She Treads Softly: The Ghost Orchid

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

The Ghost Orchid

The Ghost Orchid by Jonathan Kellerman
2/6/24; 304 pages
Random House
Alex Delaware Series

The Ghost Orchid by Jonathan Kellerman has Psychologist Alex Delaware and LAPD Homicide Detective Milo Sturgis return to solve a perplexing double homicide. It is a very highly recommended procedural and marks the 39th Alex Delaware novel. Newcomers to the series who enjoy well-written procedurals can easily enjoy The Ghost Orchid as a standalone novel, but once started you will want to delve deeper and read more novels in the series.

Alex has recovered from a previous injury so when Milo calls he is eager to assist him on another case. Two bodies are found by the pool at a house in Bel Air. The residence is that of male victim, Gio Aggiunta, the wealthy heir to an Italian shoe empire. The female victim, Meagin March, is an even wealthier married older woman. Robbery doesn't appear to have been a motive. And while Meagin's husband Douglass is a natural suspect, it becomes clear as the investigation continues that, while he is a jerk, he's likely not the suspect they are looking for. The case requires Milo and Alex to fig deep into the past of the two victims.

This is an excellent addition to the very well-written long-running series. The case is fascinating, the pace is fast, the details are interesting, and the plot is compelling from start to finish. The intricate investigation into the lives of the two victims is engaging and riveting as details emerge. While I am well acquainted with the characters, enough details are provided for new readers to easily follow the dynamic relationship between Alex and Milo.

Once I started The Ghost Orchid I kept reading until I finished it, the mark of a very satisfying procedural. Thanks to Ballantine Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.