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Alex Delaware — by Jonathan Kellerman
Alex Delaware Series in Order: 42 books
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When the Bough Breaks // Shrunken Heads
Book - 1
NIGHT TERRORS There is something spooky about this one, even for the dark side of L.A. A child molester's grisly suicide. A shockingly brutal double murder. A hidden network of perversion in high places. And a terrified seven-year-old girl who coul...
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Blood Test
Book - 2
It is a case unlike any psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware has ever encountered. Five-year-old Woody Swope is ill, but the real problem is his parents. They refuse to agree to the one treatment that could save this boy's life. Alex sets out to convince ...
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Over the Edge
Book - 3
BRACE YOURSELF FOR SHOCK -- when Alex Delaware gets a phone call from a former patient, a young, troubled genius who suffered a devastating mental collapse... when he drives through the night to save his life and winds up in a morass of murder....
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Silent Partner
Book - 4
At a party for a controversial Los Angeles sex therapist. Alex encounters a face from his own past--Sharon Ransom, an exquisite, alluring lover who left him abruptly more than a decade earlier. Sharon now hints that she desperately needs help, but Al...
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Private Eyes
Book - 6
BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Jonathan Kellerman's Guilt.NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The voice belongs to a woman, but Dr. Alex Delaware remembers a little girl. It is eleven years since seven-year-old Melissa Dickinson dialed t...
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Devil's Waltz
Book - 7
Child psychologist Dr Alex Delaware returns after five years to Los Angeles' Western Pediatrics Hospital, called in by a former colleague to help with the case of twenty-one-month-old Cassie Jones. The little girl is persistently, terrifyingly ill, a...
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Self-Defense
Book - 9
Dr Alex Delaware doesn't see many private patients any more, but for a young woman called Lucy Lowell he's prepared to make an exception. Referred to him by the police detective Milo Sturgis, Lucy had been a juror at the harrowing trial of a serial k...
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The Clinic
Book - 11
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Professor Hope Devane's male-bashing pop-psych bestseller created a storm of controversy on the talk-show circuit. Now she is dead, brutally slashed on a quiet street in one of L.A.'s safest neighborhoods. The LAPD...
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Survival of the Fittest
Book - 12
When a slightly retarded fifteen-year-old girl dies on a school trip, LAPD detective Milo Sturgis and his friend psychologist Alex Delaware are stumped. There's no sign of a struggle and no evidence of sexual assault. Just an innocent young girl--dea...
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Flesh and Blood
Book - 15
Lauren Teague is a beautiful, defiant, borderline delinquent teenager when her parents bring her to Dr. Alex Delaware's office. Lauren angrily resists Alex's help -- and the psychologist is forced to chalk Lauren up as one of the inevitable failures ...
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The Murder Book
Book - 16
L.A. psychologist-detective Alex Delaware has received a strange, anonymous package in the mail. Inside is an album filled with gruesome crime-scene photos. When his old friend and colleague, homicide detective Milo Sturgis, views the compendium of d...
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A Cold Heart
Book - 17
LAPD homicide detective Milo Sturgis summons his friend, psychologist-sleuth Alex Delaware, to a trendy gallery where a promising young artist has been brutally garroted on the night of her first major showing. The details of the murder scene immedia...
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Compulsion
Book - 22
A tipsy young woman seeking aid on a desolate highway disappears into the inky black night. A retired schoolteacher is stabbed to death in broad daylight. Two women are butchered after closing time in a small-town beauty parlor. The curious fact that...
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Heartbreak Hotel
Book - 32
Alex Delaware and LAPD detective 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 hundr...
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Night Moves
Book - 33
Even with all his years of experience, LAPD homicide detective Milo Sturgis knows there are crimes his skill and savvy cannot solve alone. That's when he calls on brilliant psychologist Alex Delaware to read between the lines, where the darkest motiv...
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The Wedding Guest
Book - 34
Psychologist Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis dig into a shocking crime at a raucous wedding reception in this gripping psychological thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense. In the middle of a "Saints and Sinner...
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The Museum of Desire
Book - 35
Psychologist Alex Delaware and detective Milo Sturgis struggle to make sense of a seemingly inexplicable massacre in this electrifying psychological thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense. LAPD Lieutenant Milo Sturgis h...
