Unnatural History - An Alex Delaware Novel

Informationen zum Autor Jonathan Kellerman Klappentext "On a superficially lovely morning a woman shows up for work with her usual enthusiasm. She's the newly hired personal assistant to a handsome, wealthy photographer and is ready to greet her boss with coffee and good cheer. Instead, she finds him slumped in bed, shot to death. The victim had recently received rave media attention for his latest project: images of homeless people in their personal 'dream' situations, elaborately costumed and enacting unfulfilled fantasies. There are some, however, who view the whole thing as nothing more than crass exploitation, citing token payments and the victim's avoidance of any long-term relationships with his subjects. Has disgruntlement blossomed into homicidal rage?"-- Leseprobe CHAPTER 1 When I go to crime scenes, I’m ready to focus on terrible things. I end up at crime scenes because my best friend, a homicide lieutenant, thinks I have something to offer on the cases he calls “different.” He rarely gives me details, wanting me to form my own impressions. As I pulled up to the yellow tape on a Monday morning just after ten, I knew nothing. No evidence markers outside. Whatever had happened was limited to the interior of a navy-blue, two-story stucco building. I gave my name to a uniform guarding the tape and was allowed to park in a red zone. The blue building sat on the north side of Venice Boulevard, perched on a grubby corner, the entrance on a side street. At the back was a parking area, also taped, with the rear end of a black Prius just visible. Beyond the alley was a residential block; seventy-year-old apartments and a few straggling bungalows. A little pocket of L.A. that had managed to elude Culver City when borders were drawn. The automotive mix out front was the usual. Black-and-whites plus vehicles dispatched from the crypt on North Mission Road. Two vans for transporting techs and their gear, meaning lots of scraping and sampling; one for transporting bodies; a Chevy Volt sedan used by coroners’ assistants as they traveled around the county ministering to dead people. No signage on the blue building. Rust-crusted security bars grilled two narrow windows on each floor. So narrow they evoked castle bow-slits. I slipped under the tape and headed for the front door, a gray metal slab left slightly ajar. No one had told me to glove up but I covered my hand with a corner of my blazer and prepared to nudge. Before I made contact, the door swung open and Milo Sturgis came out. He wore a pessimistic black suit, a beige shirt stretched tight over his gut, and a skinny brown tie whose origins could be traced to a chemistry lab. Paper booties covered his desert boots. He had gloved up and latex glistened as it strained over hands the size of strip steaks. His black hair alternated between gelled obedience and random flight. His face was chalky in the sunlight, UV rays advertising pits and lumps that harked back to teenage acne. Nothing to interpret; his default pallor. Startling green eyes remained calm but his mouth was set in a sour frown. Annoyed. “Thanks for coming,” he said. “Ready to put on your therapist hat?” “For who? “C’mon, I’ll show you.” The door opened to a blank white wall. To the right was an alarm keypad. Less wall than knock-up partition; pebbled, whitewashed fiberboard, no ability to mute sound. Lots of sound from behind the wall. Moans and gasps and sobs then a moment of breath-catching quiet during which a woman said, “Try to relax,” with no great sincerity. More sobbing. I said, “Someone’s having a bad day.” Milo said, “Not compared with the decedent. Hopefully you can calm things down so I can concentrate on the decedent.” CHAPTER 2 By the time I reached the crying woman, I knew the dec...

Product details

• Authors: Jonathan Kellerman
• Publisher: Ballantine
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 07.02.2023
• EAN: 9780525618614
• ISBN: 978-0-525-61861-4
• No. of pages: 320
• Dimensions: 156 mm x 235 mm x 21 mm
• Subject: Fiction > Suspense > Crime fiction, thrillers, espionage