Gone is a story about a seriously deranged and pathetic family. It is horrible to learn about the mentally ill who turn on helpless dreamers. The characters all seem real. The settings are real. Everything takes place in the Los Angeles area which makes it more upsetting for a person who lives in Los Angeles. Four stars were given to this book in this review. As always, a very well researched book and story. ( )

El doctor Alex Delaware recibe una llamada para evaluar a una aspirante a actriz que es acusada, junto con su novio, de escenificar su propio secuestro, y se olvida del caso cuando la investigación parece estancarse... Hasta que la chica es salvajemente asesinada. De repente, lo que parecía un procedimiento sencillo da un giro inesperado. Dylan Meserve, el novio de la víctima, también ha desaparecido, y el conserje de la escuela de actores a la que asistían tiene un pasado inquietante. Alex, acompañado del detective de homicidios Milo Stugis, comienza a hacer audiciones a los sospechosos y a buscar en las sórdidas profundidades del punto débil de Los Ángeles. Y pronto aparecerán otros muchos aspirantes a cadáver...

Alex and Milo track killer of would be actresses, discover rich brother actually a cousin who has seized control

I thought I might have read this before and yes, I had. But I did not remember major details, just small ones, so I read it through again.

Kellerman is not one of my favorite mystery writers but he's more intelligent than many, so holds my attention. I like Milo, the gay detective, and Alex, the psychologist hooked on crime. I like that they have flaws, even though at times some of the flaws seem ludicrous.

For example, Alex Delaware is a psychologist who gets depressed if he doesn't have a woman in his life. He feels lonely. He feels sorry for himself. It seems to me that he could have leaned a few tools of his trade to overcome these feelings, to be okay with himself by himself. But of course it is well-known that people get into this profession because they are screwed up.

But to the story.

At first, a prank. A young woman and man pretend to have been kidnapped in the wild hills of Malibu. The woman, Michaela Brand, is discovered when she runs into the road, naked, and almost causes a truck to run off the edge. The two are acting students of an eccentric teacher, Nora Dowd, who teaches acting for free but chooses her students through audition. Dowd has a large inheritance and can afford to do whatever she wants. She also is a failed actor herself. Why her students should think they can learn from her is never really answered.

Things get a lot more serious when Michaela later turns up dead. Alex Delaware, sometime consultant to the LAPD, wants in. He and Milo Sturgis work together to figure this one out. The characters include fellow acting students, Nora Dowd, Dowd's brothers Brad and Billy, a suspicious janitor named Reymond Peaty, and of course there may be some mysterious boyfriend out there. When Milo learns of another missing acting student, another blond young woman, he begins to think the acting studio may be the base of operations.

And it doesn't end there. An older couple happened to go missing and their car turned up north of LA, somewhere in the Camarillo area. The couple had been interested in acting, too.

Suspicions are all well and good but there is no evidence of any wrongdoing, other than Michaela's body, at first. Milo and Alex cover a lot of ground, from Malibu to Carpenteria and beyond.

Meanwhile, Alex is wondering how his ex-gf, Robin, is doing. And let's not forget Allison, she of the expensive taste in clothing, hair, and makeup.

The mystery gets stranger and the truth almost gets derailed from time to time. Only to end in...well, I'll leave that to you.
( )

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/10527271