Alex Delaware Solves Impossible Cold Cases
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- Jonathan Kellerman published the first Alex Delaware novel, When the Bough Breaks, in 1985 through Atheneum Books.
- The series has produced over 40 novels, with Delaware operating as a forensic psychologist rather than a traditional detective.
- Kellerman earned his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Southern California in 1974, specialising in child psychology.
- Delaware's cases typically involve cold or dormant investigations where psychological insight drives the breakthrough.
- The series is set primarily in Los Angeles, with Delaware consulting for LAPD's Milo Sturgis.
- Kellerman's work sits alongside Thomas Harris and Karin Slaughter in the psychological crime thriller genre.
The Murder Book (Alex Delaware series, Book 16) — Jonathan Kellerman
A decades-old Hollywood murder resurfaces with fresh victims, and Delaware's childhood connection makes it personal. This is Kellerman at his most layered — the "murder book" is LAPD slang for a homicide case file, and when one lands on Delaware's doorstep twenty years cold, it unravels both a conspiracy and Delaware's own past. The pacing is surgical: Kellerman withholds just enough to make you paranoid about every character's motives, while the Hollywood setting adds that specific LA rot — wealth, image control, cover-ups. If you've read Tana French's cold-case procedurals, you'll recognise the bone-deep dread here, but Kellerman skews more clinical. Explore our current copy of The Murder Book or browse more Australian Books at Patina.A Cold Heart (Alex Delaware series, Book 17) — Jonathan Kellerman
Serial murders targeting LA's elite force Delaware to decode the killer's psychological blueprint before the pattern repeats. Kellerman writes villains who operate on twisted internal logic, and A Cold Heart delivers one of his coldest. The victims are high-profile, the crime scenes theatrical, and Delaware has to reverse-engineer a psyche that views murder as performance art. What makes this installable is Kellerman's refusal to sensationalise — the violence is there, but the real horror is watching Delaware map the killer's cognitive distortions in real time. It's procedural, yes, but the procedure is psychological autopsy. Readers who devoured Jeffery Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme novels will appreciate the forensic rigor here, though Kellerman's lens is the mind, not the evidence bag. Explore our current copy of A Cold Heart or browse more Australian Books at Patina.Therapy (Alex Delaware series, Book 18) — Jonathan Kellerman
When a celebrity psychologist's marriage implodes into violence, Delaware investigates whether therapy itself became the weapon. This one gets meta — Kellerman uses his own profession as the crime scene. A high-profile therapist's life unravels, and Delaware has to determine if therapeutic manipulation drove someone to murder or if the profession is just convenient camouflage. It's Kellerman interrogating his own field, which gives Therapy an uncomfortable intimacy. The twists aren't about whodunit; they're about whether motive can be manufactured under the guise of healing. If you're drawn to psychological thrillers that question authority — think Ruth Ware's unreliable narrators or Sarah Pinborough's gaslighting plots — this delivers that same paranoia but grounded in clinical practice. Explore our current copy of Therapy or browse more Australian Books at Patina.Twisted — Jonathan Kellerman
A psychologist's daughter vanishes, and Delaware discovers that professional ethics and paternal desperation make a volatile combination. Kellerman plays with proximity here — when the victim is a colleague's child, Delaware's objectivity fractures, and that's where the tension lives. The investigation spirals through LA's therapeutic community, exposing the gap between the composed facades psychologists project and the chaos they're hiding. It's less about the crime mechanics and more about watching Delaware navigate a case where every suspect knows exactly how to manipulate an interview. As of May 2026, Patina's crime fiction collection rotates through Kellerman's LA-set thrillers alongside Michael Connelly's Bosch novels — both dissect the same city, but Kellerman's Los Angeles is a psychological landscape, not a geographical one. Explore our current copy of Twisted or browse more Australian Books at Patina.The Conspiracy Club — Jonathan Kellerman
Psychologist Jeremy Carrier (not Delaware) stumbles into a secret society investigating medical murders — and becomes the next target. This is Kellerman outside the Delaware series, and it shows. Jeremy Carrier is more vulnerable, more paranoid, and the "Conspiracy Club" premise — a group of doctors and psychologists who meet to solve medical mysteries — leans into academic gothic. It's slower, more cerebral, and the villain's pathology is rooted in institutional power rather than individual psychosis. If you've exhausted the Delaware novels and want Kellerman's brand of psychological dread without the series continuity, this standalone delivers. The medical setting recalls Robin Cook's clinical thrillers, but Kellerman keeps the focus on cognitive manipulation over biological horror. Explore our current copy of The Conspiracy Club or browse more Australian Books at Patina. Jonathan Kellerman doesn't write comfort reads — he writes the detective fiction equivalent of a psych eval, where the crime is just the entry point and the real investigation is into why humans fracture the way they do. If you're after pulp procedurals, look elsewhere. If you want crime fiction that treats pathology as seriously as evidence, Kellerman's your baseline. Shop all Australian Books at Patina Paperbacks →Where can I buy secondhand Alex Delaware novels in Australia?
Patina Paperbacks stocks rotating preloved copies of Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware series, shipping Australia-wide from Sydney. Our crime fiction collection turns over regularly, so check back if a specific title's sold out — these books move fast among readers who know what clinical psychological thrillers actually look like. Free shipping over $29 applies across all orders.
Do I need to read the Alex Delaware series in order?
Not strictly, though you'll miss Delaware's evolving relationship with Milo Sturgis and recurring character development if you jump around. Each novel contains a standalone case, so The Murder Book or Therapy work as entry points if you want to test Kellerman's style before committing to the full chronology. That said, starting with When the Bough Breaks (1985) gives you the cleanest narrative arc.
How does Jonathan Kellerman compare to other psychological crime writers?
Kellerman sits between Thomas Harris's visceral pathology and Tana French's atmospheric procedurals — he's got the clinical credibility (PhD in psychology) to make the therapeutic manipulation feel real, but he writes LA noir, not gothic introspection. If you've burned through Karin Slaughter's Grant County series or Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch novels, Kellerman's the natural next step. His villains operate on internal logic that's disturbing because it's almost coherent.
Are Jonathan Kellerman's books set in Sydney or Los Angeles?
Los Angeles — the entire Alex Delaware series unfolds in LA, with Delaware consulting for the LAPD. The city functions as a character itself in Kellerman's work: sprawling, image-obsessed, stratified by wealth and access. There's no Sydney connection in the novels, though Australian readers have claimed Kellerman as required crime fiction since the '80s. We stock his work in our Australian Books collection because honestly, half our regulars grew up on these.
What's the best Alex Delaware novel to start with?
The Murder Book (Book 16) or Therapy (Book 18) if you want mid-series polish without needing backstory. Both showcase Kellerman's strengths — cold-case psychology, LA's dark underbelly, and Delaware's methodical unraveling of motive over evidence. When the Bough Breaks (Book 1) is the purist's answer, but it reads younger than Kellerman's later work. A Cold Heart offers the tightest serial-killer plot if that's your entry point preference.