The #1 New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman writes razor-sharp novels that cut to the quick. Now comes Motive, which pits psychologist Alex Delaware and homicide cop Milo Sturgis against a vicious criminal mind�the kind only Kellerman can bring to chilling life.

Even having hundreds of closed cases to his credit can�t keep LAPD police lieutenant Milo Sturgis from agonizing over the crimes that don�t get solved�and the victims who go without justice. Victims like Katherine Hennepin, a young woman strangled and stabbed in her home. A single suspect with a solid alibi leads to a dead end�one even Alex Delaware�s expert insight can�t explain. The only thing to do is move on to the next murder case�because there�s always a next one.

This time the victim is Ursula Corey: a successful, attractive divorcee who�s been gunned down�not a robbery but an execution, a crime that smacks of simple, savage revenge. And along with that theoretical motive come two strong contenders for the role of perp: the dead woman�s business partner/ex-husband and her divorce lawyer/secret lover. But just as Alex and Milo think they�re zeroing in on the most likely suspect, a bizarre new clue stirs up eerie echoes of the unsolved Hennepin murder. And the discovery of yet another crime scene bearing the same taunting signature raises the specter of a serial killer on a mission, whose twisted method is exceeded only by his manipulative and cunning madness.

Praise for Jonathan Kellerman

�Jonathan Kellerman�s psychology skills and dark imagination are a potent literary mix.� �Los Angeles Times

�A master of the psychological thriller.� �People

�The combination of Alex Delaware [and] Detective Milo Sturgis . . . makes for the most original whodunit duo since Watson and Holmes.� �Forbes


From the Hardcover edition.