Jonathan Kellerman Popular Books
Jonathan Kellerman Biography & Facts
Jonathan Seth Kellerman (born August 9, 1949) is an American novelist, psychologist, and Edgar- and Anthony Award–winning author best known for his popular mystery novels featuring the character Alex Delaware, a child psychologist who consults for the Los Angeles Police Department.Born on the Lower East Side of New York City, his family relocated to Los Angeles when Jonathan was nine years old.Kellerman graduated from the University of Southern California (USC) with a doctor of philosophy degree in psychology in 1974, and began working as a staff psychologist at the USC School of Medicine, where he eventually became a full clinical professor of pediatrics. He opened a private practice in the early 1980s while writing novels in his garage at night.His first published novel, When the Bough Breaks, appeared in 1985, many years after writing and having works rejected. He then wrote five best-selling novels while still a practicing psychologist. In 1990, he quit his private practice to write full-time. He has written more than 40 crime novels, as well as nonfiction works and children’s books. Life and career Kellerman was born in New York City, son of David, an aerospace engineer and inventor, and Sylvia, a dancer and office manager. He attended Yeshiva of Central Queens (YCQ) before his family relocated to California. He grew up in Los Angeles and received a Bachelor of Arts in psychology at UCLA in 1971. He worked his way through college as a cartoonist, illustrator, journalist, and editor, as well as by teaching guitar. As a college senior, he co-wrote an unpublished novel that garnered a Samuel Goldwyn writing award. That prize has served as a stepping stone to film writing for other writers, but Kellerman deliberately avoided the world of screenwriting and enrolled in a PhD program in clinical psychology at USC. He received his doctoral degree in psychology from USC in 1974. His doctoral research was on attribution of blame for childhood psychopathology, and he published a scientific paper on that topic, his first, at the age of 22. He is currently a clinical professor of pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine.Kellerman's externship, internship, and postdoctoral fellowship were at the Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles/USC School of Medicine, where he became founding director of the psychosocial program, Division of Hematology-Oncology. Kellerman's initial position at CHLA was conducting research into the effects of psychological isolation in germ-free "plastic bubble" rooms on the emotional and intellectual development of children with cancer. Simultaneously, he was assigned to minimize the destructive consequences of such intense treatment by developing a multidisciplinary clinical approach. The success of that endeavor led to the expansion of psychosocial services to all oncology patients at CHLA, and the program developed by Kellerman and his staff was the world’s first attempt to provide comprehensive, systematic, emotional support to pediatric cancer patients and their families, and served as the template for what is now considered appropriate care. Kellerman’s experiences at CHLA led him to publish his first book in 1980, a medical text that he edited, titled Psychological Aspects of Childhood Cancer. He is himself a survivor of thyroid cancer. During Kellerman’s time at CHLA, he also conducted research and published in the areas of disease impact and adolescence, disease-related communication and its effect upon emotional adjustment, pediatric pain management, sleep and anxiety disorders, the treatment of childhood encopresis, and the neuropsychological effects of central nervous system chemotherapy and radiation. Kellerman's extensive work with anxiety disorders led him to publish a book for parents, Helping the Fearful Child, in 1981. Four years later, his first novel, When the Bough Breaks, was published, became a bestseller, and was adapted as a TV movie. He has published one, or occasionally two, bestselling thrillers every year since. During his tenure as a practicing psychologist, he came into contact with the legal system as a consultant and expert witness, and some of those experiences have impacted his novels. Jonathan Kellerman lives in Los Angeles with his wife Faye Kellerman, herself a well-known best-selling crime writer. They have four children. Their oldest, Jesse Kellerman, is a best-selling novelist and award-winning playwright. Their youngest, Aliza Kellerman, co-wrote Prism, a young adult novel published in 2009, with her mother. Jonathan Kellerman has publicly spoken out against what he calls the "misguided" release of severely mentally ill people into the community, where they must fend for themselves instead of receiving proper care. He has stated that such people should receive counseling and psychotherapy as well as medication, as opposed to today's model in which they receive only medication and no other care at all. Faye and Jonathan Kellerman's decades of philanthropy include endowments at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles Division of Hematology-Oncology, where a yearly lecture has been named after Jonathan, and USC's department of psychology and Thornton School of Music. They have also contributed to numerous educational institutions, the Metropolitan Museum of Art's musical instrument department, the Georgia Okeeffe Museum, and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. Bibliography Alex Delaware When the Bough Breaks (1985) (1986 Edgar Award and Anthony awards, Best First Novel) This novel was originally titled Shrunken Heads. The novel was adapted as a TV movie in 1986 starring Ted Danson and Richard Masur. 