Alex Delaware is a

literary character In fiction, a character is a person or being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, in which case the distinction of ...

created by American writer

Jonathan Kellerman Jonathan Seth Kellerman (born August 9, 1949) is an American novelist and psychologist known for his mystery novels featuring the character Alex Delaware, a child psychologist who consults for the Los Angeles Police Department. Born on the Low ...

. The Alex Delaware

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads the ...

series begins with ''When the Bough Breaks'', published in 1985. Delaware appears in 39 of Kellerman's popular murder mysteries. Kellerman set the series in Los Angeles. Delaware is a

forensic psychologist Forensic psychology is the application of scientific knowledge and methods (in relation to psychology) to assist in answering legal questions that may arise in criminal, civil, contractual, or other judicial proceedings. Forensic psychology includes ...

, although Kellerman wrote a

back story A backstory, background story, background, or legend is a set of events invented for a plot, preceding and leading up to that plot. In acting, it is the history of the character before the drama begins, and is created during the actor's preparat ...

in which Delaware practiced as a child psychologist. Delaware has a friend, Milo Sturgis, who is a gay

LAPD The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...

detective. Delaware helps Sturgis in his investigations, and the detective, who eventually reaches the rank of lieutenant, appears in each book in the series. As the series progresses, Delaware's relationship with Robin Castagna evolves, despite two long separations, during which various other romantic interests are introduced. In some of the more recent books in the series, Detective Petra Connor, introduced in Kellerman's standalone novel ''Billy Straight'', also makes an appearance.

The Post-Modern Detective

Alex Delaware (born in 1951) is empathetic and caring with particular emphasis on his concern for children. In Alex Delaware, Kellerman draws a hero who appears to be "a levelheaded, appealingly thoughtful guy". Kellerman also provides Alex Delaware with a side-kick,

Milo Sturgis, as is customary in the mystery genre. It is also revealed that his mother was a manic-depressive and his father a raging, physically abusive alcoholic. Kellerman also adds a girlfriend, Robin Castagna, and a

French bulldog The French Bulldog () is a French breed of companion dog or toy dog. It appeared in Paris in the mid-nineteenth century, apparently the result of cross-breeding of Toy Bulldogs imported from England and local Parisian ratters. Kellerman characterizes Delaware as "sensitive, socially involved, loving and passionate about his patients and his family relationships and cynical only about 'bad guys.'" Additionally, Kellerman brings a professional "sophistication" to the series. Delaware's friend Milo Sturgis, adds to the portrayal of the post-modern detective. As Gibson explains: " heother important male role is Milo, a career policeman, a big shambling bear of a man, but, in a stunning role reversal, he is gay." Milo, Gibson points out, "the gay cop all too often functions as the cavalry. Delaware as amateur Knight Errant often gets into horrendous nightmare difficulties." In the ''American Psychological Association'' Patrick McGuire writes about Kellerman's characterization of Delaware: "Alex Delaware's style is unlike that of the typical hard-nosed private eye. He goes about his work by interacting sympathetically with the people he meets and by quiet, professional observation. Kellerman says an empathetic psychologist is an ideal model for a detective." Some reviewers, however, have criticized the Delaware novels based on overly intricate plotting, too much description of unnecessary elements, and "formula characters."

Plot summaries

;' (1985) Kellerman introduces Alex Delaware, Ph.D., in ''When the Bough Breaks''. Kellerman characterizes Delaware as a successful (albeit retired)

child psychologist Developmental psychology is the scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult development, ...

suffering from burn-out after working on a case of systematic child molestation that culminates when the offender commits suicide in Delaware's office. Detective Milo Sturgis urges Delaware to come out of retirement and interview a seven-year-old child who may have witnessed a crime. Sturgis appoints Delaware as a "special consultant" to the Los Angeles Police Department. Kellerman's timing in this novel coincided with news stories about child abuse in child care facilities. The book was adapted as a 1986 film starring

Ted Danson Edward Bridge Danson III (born December 29, 1947) is an American actor. He achieved stardom playing the lead character Sam Malone on the NBC sitcom ''Cheers'' (1982–1993), for which he received two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe A ...

as Alex and

Richard Masur Richard Masur (born November 20, 1948) is an American character actor who has appeared in more than 40 films. From 1995 to 1999, he served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). He is best known for playing David Kane on '' One ...

as Milo. ;' (1986) In ''Blood Test'', Alex Delaware acts as a

consultant A consultant (from "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice or services in an area of specialization (generally to medium or large-size corporations). Cons ...

in the

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...

and

child custody Child custody is a legal term regarding '' guardianship'' which is used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent or guardian and a child in that person's care. Child custody consists of ''legal custody'', which is the ri ...

case of Richard Moody, a bipolar and potentially dangerous father of two. At the same time, Delaware is contacted by a former colleague, Dr. Raoul Melendez-Lynch, of the

oncology Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's Etymology, etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγ ...

department at Western Pediatric Medical Center. Dr. Raoul Melendez-Lynch asks Delaware to consult with Mr. and Mrs. Swope whose child, Woody, needs treatment for

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

. Before Delaware has the opportunity to visit Woody, he vanishes from the hospital and the parents turn up murdered. Delaware sorts through a maze of clues to find the child. Additionally, Kellerman highlights the issue of established medical treatments and new "cult cures" for children. ;' (1987) In ''Over the Edge'', Kellerman presents Delaware's back story as a researcher in the study "Project 160", that involved the treatment of gifted children. As the novel opens, Delaware receives a phone call from Jamey Cadmus, who had been involved in the research project. Jamey has been arrested and accused of being a serial killer who preys on young male prostitutes. Delaware is hired by Cadmus' attorney to investigate. In this novel, Kellerman examines preconceived notions about homosexuality; and he examines how others perceive Delaware because of his friendship with Milo Sturgis. In the course of the investigation, Delaware eliminates the obvious clues and discovers a greater evil than he imagined. Additionally, Kellerman investigates psychological problems resulting from childhood genius. ;' (1989) In ''Silent Partner'', Kellerman has Delaware involved in a romantic interlude with a former girlfriend. Delaware's lover apparently commits suicide, and he begins an investigation into her death. His lover's identity becomes the focus of the investigation, as Delaware peels away layer after layer to discover a maze of childhood abuse. ;' (1990) ''Time Bomb'' highlights a school shooting at a Los Angeles elementary school; although the only fatality is the shooter herself, Holly Lynn Burden. Holly's father contacts Delaware and asks him to perform a psychological

autopsy An autopsy (also referred to as post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of deat ...

. During the course of the investigation Delaware encounters

dysfunctional families In psychology, abnormality (also dysfunctional behavior, maladaptive behavior, or deviant behavior) is a behavioral characteristic assigned to those with conditions that are regarded as dysfunctional. Behavior is considered to be abnormal when i ...

and political extremism as he races to unravel the real villain as he pulls together all the threads. ;' (1992) In ''Private Eyes'', former patient Melissa Dickinson contacts Delaware with a request to investigate a past crime. Her mother, Gina Dickinson had been the victim of an acid attack before Melissa's birth and subsequently suffered from

agoraphobia Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder characterized by symptoms of anxiety in situations where the person perceives their environment to be unsafe with no way to escape. These situations can include public transit, shopping centers, crowds and q ...

. Shortly after Delaware contacts Dickinson, she disappears. With the help of Milo Sturgis, Delaware begins an investigation into the disappearance. ;' (1993) In ''Devil's Waltz'', Delaware is asked to investigate the case of 20-month-old Cassie Jones, who is frequently hospitalized. The investigation leads Delaware to uncover secrets within Western Pediatric Hospital and to a "chilling discovery." When a physician is found murdered, Delaware turns to previous murders for clues to the puzzle. ;' (1994) In ''Bad Love'', Kellerman presents Delaware with an incident involving an anonymous cassette tape with the sound of a screaming child and chants of "bad love". The phrase refers to a seminar Delaware participated in when employed at Western Pediatrics. As usual, his interview skills provide the clues to keep the sleuthing psychologist moving from locale to locale. The action culminates in a fiery climax, when Delaware's canyon home is destroyed. ;' (1995) Thirteen months after the events in ''Bad Love'', Delaware meets a former patient who sat on the jury in a serial killer case. The woman suffers recurring nightmares. Delaware must unravel two puzzles: the young woman's recurring nightmares; and the present-day patient who may be the target of a killer. Unraveling the two strands, Kellerman has Delaware face repressed memories, murder groupies, jailhouse autobiographers, all on the trail of a serial killer. ;' (1996) Delaware and his girlfriend Robin travel to an island where Delaware assists a doctor collect and organize his works. A complicated plot, laced with ever-present murder, and a weird experiment gone terribly wrong is woven through the uneven writing, uncharacteristic for Kellerman. ;' (1997) In ''The Clinic'' Kellerman presents Delaware with a cold case of murder, and the victim was a "pop psychology" author named Hope Devane. When Sturgis gets the cold case he calls in pal and psychologist Delaware hoping to find insights to Devane's life. The two uncover an execution style crime, her compartmentalized life, and her link to a second murder victim. However, Delaware's turns his forensic psychology skills toward her childhood where he finds answers, danger, and a killer. ;' (1997) In the previous books, Kellerman often used a first person narrative form with Alex Delaware's voice, as well as the more objective third person. Character insights have been limited to those observations made by Delaware. However, in this novel, while the first person is limited to Delaware, there are also multiple presentations of the internal perspective of the character of Daniel Sharavi. ;' (1999) In the thirteenth novel of the Delaware series, Kellerman paints an end-of-millennium Los Angeles reminiscent of Kenneth Millar's works, to whom Kellerman dedicates ''Monster''. Delaware and Sturgis investigate a crime that leads them to an inmate in the Starkweather Hospital for the Criminally Insane. As usual the plot twists as Delaware and Sturgis uncover the monster living openly in society. The novel also offers a realistic depiction of a mental disorder caused by psychiatric drugs; and features a character, wrongfully blamed for a multiple murder, who suffers mental illness as a result of psychoactive medication. ;' (2000) In ''Dr. Death'', Kellerman opens with a corpse found in the Hollywood Hills area, and Alex Delaware is called in to help. Delaware, teamed up with Sturgis, investigates the grisly death of the victim, a

Jack Kevorkian Murad Jacob Kevorkian (May 26, 1928 – June 3, 2011) was an American pathologist and euthanasia proponent. He publicly championed a terminal patient's right to die by physician-assisted suicide, embodied in his quote, "Dying is not a crime" ...

type assisted suicide doctor known as "Dr. Death" the victim. Suspects abound with relatives of Dr. Death's "victims". Detective Petra Connor, who Kellerman introduced in ''Billy Straight'', puts in an appearance and helps Sturgis and Delaware. ;' (2001) In this novel, Delaware receives a call from a former patient's mother, whose daughter is missing. Delaware last saw her at a bachelor party performing as a stripper. Once again, he finds himself in dangerous situations as he attempts to help Sturgis uncover clues.Maslin, Jan
Book of the Times: The Case of the Good Girl Gone Bad
The New York Times. 2001-11-22. Retrieved 2009-06-10. ;' (2002) In ''The Murder Book'', Jonathan Kellerman presents a new and "spellbinding" case for Delaware and Sturgis. Delaware receives a photo album from an unknown source that chronicles a number of murders. Sturgis recognizes the photo of a victim from one of his unsolved crimes two decades earlier. The first part of the novel focuses on Sturgis' early career and a cover-up that's lasted to the present. ;' (2003) In ''A Cold Heart,'' Kellerman has Milo Sturgis tell Delaware "I've got a weird one, so naturally I thought of you." Sturgis summons Delaware to an art gallery where a young artist has been murdered and the scene suggests to Delaware the work of a serial killer. Teaming up with Petra Connor and her new partner, Sturgis and Delaware follow the clues to a fanzine writer, and as they track down the clues to the killer, bringing them to the doorstep of Delaware's ex-lover Robin Castagna. ;' (2004) In ''Therapy'', Delaware and Sturgis investigate the death of a double murder on Mulholland Drive that leads to human rights' atrocities in Rwanda. Full of red herrings and clues, Kellerman throws out a plethora of psychological leads for Delaware. ;' (2005) In ''Rage'' Kellerman presents Delaware with a case of child abduction and murder. Upon his release from prison, the child murderer contacts Delaware, but is murdered himself. Teaming up with Milo Sturgis, Delaware encounter "wayward children, a foster family from hell....and a serial killer who's the exact opposite of the genre's usual madman slasher but just as deadly." Delaware and Sturgis sift the evidence piece by piece in this complicated case. ;' (2006) Delaware investigates the kidnapping of two aspiring young actors. When one of the actors is murdered, Delaware and Sturgis follow the clues that show the two were prey to an odd acting coach and an aspiring real estate developer. ;' (2009) In ''Bones'', a wealthy teenager gets an unnerving message about something "real dead . . . buried in your marsh." Later, the body of a young piano teacher is found in the swamp. Delaware and Sturgis begin their investigation, as more bones begin to surface from the protected urban swamp. Delaware and Sturgis unearth the details of the young piano teacher's life. ;' (2010) In ''Deception'', Deputy Chief Weinberg assigns LAPD Lt. Milo Sturgis the particularly sensitive murder case of Elise Freeman, a teacher and tutor at exclusive Windsor Preparatory Academy in Brentwood. Despite Elise's having left a DVD accusing three fellow teachers at the academy of repeated sexual harassment, Sturgis and Delaware have it made clear to them that their investigation is to involve the prestigious academy as little as possible. As the investigation reveals a victim that had a lot to hide and a boyfriend, students, teachers, administrators as well as a Deputy Chief who are all anxious to keep those secrets hidden—and at least one of them is willing to kill again. ;' (2011) In ''Mystery'', Delaware and Sturgis tackle the online dating world, when one of its sexy girls gets her face blown off in real time. Said website sets up sugar daddies with young women ("sweeties") looking for someone to take care of them, but all hell breaks loose when corpses variously mutilated start turning up and a rich family is somehow involved. Some interesting

