The wedding guest : an Alex Delaware novel
(Large Type)

A former strip club is an unlikely venue for a wedding, but what bride Brearley called Baby by her long-suffering family demands, Brearley gets. The edginess is more authentic than Baby bargained for, though, when a young woman is found dead at the wedding. None of the guests seems to know the deceased beauty; finding out who she is and why she met her sordid end takes all the wiles of Kellerman's beloved psychologist sleuth, Dr. Alex Delaware, and his sidekick, LAPD lieutenant Milo Sturgis. As usual, the two form a formidable team. Also as usual, the characters here are varied and described with gritty clarity, and the puzzle facing the duo involves a delightful mix of L.A. culture, this time from its dive bars to its much more serious side. Kellerman needs no selling to his legions of fans.--Henrietta Verma Copyright 2019 Booklist

At the start of Edgar winner Kellerman's workmanlike 34th whodunit featuring L.A. psychologist Alex Delaware (after 2018's Night Moves), a guest at a wedding held at a former strip joint is looking for a bathroom when she stumbles across a female corpse. During the subsequent police investigation, none of the wedding attendees admits to knowing the victim, who was drugged with an injection of fentanyl in her neck before being garroted. Alex and his LAPD friend, Lt. Milo Sturgis, follow predictable lines of inquiry, including tracing the strip joint's former owner and determining whether anyone hated the bride or groom enough to ruin the celebration. They eventually identify the victim as 31-year-old Suzanne DaCosta, but she had no known links to the newlyweds. Some possibly related deaths include one that Alex and Milo learn of by pure chance when a Polish expat working in the coroner's office informs them of a murder in her native country, whose m.o. matches that of DaCosta. Kellerman has done better both with plotting and with bringing the reader inside the heads of his characters. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

A former strip club is an unlikely venue for a wedding, but what bride Brearley—called Baby by her long-suffering family—demands, Brearley gets. The edginess is more authentic than Baby bargained for, though, when a young woman is found dead at the wedding. None of the guests seems to know the deceased beauty; finding out who she is and why she met her sordid end takes all the wiles of Kellerman's beloved psychologist sleuth, Dr. Alex Delaware, and his sidekick, LAPD lieutenant Milo Sturgis. As usual, the two form a formidable team. Also as usual, the characters here are varied and described with gritty clarity, and the puzzle facing the duo involves a delightful mix of L.A. culture, this time from its dive bars to its much more serious side. Kellerman needs no selling to his legions of fans. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.

At the start of Edgar winner Kellerman's workmanlike 34th whodunit featuring L.A. psychologist Alex Delaware (after 2018's Night Moves), a guest at a wedding held at a former strip joint is looking for a bathroom when she stumbles across a female corpse. During the subsequent police investigation, none of the wedding attendees admits to knowing the victim, who was drugged with an injection of fentanyl in her neck before being garroted. Alex and his LAPD friend, Lt. Milo Sturgis, follow predictable lines of inquiry, including tracing the strip joint's former owner and determining whether anyone hated the bride or groom enough to ruin the celebration. They eventually identify the victim as 31-year-old Suzanne DaCosta, but she had no known links to the newlyweds. Some possibly related deaths include one that Alex and Milo learn of by pure chance when a Polish expat working in the coroner's office informs them of a murder in her native country, whose m.o. matches that of DaCosta. Kellerman has done better both with plotting and with bringing the reader inside the heads of his characters. (Feb.)