THE GHOST ORCHID

4 stars out of 5

Sometimes, even psychologists get the blues. This, the 39th book in the series, opens with Dr. Alex Delaware not quite sure how to deal with his longtime friend, Los Angeles Police Detective Milo Sturgis. As they worked together on a previous case, Alex was seriously injured, and Milo feels responsible and has been keeping his distance by not calling Alex in to help with investigations as he usually does. That changes a little bit, though, when he does need help at a crime scene in Bel Air; two victims, a man and a woman, have been shot through the heart, and Milo doesn't yet know who to blame.

The man, part of a family that owns a ritzy Italian shoe company, lives here, and the woman - who's married to someone else - lives in an even more oppulent home just down the street. With the bodies found outside and no signs of anything missing from the house, both Milo and Alex suspect that their presumably illicit affair could be a motive. But the husband, a successful businessman who's on the road far more often than at home, insists he knew nothing about the affair.

Little by little, clues pile up that suggest the dead woman might not be who she's been claiming to be - thus raising the possibility of an entirely different motive and an expanded search for the killer. Ferreting out her background, though, is no easy task - and Milo brings in other trusted department colleagues who are familiar to fans of the series to help. In the midst of the investigation, another body turns up - further complicating matters. A major turning point comes when Alex's longtime main squeeze, guitar restorer Robin, identifies an important clue (one that relates to the book title). To that end, I must say it was a treat to see Robin play a bit greater role than usual in this installment - as well as a little less of the descriptions of every street that Milo and Alex drive down (don't get me wrong - I enjoy that part, but sometimes it gets to be a bit much).

Of course, everything works out in the end, as does a potentially nasty situation with one of Alex's private patients that's a secondary thread throughout the latter part of the book. And oh yes, for those who haven't read other books in the series, don't sweat it; this one stands on its own. As for me, I'll just thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me once again to read and review a pre-release copy. Now bring on the next one!

The Ghost Orchid by Jonathan Kellerman (Ballantine Books, February 2024); 304 pp.

COLD BLOODED LIAR

4 stars out of 5

When it comes to books, if I see the word "romance" in the description my eyes start to cross, my nose twitches and my lips start puckering up to say "Noooooo." But since I've read and enjoyed a couple of other books by this talented author - and since the other descriptive word is "suspense" - I crossed my fingers and went for it.

And it worked out just fine. Oh, there are hints at romance - mostly, I think, as a lead-in to the second book in the "San Diego Case Files" series - and much of them are to me downright silly. But it's hardly the overarching theme - identifying a longtime serial killer is the real deal here - so it's easy to overlook if your sappy stuff perspective is as jaded as mine. The focus is on Katherine (Kit) McKittrick, an ace detective with the San Diego Police Department. An otherwise competent woman who struggles with trust issues as a result of her past - which includes a long stint in the foster system - Kit is hard-pressed to trust psychologist Dr. Sam Reeves when he risks his professional career by calling the police about one of his patients - a pathological liar. The romance part rears its head when Kit, who is infatuated with Sam (reluctantly of course) can't quite bring herself to consider him a suspect when the body of a young woman is unearthed following his phone tip. 

The discovery is gruesome just because of the crime, but it quickly gets even worse when the killer's M.O. matches that of a never-caught serial killer of young women. More ties to Sam turn up, making it even harder for Kit to believe he's innocent - compounded by the fact that her longtime partner and mentor, Basil "Baz" Constantine, thinks she should take off her rose-colored glasses and at least entertain the possibility that he's not the all-around sweetheart he seems to be. Honestly, there's a little too much waffling on Kit's part to suit me, and I think the author was a little too heavy-handed with trying to polish his halo, but happily he - and she - are such likeable characters (Baz even more so) that it matters not.

The story follows the intense investigation as well as insights from Kit's troubled past to her close relationship with her "last" foster parents who are almost too good to be believable, but their relationship with their charges tugged at my heartstrings anyway. The ending brings a surprise - unwelcome to several of the characters for various reasons I can't reveal - and a sigh of disappointment from me just because the whole thing was over and I'll have to wait for the next installment. Meantime, many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy of this one. Well done! 

Cold Blooded Liar by Karen Rose (Berkley, February 2023); 464 pp.