Look, I have a bone to pick with Jonathan Kellerman. Thirty-plus books into the Alex Delaware series and the man still knows how to make me feel like I'm meeting these characters for the first time. That's annoying. In the best way. But still annoying because it means I can't quit this series even when my TBR pile is threatening to collapse and bury Shirley.
So here's the setup: a megarich young woman wants to solve her mother's decades-old murder. Mom was found with a bullet in her head in a torched Cadillac on Mulholland Drive. No witnesses. No evidence. A parade of detectives have already failed. And Milo Sturgis - our grumpy, brilliant LAPD homicide lieutenant - is being pressured from above to play nice with money. He hates it. I love that he hates it.
John Rubinstein Is the Reason I Keep Coming Back
Honestly? At this point, John Rubinstein IS Milo Sturgis in my head. There's no separating them. His voice for Milo screams veteran cop who's seen too much and cares anyway - that gravelly warmth mixed with dry humor. It's perfect. And the chemistry he creates between Alex and Milo? These two feel like old friends because Rubinstein makes them sound like old friends. The banter lands. The silences mean something.
I listened to this one during a string of late shifts at the library, headphones in while reshelving the horror section (yes, I see the irony). Rubinstein's pacing kept me engaged even when I was alphabetizing Koontz. The man knows when to slow down for the psychological moments and when to push through the procedural stuff. Twelve hours flew by.
That same balance of psychological insight and procedural momentum shows up in Last Trial, though that one leans harder into courtroom tension.
The Cold Case That Refuses to Stay Cold
Kellerman does something interesting here. This isn't a whodunit where you're racing to beat the detective. It's a slow excavation. Layers of coincidence that aren't coincidences. Facts that crumble when you poke them. Alex and Milo aren't just solving a murder - they're reconstructing a woman's entire life from fragments.
And here's where it gets genuinely creepy: the past isn't staying in the past. There are threats lurking in the present. Real ones. The kind that made me pause the audiobook and check that the library's back door was locked. (It was. Obviously. I'm a professional.)
The atmosphere Kellerman creates - that beautiful, forbidding Los Angeles where money and violence exist in the same zip code - it's the kind of setting that horror appreciates. Not because there are monsters, but because the humans are monstrous enough.
Ice Princess operates in that same space where ordinary people become the real horror—different setting, same underlying dread.
Where It Gets a Little Tangled
Okay, I'll be honest. There are a LOT of women in this story. Past and present. Connected in ways that take a while to untangle. I caught myself rewinding a few times going "wait, which one was she married to?" Some listeners have mentioned wishing for a female narrator to differentiate the women's voices, and I get it. Rubinstein does his best, but when you've got multiple female characters from different decades all circling the same mystery, it can get confusing.
This isn't a dealbreaker. But if you're listening while doing something else - driving, cooking, plotting your next podcast episode - you might miss a connection. This one rewards your full attention.
The Psychology Underneath
Kellerman's background as a clinical psychologist shows. Alex Delaware doesn't just observe behavior - he understands it. The way he reads people, picks up on what they're not saying, follows the emotional logic of trauma and secrets... it's the kind of character work that makes mystery feel like horror's more respectable cousin. (They're both about uncovering what's buried. Horror just has better aesthetics.)
The villain reveal - when it comes - makes psychological sense. That's rare. Too many thrillers go for shock over logic. Kellerman goes for both.
Who Should Listen (And Who Should Skip)
If you love procedurals with psychological depth, cold cases that actually feel cold, or you just want to hear John Rubinstein do his thing for twelve hours - this is your book. Skip it if you need fast-paced action or can't handle keeping track of a large cast while multitasking.
The Verdict
Is this the best Alex Delaware novel? I don't know. I've listened to maybe a dozen of them and they blur together in that comfortable way that good series do. What I know is this: John Rubinstein's narration is worth the twelve hours alone. The cold case structure scratches that true crime itch without the ethical ickiness of actual true crime. And the Los Angeles setting - Mulholland Drive, the canyons, the money - creates atmosphere that lingers.
If you're new to the series, you can start here. Kellerman gives you enough context. But honestly? Go back to the beginning. Let Rubinstein's voice become the voice of these characters in your head. You'll thank me later.
Shirley was unimpressed by the whole thing, but she's a cat. She's unimpressed by everything except 3 AM zoomies and knocking things off shelves. I, however, was thoroughly engaged. And slightly paranoid about Mulholland Drive, a road I will never drive on because I live in Oregon and also I've seen too many movies.
My podcast listeners are going to love this one. Classic procedural with psychological depth and a narrator who commits. That's the formula.
