Reviews for Motive

by Jonathan Kellerman

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Motive is particularly puzzling in disparate murders linked only by an odd food factor. Untouched dinners for two are found in the female victims' homes (or, in the case of a homeless woman, McDonald's burgers, fries, and chocolate shakes on a box near the body). An accountant's stabbing death, with a salmon dinner on the scene, is becoming a cold case that bothers LAPD Lieutenant Milo Sturgis, who calls on psychologist Alex Delaware to advise. Then divorced businesswoman Ursula Corey is shot in a parking garage near her attorney's Culver City office, and it's chicken breast à deux in her home. Corey's ex and her attorney, as well as the sous-chef ex-boyfriend of the first victim, become persons of interest, but much more legwork is required to close the case. But in Kellerman's capable hands, the journey is as much a pleasure as arriving at the destination. There's the interplay between old friends Delaware and Sturgis, the exploration of L.A. environs, and the omnipresent food, which briefly dulls the appetite of even well-padded Sturgis. This thirtieth in the series is one of the best.--Leber, Michele Copyright 2015 Booklist


Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

The crafty plot of Edgar-winner Kellerman's 30th novel featuring L.A. psychologist Alex Delaware (after 2014's Killer) will even keep genre veterans guessing. Delaware has been trying, without success, to help his homicide lieutenant friend, Milo Sturgis, with an unusual case. Straightlaced bookkeeper Katherine Hennepin was stabbed 36 times in her apartment by someone who left dinner on her kitchen table set for two. The evidence points to her violent ex-boyfriend, Darius Kleffer, a chef likely to be adept with the type of butcher knife used for the murder. But Kleffer's alibi leaves Sturgis with an open case, even as he picks up another baffler: the parking lot murder of businesswoman Ursula Corey, shot to death soon after a meeting with the attorney handling her divorce. Her former husband, the obvious suspect, turns out also to have an alibi. When the police get to Ursula's home, they find yet another untouched meal for two. The twists are both shocking and logical, and the byplay between the leads entertaining. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.