Review: The Museum of Desire

The Museum of Desire by Jonathan Kellerman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Museum of Desire is Jonathan Kellerman's 35th novel centered around the duo of Alex Delaware and Milo Sturgis. Alex is a psychologist who is periodically called into the LAPD to assist with challenging cases being investigated by his good friend Lieutenant Milo Sturgis. They now have a broader team that has grown over the years. Diving into an Alex Delaware book is like returning to friends that you haven't seen in awhile but who always treat you like they just saw you yesterday. Not skipping a beat, you become engrossed in the next case and into these characters lives yet again, as though you never left.
There are some interesting details of this novel that highlight the sensitivity of the author as a writer and psychologist himself. The story centers around an Art Gallery and a party held at a different site, but following the party, a murder scene is discovered. One of the victims is a young man who was living at a home specifically for developmentally disabled individuals. His story is interesting and some of the details in the investigation around this are certainly from Kellerman's own experience in psychology. Also, one of the possible witnesses is a young man who you quickly realize has developmental issues, and has been homeschooled for most of his life but who appears to have a possible spectrum disorder. Alex is given the task of 1) deciding if he should be questioned and 2) how to go about handling him in this event. I felt that this also showed the interplay between the real-life author and the novel's protagonist who is a psychologist as well. This was so beautifully and realistically written.
Overall, another hit for Kellerman and the Alex Delaware series. Loved it. It felt like coming home.
Thank you for the opportunity to review it early.
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