Crime Scene by Jonathan Kellerman and Jesse Kellerman

Jonathan Kellerman is the award winning author of 44 books of fiction. He has teamed up with his son Jesse to bring us a fresh new series and Kerry Hammond is here to report.

Jonathan Kellerman is the New York Time’s Bestselling author of the well-known series featuring psychologist Alex Delaware. He has written 32 books in the Delaware series as well as numerous standalone novels, two of which were co-written with his wife Faye Kellerman. The family business doesn't stop there, he has also co-written two books with his son Jesse Kellerman, and Crime Scene makes the third. It is the first in a new series written by the father/son team and it introduces Clay Edison, a coroner’s investigator with the Alameda County coroner’s office in California. I’ve been a long-time fan of the Alex Delaware series and decided I needed to see what this father/son team was all about.

Clay Edison is a former athlete whose career was cut short after a knee injury on the basketball court in college. Needing to decide on another career, he chose to pursue one in the field of law enforcement—kind of. This new career is a far cry from that of a fan adored basketball player, and as Clay says himself, “When I meet new people, they’re usually dead.”

On his latest call out he is sent to review and determine whether a death was an accident or involved something more sinister. He finds the body of psychology professor Walter Rennert lying at the foot of the stairs, looking to everyone like the victim of an accidental fall. Rennert’s daughter Tatiana is sure that her father’s death was murder, and Clay gets drawn into the case as well as the daughter. His investigation leads him into Rennert’s professorial history, which includes a case study he conducted years ago that led to another crime, and perhaps the psychologist’s decline.

I really enjoyed Crime Scene. Clay is an interesting character with an interesting profession. He is sincere and principled, even if this sometimes gets him into trouble. The writing is smooth and the plot kept me guessing. I enjoyed following along as Clay investigated, but I also enjoyed getting to know the character and what made him tick. His co-workers are a motley crew of interesting people, something you might expect at a coroner’s office. They put me in mind of Jeff Lindsey’s Dexter and the people that populate his workplace. I think this will be a great series and one that I will definitely continue reading.

This book was provided to Mystery Playground by the publisher. The review is fair and independent.