{"id":1182,"date":"2013-08-28T07:36:51","date_gmt":"2013-08-28T14:36:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/?p=1182"},"modified":"2013-08-28T07:36:51","modified_gmt":"2013-08-28T14:36:51","slug":"at-least-its-witty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/?p=1182","title":{"rendered":"At least, it’s witty"},"content":{"rendered":"

The esteemed reviewer, actor, haikuist and petanquer (I\u2019m sure I\u2019m leaving some important role out) Bob Moyer has resurfaced after a summer on the road. Here he takes a look at the latest offering in a long-running series.<\/p>\n

Reviewed by Robert Moyer<\/p>\n

GUILT. By Jonathan Kellerman. Ballantine Books. 378 pages. $28.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Jonathan Kellerman\u2019s detecting duo, Milo the LAPD cop with a gay lover, and Alex the pediatric psychiatrist with a vintage Cadillac, have bantered their way through 28 novels now.\u00a0 The author\u2019s successful formula starts off with a\u00a0plethora of possibilities that slowly dwindles down to a few probabilities, leaving a pattern for Alex to intuit the solution to the crime.\u00a0Their Sherlock-and-Watson relationship (with a touch of Abbott and Costello) has fomented legions of fans, faithful even when the crime doesn\u2019t come off as compelling as it could.<\/p>\n

Which it doesn\u2019t this time.\u00a0The premise shows some promise at first \u2013 an uprooted tree in an upscale neighborhood reveals a baby\u2019s skeleton in a metal box, a crime at least half a century old.\u00a0 Before the duo can get close to any clues, however, another baby skeleton turns up in a nearby park, not far from the body of a missing nanny.<\/p>\n

Copycat?\u00a0Coincidence?<\/p>\n

The only clues to the crimes center on two convertibles, a classic Duesenberg\u00a0for the first, and a red BMW for the second.\u00a0After Alex spends a little therapeutic time with the two women who found the bodies, the Duesenberg plot disappears, and the plot takes a turn for the Hollywood Hills and the worse.<\/p>\n

A GPS leads (literally) to a famous Hollywood couple, known for their taking on children and causes (think Brangelina). As Milo sniffs out forensic clues, Alex ferrets out possible psychological clues by getting close to the family.\u00a0Before long, but not long enough to keep the brad \u2013 er, bad guy secret, the\u00a0denouement\u00a0arrives with little attendant surprise.<\/p>\n

The book ends up reminding the reader of all those bad movies Brangelina has made over the years.\u00a0The difference??\u00a0 Kellerman\u2019s dialogue is much better. Fans, be forewarned.\u00a0 New readers, reach back to the early ranks of this series for starters.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The esteemed reviewer, actor, haikuist and petanquer (I\u2019m sure I\u2019m leaving some important role out) Bob Moyer has resurfaced after a summer on the road. Here he takes a look at the latest offering in a long-running series. Reviewed by Robert Moyer GUILT. By Jonathan Kellerman. Ballantine Books. 378 pages. $28. Jonathan Kellerman\u2019s detecting duo, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[70,69,27],"class_list":["post-1182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mysteries","tag-alex-delaware","tag-jonathan-kellerman","tag-mystery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1182"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1184,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182\/revisions\/1184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}