Reading right now:

            “The Murderer’s Daughter” by Jonathan Kellerman. Best known for his fantastic Alex Delaware mystery series, Kellerman’s new standalone novel starts slowly but is now building.  Unfortunately I’ve had to read half the novel to get to the more exciting parts of the book. The main character psychologist Grace Blades is an interesting character with a sad and horrifying past. So far the book doesn’t read like a thriller, but I’ve heard that the end is shocking. I think that it is worth reading, but certainly not one of my favorite reads this year. 

           

On hold right now:

            “Cross Justice” by James Patterson. Coming in November is the 23^rd Alex Cross novel. In this novel, Alex returns to his hometown to help his cousin who has been accused of a crime.

                       

Other mysterious things:

            Most mystery novels delve into the mind of the killer and what drives someone to kill and there are some mystery authors that have incorporated psychologists, psychiatrists, or therapists into the novel. Somehow this seems like a natural pairing and often works really well--consider two of the most famous modern authors who have incorporated this mention…Jonathan Kellerman and James Patterson. Jonathan Kellerman’s Alex Delaware books are some of the most famous psychologist/psychiatrist/therapist mystery novels, but there are many others including Nicci French’s psychotherapist Frieda Klein mystery novels. French has written five novels in that series and the last one just came out in July (“Blue Monday” was the first in the series). Anne Holt’s Vik and Stubo series has Johanne Vik who is an Oslo University psychology professor (which started with “Punishment” or “What is Mine”). Alex Kava’s Maggie O’Dell is an FBI Criminal Profiler in Nebraska (first book in that series was “A Perfect Evil”). One can’t not mention Alex Cross a psychiatrist and the main character in 23 James Patterson books. Stephen White’s Alan Gregory is a clinical psychologist in Colorado (the first book in this series was “Privileged Information”). Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs is a psychologist in 1920s and 1930s London (the series started with “Maisie Dobbs”). Meg Gardiner’s books about forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett started with “The Dirty Secrets Club.” D. J. Donaldson’s criminal psychologist Kit Franklyn’s novels are set in New Orleans and started with “Cajun Nights.” Shirley Wells’ first book in the forensic psychologist Jill Kennedy series was “Into the Shadows.”