Crime Scene

August 21, 2017
Clay Edison, the hero of this disappointing series launch from bestseller Kellerman and son Jesse (The Golem of Paris), was a promising college basketball player until a devastating injury ended any hopes of a professional sports career. Years later, Clay works as a deputy for the Alameda County, Calif., coroner’s bureau. A routine call ends up involving him in a complicated investigation. Walter Rennert, a retired psychology professor, apparently died from falling down the stairs at his Berkeley home, but his daughter, Tatiana Rennert-Delavigne, suspects murder. Tatiana’s father and a graduate student, Nicholas Linstad, ran a study that ended violently when one of their subjects murdered a girl. That subject, a minor, was released from prison about a decade earlier, shortly before Linstad took a similar fatal tumble. Clay’s attraction to Tatiana sways him to dig deeper into her father’s death. The familiar story line isn’t enhanced by pretentious prose. When Clay shoots a basketball, he “felt the weightless instant, when gravity releases its stranglehold, and you float, and the ball becomes vapor, pebbled breath rolling back against the tips of your fingers.” Fans of the senior Kellerman’s long-running Alex Delaware series will enjoy seeing Alex make a cameo appearance. Agent: Barney Karpfinger, Karpfinger Agency.

Dennis Boutsikaris is an excellent narrator for this mystery. Assistant Coroner Clay Edison believes that Walter Rennert died after falling down the steps. But Rennert's daughter, Tatiana, believes her father was murdered and convinces Edison to investigate further. When Edison looks deeper, he discovers that a colleague of Rennert's died in a similar way. The result is a highly entertaining audiobook from the father-and-son writing team of Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman. Not only does Boutsikaris use vocal nuance to distinguish the characters, but he also enhances the budding romance between Clay and Tatiana with pauses and inflection. Even Dr. Alex Delaware, from Jonathan's other series, plays a role in solving the mystery. While the audiobook has some slow spots, listeners will appreciate its unexpected conclusion. D.J.S. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine