Mystery by Jonathan Kellerman
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

What a depressing way to end my book year! "Mystery" by Jonathan Kellerman is the 115th book I read and reviewed in 2013. My "brain off" mini-marathon of Kellerman's works included "Twisted" (quite good, three stars), disappointing "Deception" (two stars), and outright weak "Mystery". No mystery about my star rating.

A luxury hotel in Beverly Hills goes out of business. Good Doctor Delaware and Robin go there for cocktails on the closing night. They are intrigued by one of the restaurant's guests - a beautiful, elegant, and mysterious woman. The next day, the woman is found murdered. The Fabulously Brilliant Doctor and his sidekick, Lt. Sturgis, solve the case, which involves Hollywood madams, sex for sale in a luxury escort agency, family secrets, and a very rare physiological phenomenon.

In addition to the implausible plot of tabloid type, the novel is quite un-Kellerman in the low quality of writing. The two climactic chapters that provide the denouement read like a bad parody of a bad novel. I had to force myself to finish reading. The novel has as much in common with decent mystery as the Kardashians with real people. One of my New Year's resolutions is to be Kellerman-free for the whole year.

One and a half stars.


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