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Heartbreak Hotel / Jonathan Kellerman.
"Alex Delaware and Milo Sturgis investigate the death of Alex's most mysterious patient to date in the sensational new thriller from the master of suspense, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman. At nearly one hundred years old, Thalia Mars is a far cry from the patients that child psychologist Alex Delaware normally treats. But the charming, witty woman convinces Alex to meet with her in a suite at the Aventura, a luxury hotel with a checkered history. What Thalia wants from Alex are answers to unsettling questions--about guilt, patterns of criminal behavior, victim selection. When Alex asks the reason for her morbid fascination, Thalia promises to tell all during their next session. But when he shows up the following morning, he is met with silence: Thalia is dead in her room. When questions arise about how Thalia perished, Alex and homicide detective Milo Sturgis must peel back the layers of a fascinating but elusive woman's life and embark on one of the most baffling investigations either of them has ever experienced. For Thalia Mars is a victim like no other, an enigma who harbored nearly a century of secrets and whose life and death draw those around her into a vortex of violence. Heartbreak Hotel is classic Delaware and classic Kellerman."--Provided by publisher.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780345541437
- Physical Description: 351 pages ; 25 cm
- Publisher: New York : Ballantine Books, 2017.
- Copyright: ©2017.
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| Genre: | Mystery fiction. Suspense fiction. |
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Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gibsons Public Library | FIC KELL (Text) | 30886001032701 | Adult Mystery Hardcover | Volume hold | Available | - |
- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2017 February #1
None the worse for wear after 32 outings, Dr. Alex Delaware is curious about what nearly 100-year-old Thalia Mars wants to tell a child psychologist when she summons him to meet with her at L.A.'s Aventura Hotel. Turns out it's his expertise as a consultant on criminal cases that the hotel resident needs. After picking his brain about psychopathy and guilt, she promises to tell him what's behind her questions if he comes back the next day, but poor Thalia is murdered before Delaware can return. For a change, this time it's Delaware bringing a case to homicide detective Milo Sturgis. Their investigation takes them back to 1950s LA and the mobsters who had a hand in everything, from movies to municipal bonds. Easy to dive into for mystery fans unfamiliar with the series, and a welcome treat for readers who have been with Officer Sturgis and Dr. Delaware since the beginning. Copyright 2017 Booklist Reviews. - Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 2016 December #2
Child psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware (Breakdown, 2016, etc.) deals with his oldest client yet, a deceptively sweet old lady who gently importunes him to provide his services but dies without explaining why. About to celebrate your own centennial? Better not call the genre's most celebrated psychologist. Like Thalia Mars, a CPA who retired from the Los Angeles Assessor's Office before you were born, you may not live to keep your second appointment with him. When an observant paramedic sees signs that Thalia, against all odds, was helped into the great beyond, Alex resolves to avenge his client. The job is made more difficult by the fact that in their one meeting at her digs at the Aventura Hotel, where everyone swears that they loved her to pieces, Thalia asked about guilt only in the most general terms, and she seems to have long outlived everyone and everything that could possibly have made her feel guilty. Attaching himself to his always-accommodating buddy Lt. Milo Sturgis , LAPD, Alex questions Thalia's broker, Joe Manucci; her driver, Leon Creech; and the Aventura staff, not all of whom will survive their first interview either. When the trail seems to vanish into the distant past, he enlists UCLA history professor Maxine Driver and the extensive public records available on the Aventura and Thalia's long-dead lover, bootlegger Leroy Hoke, to nose out further suspects and complications until he's able to connect Thalia's present-day nemesis with her storied past. Entertaining as the conscientious excavation of ancient misdeeds is, it all ends up having disappointingly little to do with the motive and the culprit in the unlikely murder of the tale's most charming character. Copyright Kirkus 2016 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved. - Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 2016 December #2
L.A. psychologist Alex Delaware specializes in "evaluating the mental health of injured, neglected, or traumatized children," but in Edgar-winner Kellerman's so-so 32nd series entry (after 2016's Breakdown) he accepts the invitation of 99-year-old Thalia Mars, a retired accountant, to meet her at the Aventura, the hotel where she lives on Sunset Boulevard. The charming Thalia asks Alex to share with her "the current psychological wisdom with regard to guilt" without explaining why she's interested in this topic. Tired, she ends their interview after a short while, but Alex agrees to visit her the following day to continue the discussion. On returning to the Aventura, he learns to his sorrow that Thalia has died, just weeks before her 100th birthday. Alex is angered when an alert paramedic finds evidence that Thalia didn't die of natural causes. Alex and his friend on the LAPD, Milo Sturgis, look into Thalia's past in an effort to identity the killer and the motive. The psychological insights Alex typically displays are few and barely relevant to the inquiry or its solution. (Feb.) Copyright 2016 Publisher Weekly.
