy Milo Sturgis straighten everything out in the end.
April 6, 2022
3.1 stars?? I originally was going to give this 3.9 or 4 stars, but that torture scene at the end was absolutely horrific (even though listening to the audiobook I skipped forward 15 to 30 seconds at times) 🤢🤮
Other than that, I wish that the later books in this series included this much psychology 😒🤷🏻♀️
Other than that, I wish that the later books in this series included this much psychology 😒🤷🏻♀️
June 16, 2016
An early one I missed great story and profile of rich and famous Hollywood style
July 21, 2017
Another enjoyable read. I'm really getting into this series big time.
June 13, 2024
Almost did not finish, but wanted to know the plot. Slow, slow, slow.
September 20, 2025
A former patient calls Alex Delaware out of the blue. When she was a girl, she was paranoid, whihc she got from her mother. Now her mother is missing, even though she never left the house. Delaware intervenes.
About 50 pages too long.
About 50 pages too long.
August 11, 2025
The writing is nothing to get excited about but the mystery kept me guessing. Milo continues to be more interesting than Alex.
March 14, 2020
Dr. Alex Delaware no longer practices as a child psychologist, other than consulting on family law cases and helping an LAPD homicide detective solve an occasional twisted case. But he's always available to his former patients. Now a young woman he hasn't seen or heard from since she was nine years old – nine years ago – calls on him for help, and he can't refuse. Melissa was a remarkable patient – almost a magical case, Alex has always thought – a girl who called for help at age 7 to deal with her own crippling phobias. Now Melissa is concerned about her mom, a former actress and model who was severely burned by an acid attack years ago and has been agoraphobic ever since. Gina Ramp is starting to come out of her shell, with the aid of a new husband and a pair of therapists. But Melissa, who has been accepted at Harvard, is feeling a little jealous and suspects these people's motives. Also, the guy who burned her is out of jail, off parole and back in town. Melissa worries about leaving her mom to their tender mercies, and wants Alex's read on the situation.
Alex is still reading it when Gina up and disappears, apparently while driving to a therapy session all by herself – something nobody thought she was ready to do. Melissa is at her wits' end. Alex's cop buddy, on suspension after decking a superior officer on live TV, is willing to come on board as a private investigator. So, while Milo follows the trails of all possible motives for hurting Gina – including love, revenge and money – Alex looks at the behavioral angles. Something is off about Melissa's stepdad and his tennis instructor. Then there's the girl's boyfriend, whose mother works for the stepdad. The family banker and the family lawyer, who seem in an awful hurry to take control of Gina Ramp's estate. An ex-con who claims to be trying to make amends, but whose motive for burning Gina's face was never explained. A hint of something inappropriate going on between Gina and her therapist. Unanswered questions about the fate of the psychologist who originally referred Melissa to Alex. When evidence surfaces suggesting that Gina Ramp is dead, it becomes terribly urgent to put the pieces together.
With a late 1980s-early 1990s Los Angeles setting, this book is recent enough to qualify as present-day while still providing nostalgic glimpses of that cultural moment. At the same time, it has the literary quality of a perfectly-worked-out hardboiled mystery updated for a later generation. That's in spite of the fact that the "private eyes" are actually a child psychologist who really cares about his client's wellbeing and an investigator who is, and always will be, a cop at heart. The particular terms of their partnership in this case put a certain strain on their friendship; and of course, it also allows Alex to find himself in one of those dangerous situations you should never go into without police backup, four or five novels since he should have learned that lesson. But still, as I say, it's pretty hardboiled, with a sense of self-deprecating irony, detailed eye for architecture, home decor, personal appearance and dress, and a blues-tinged romantic dilemma between two women he loves in different ways. You'll think he's going to break both of their hearts, or maybe it'll go the other way around. It's so very Philip Marlowe.
This is the sixth of (currently) 35 mystery-thrillers featuring child psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware and his LAPD detective buddy Milo Sturgis. Previous installments are When the Bough Breaks, Blood Test, Over the Edge, Silent Partner and Time Bomb; coming next after this book is Devil's Waltz. The author, himself an authority on child psychology, is part of the powerhouse Kellerman writing family that also includes his wife Faye (cf. the Decker and Lazarus crime novels) and son Jesse.