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Serpentine
Book - 36
Psychologist Alex Delaware and detective Milo Sturgis search for answers to a brutal, decades-old crime in this electrifying psychological thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense. LAPD homicide lieutenant Milo Sturgis is...
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City of the Dead
Book - 37
The past comes back to haunt psychologist Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis when they investigate a grisly double homicide and uncover an even more unspeakable motive in this riveting thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling master of s...
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Unnatural History
Book - 38
The most enduring detectives in American crime fiction are back in this electrifying thriller of art and brutality from the #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense.Los Angeles is a city of stark contrast, the palaces of the affluent coexisti...
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The Ghost Orchid
Book - 39
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Psychologist Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis confront a baffling, vicious double homicide that leads them to long-buried secrets worth killing for in the riveting thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling ...
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Open Season
Book - 40
The most beloved and enduring duo in American crime fiction is back.Psychologist Alex Delaware and Homicide Detective Milo Sturgis race against time to find a twisted killer in this riveting thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling "master of ...
Series Premise
The Alex Delaware series follows forensic child psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware, who consults on disturbing criminal cases for the Los Angeles Police Department. Each book centers on a new investigation into brutal murders or crimes with strong psychological elements, where Alex's expertise in profiling and understanding trauma helps unravel the truth. His longtime partnership with Detective Milo Sturgis drives the cases forward, blending police procedure with clinical analysis in a consistent Southern California setting.
Alex Delaware Series Reading Order
🔄 Best Read in Order · Start with Book 1: When the Bough Breaks // Shrunken Heads
Standalone stories, but characters and relationships develop across the series.
Publication order provides the best experience for the Alex Delaware series. Each book features a complete central plot with its own crime, suspects, and resolution, allowing readers to follow the investigation without prior knowledge. Character relationships and ongoing developments -- such as the evolving friendship between Alex and Milo or shifts in Alex's personal life -- carry across the books and add depth over time. Readers who begin with a later volume will understand the mystery fully but may miss the accumulated nuance in the characters' rapport and personal growth that builds gradually through the series.
Explanation of reading order types
Alex Delaware Series Characters
Dr. Alex Delaware, a perceptive child psychologist often drawn into high-stakes cases involving children or adult trauma survivors, serves as the central figure. Detective Milo Sturgis, an LAPD homicide detective known for his sharp instincts and gruff demeanor, acts as Alex's primary partner and close friend throughout the investigations. Supporting figures, including Alex's romantic partner Robin Castagna, appear and evolve in the background, contributing to the personal side of the stories.
Setting of the Alex Delaware Series
The series is firmly set in Los Angeles and its surrounding areas, from affluent neighborhoods to gritty urban streets. This Southern California backdrop influences the crimes, which frequently reflect the city's social contrasts, celebrity culture, and hidden underbelly. The familiar LA environment provides a consistent stage for the investigations while grounding the psychological elements in a recognizable real-world landscape.
Tone & Themes of the Alex Delaware Series
The tone combines suspenseful psychological thriller elements with detailed procedural work and introspective character moments. Central themes include the lasting impact of childhood trauma, the complexities of human motivation, family dysfunction, and the blurred lines between sanity and depravity. Jonathan Kellerman, himself a trained psychologist, weaves clinical insight into the narratives without sacrificing pace or tension.
Is the Alex Delaware Series Worth Reading?
The Alex Delaware series appeals to readers who enjoy mystery novels that emphasize psychological depth alongside strong character dynamics. Its long-running nature rewards those interested in watching professional and personal relationships mature amid standalone cases. Fans of procedurals with an emphasis on motive and mind rather than pure action often find the balance engaging over multiple books.
Content Warnings and Heat Level
The books contain depictions of violent crime, murder, and psychological trauma, including cases involving child abuse or sexual violence in some entries. Sexual content appears occasionally but remains secondary to the mystery and is generally not explicit. These are mature adult mysteries; sensitive readers may want to preview individual titles for specific triggers related to violence or abuse.
The Alex Delaware series by Jonathan Kellerman is best read in order, starting with When the Bough Breaks, as character relationships and personal developments build across the books. In these psychological thrillers, child psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware partners with LAPD homicide detective Milo Sturgis to solve complex, motive-driven murders in Los Angeles, drawing on Alex's expertise in trauma and human behavior to uncover hidden truths behind brutal crimes.
Books in this series fall into the following genres
Genres
People / Creatures
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