She Treads Softly: Jigsaw

Thursday, January 8, 2026

Jigsaw

Jigsaw by Jonathan Kellerman
2/3/26; 256 pages
Ballantine Books
Alex Delaware #41

Jigsaw by Jonathan Kellerman is a very highly recommended investigative mystery. This is a satisfying 41st addition to the Alex Delaware series and those following the long-running series will welcome returning to check in with Alex, Milo, Robin and Blanche.

Psychologist Alex Delaware is contacted by Detective Milo Sturgis to assist with two cases. In the first case, Sophie Barlow, a young woman, is found dead at her kitchen table. DNA on cigarette butts indicate her ex-boyfriend, but he has an airtight alibi, so the investigation is stymied. The second case is of an old woman, Martha Joline Matthias, who was murdered and her mutilated body was found in a deep freeze. She was a former police detective and Milo knew her. Martha was also a hoarder and her home is packed with things and envelopes of cash. During the investigation they find a tenuous connection between the victims, but the perpetrator is a mystery.

Reading an Alex Delaware novel is always a welcomed, comfortable experience. You appreciate the fact that the writing will be excellent, the characters are well-known, and the mystery/investigation will be compelling and hold your complete attention. As fans of the series know, Milo always calls psychologist Alex Delaware, his best friend and a long-term consultant on “those cases.” The ones that are different, and these cases fit that expectation.

If you are new to the series, the character development may seem spare, but as installment 41 in the series, those who have been following the series for years deeply know these characters and their background. Reading a new installment of the series is returning to characters that are very well known while they must solve complex, unpredictable cases.

The pace is fast, the page count low, the case intelligent, and the characters known so Jigsaw was a pleasant diversion. Thanks to Ballantine Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy via . 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.