Alex is still reading it when Gina up and disappears, apparently while driving to a therapy session all by herself – something nobody thought she was ready to do. Melissa is at her wits' end. Alex's cop buddy, on suspension after decking a superior officer on live TV, is willing to come on board as a private investigator. So, while Milo follows the trails of all possible motives for hurting Gina – including love, revenge and money – Alex looks at the behavioral angles. Something is off about Melissa's stepdad and his tennis instructor. Then there's the girl's boyfriend, whose mother works for the stepdad. The family banker and the family lawyer, who seem in an awful hurry to take control of Gina Ramp's estate. An ex-con who claims to be trying to make amends, but whose motive for burning Gina's face was never explained. A hint of something inappropriate going on between Gina and her therapist. Unanswered questions about the fate of the psychologist who originally referred Melissa to Alex. When evidence surfaces suggesting that Gina Ramp is dead, it becomes terribly urgent to put the pieces together.
With a late 1980s-early 1990s Los Angeles setting, this book is recent enough to qualify as present-day while still providing nostalgic glimpses of that cultural moment. At the same time, it has the literary quality of a perfectly-worked-out hardboiled mystery updated for a later generation. That's in spite of the fact that the "private eyes" are actually a child psychologist who really cares about his client's wellbeing and an investigator who is, and always will be, a cop at heart. The particular terms of their partnership in this case put a certain strain on their friendship; and of course, it also allows Alex to find himself in one of those dangerous situations you should never go into without police backup, four or five novels since he should have learned that lesson. But still, as I say, it's pretty hardboiled, with a sense of self-deprecating irony, detailed eye for architecture, home decor, personal appearance and dress, and a blues-tinged romantic dilemma between two women he loves in different ways. You'll think he's going to break both of their hearts, or maybe it'll go the other way around. It's so very Philip Marlowe.
This is the sixth of (currently) 35 mystery-thrillers featuring child psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware and his LAPD detective buddy Milo Sturgis. Previous installments are When the Bough Breaks, Blood Test, Over the Edge, Silent Partner and Time Bomb; coming next after this book is Devil's Waltz. The author, himself an authority on child psychology, is part of the powerhouse Kellerman writing family that also includes his wife Faye (cf. the Decker and Lazarus crime novels) and son Jesse.
November 22, 2016
Not the best Alex Delaware book, in my opinion, that I have read thus far. Lots of boring stretches of narrative that seem to go on and on. Dutchy was my favorite character. Melissa is just too haughty, privileged -- and frankly unlikeable -- for the reader to care much about. Private Eyes came out in 1992 and it just hasn't aged well. Still will listen to the series when stuck in traffic.
May 18, 2009
Kellerman is one of my staples...hero of the child psyche, friend to Milo Sturgis (Holloywood detective; gay). This story was one of compartmentalized family, agoraphobia, hyper vigilance, the very rich. His stories don't always end happily but he brings clinical understanding to the unhappy situations.
February 21, 2017
I had trouble relating to Melissa or her agoraphobic mother, they just seemed so fake or unlikable, that I wasn't able to really connect with the book. But it did put getting treatment for mental health issues in a positive light, for both Melissa and her mother got the help they needed at the end after going through (implausible) traumas.
July 29, 2014
Surprising ending! The author leads the reader to imagine all kinds of conspiracies, and then changes direction. Who knew!
I've enjoyed this series, even though the psychologist's wimpiness is occasionally annoying.
I've enjoyed this series, even though the psychologist's wimpiness is occasionally annoying.
July 26, 2021
Going back to the start of this series and interesting to see the beginnings of Alex’s relationships with Robin and Milo. This was another child focused mystery in the beginning with a mother that had agoraphobia that evolved into so much more. These keep me engaged from beginning to end.
August 28, 2018
OK writing, lame as hell characters with no redeeming qualities. Just trying to catch up on my Delaware reading, it seems I've missed a few. Could've passed on this one.
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