privacy Privacy (, ) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively. The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of a ...

issues in the

cyberspace Cyberspace is an interconnected digital environment. It is a type of virtual world popularized with the rise of the Internet. The term entered popular culture from science fiction and the arts but is now used by technology strategists, security ...

. ;' (2012) A

serial killer A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...

à la

Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer who was active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer was also ...

, with disemboweled victims lined up in ritual precision, where compulsion and obsession mix in an explosive cocktail of violence and gore. A disturbing scenario that involves a former asylum and

psychiatric Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, mood, emotion, and behavior. Initial psychiatric assessment of ...

malpractice: it's Alex's habitat indeed, and he knows how to move. ;' (2014) In ''Killer'', Dr. Delaware becomes briefly embroiled in a bizarre custody battle between two sisters; one, a sophisticated, successful doctor, the other, an itinerant groupie. When the former is found murdered and the other disappears with her child, gay LAPD homicide detective Milo Sturgis will need Dr. Delaware's insight, expertise - and instinct - to solve the case. ;' (2018) Alex is called in to assist with a murder of a faceless victim, with whom the owners of the home the body is found in, the Corvins, are unfamiliar. The investigation uncovers that, aside from the Corvins, the rest of the community is particularly secretive and uncooperative, and unwilling to divulge information to Alex and the LAPD to solve this violent crime. Alex navigates the secrets of this well-to-do enclave of Los Angeles, exploring everything from the greed to shady sexual and deadly secrets, to get to the bottom of this case.

Bibliography

The ISBN is for the first U.S. edition of each Alex Delaware novel: *''When the Bough Breaks'' (1985)
*''Blood Test'' (1986)
*''Over the Edge'' (1987)
*''Silent Partner'' (1989)
*''Time Bomb'' (1990)
*''Private Eyes'' (1992)
*''Devil's Waltz'' (1993)
*''Bad Love'' (1994)
*''Self-Defense'' (1995)
*''The Web'' (1996)
*''The Clinic'' (1997)
*''Survival of the Fittest'' (1997)
*''Monster'' (1999)
*''Dr. Death'' (2000)
*''Flesh and Blood''
(2001) *''The Murder Book''
(2002) *''A Cold Heart'' (2003)
*''Therapy'' (2004)
*''Rage'' (2005)
*''Gone'' (2006)
*''Obsession'' (2007)
*''Compulsion'' (2008)
*''Bones'' (2009)
*''Evidence'' (2010)
*''Deception'' (2010)
*''Mystery'' (2011)
*''Victims'' (2012)
*''Guilt'' (2013)
*''Killer'' (2014)
*''Motive'' (2015)
*''Breakdown'' (2016)
*''Heartbreak Hotel'' (2017)
*''Night Moves'' (2018)
*''The Wedding Guest'' (2019)
*''The Museum of Desire'' (2020)
*''Serpentine'' (2021)
*''City of the Dead'' (2022)
*''Unnatural History'' (2023)
*''The Ghost Orchid'' (2024)

Adaptation

The first novel in the series, '' When the Bough Breaks,'' was adapted as a 1986 film starring

as Alex Delaware and

as Milo Sturgis.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delaware, Alex Book series introduced in 1985 Fictional American detectives Fictional American police detectives Fictional psychologists Literary characters introduced in 1985