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): Featuring Daniel Shalom Sharavi of The Butcher's Theater (1988) 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 (March 2008) Bones (October 2008) Evidence (October 2009) Deception (March 2010) Mystery (March 2011) Victims (February 2012) Guilt (2013) Killer (2014) Motive (2015) Breakdown (2016) Heartbreak Hotel (2017) Night Moves (February 13, 2018) The Wedding Guest (February 5, 2019) The Museum of Desire (February 4, 2020) Serpentine (February 2, 2021) City of the Dead (February 8, 2022) Unnatural History (February 16, 2023) The Ghost Orchid (February 6, 2024)Related Novels The Butcher's Theater (1988) True Detectives (2009) Characters also appear in Bones (October 2008)Petra Connor Billy Straight (1998) "A Cold Heart" (2003) with Alex Delaware Twisted (2004)Jacob Lev (with Jesse Kellerman) The Golem of Hollywood (2014) The Golem of Paris (2015)Clay Edison (with Jesse Kellerman) Crime Scene (2017) A Measure of Darkness (July 31, 2018) Half Moon Bay (aka Lost Souls) (July 2020) The B.... Discover the Jonathan Kellerman popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Jonathan Kellerman books.
Best Seller Jonathan Kellerman Books of 2024
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Half Moon Bay
Jonathan Kellerman & Jesse KellermanDeputy Coroner Clay Edison discovers that buried secrets can be deadly in this riveting thriller from a fatherson team of bestselling authors who write “brilliant, pageturning fict...
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Self-Defense
Jonathan KellermanNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Dr. Alex Delaware doesn’t see many private patients anymore, but the young woman called Lucy is an exception. So is her dream. Lucy Lowell is ref...
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Obsession
Jonathan Kellerman#1 WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLER “Jonathan Kellerman’s novels are an obsession; once started it is hard to quit.”Orlando Sentinel Tanya Bigelow was a solemn little gi...
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The Web
Jonathan KellermanBONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Jonathan Kellerman's Victims.Psychologistdetective Dr. Alex Delaware finds terror in the heart of paradise in this relentlessly siniste...
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The Clinic
Jonathan KellermanNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Professor Hope Devane’s malebashing poppsych bestseller created a storm of controversy on the talkshow circuit. Now she is dead, brutally slashed...
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Heartbreak Hotel
Jonathan Kellerman#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Alex Delaware and LAPD detective Milo Sturgis investigate the death of Alex’s most mysterious patient to date in the sensational new thriller from the...
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Therapy
Jonathan KellermanNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Behind the yellow crimescene tape, a brutal tableau awaits. On a lonely lovers’ lane in the hills of Los Angeles, a young couple lies murdered in...
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Flesh and Blood
Jonathan KellermanBONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Jonathan Kellerman's Victims.Perennial bestseller and acknowledged master of the psychological thriller, Jonathan Kellerman has create...
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Private Eyes
Jonathan KellermanBONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Jonathan Kellerman's Guilt.NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The voice belongs to a woman, but Dr. Alex Delaware remembers a little gir...
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Compulsion
Jonathan KellermanOnce again, the depths of the criminal mind and the darkest side of a glittering city fuel #1 New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman’s brilliant storytelling. And n...
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The Wedding Guest
Jonathan KellermanNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Psychologist Alex Delaware and detective Milo Sturgis unravel a shocking crime at a raucous wedding reception in this gripping psychological thriller fro...
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Time Bomb
Jonathan KellermanNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER By the time psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware reached the school the damage was done: A sniper had opened fire on a crowded playground, but was gunn...
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Rage
Jonathan KellermanNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Troy Turner and Rand Duchay were barely teenagers when they murdered a younger child. While Troy died violently behind bars, the hulking, slowwit...
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Monster
Jonathan KellermanBONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Jonathan Kellerman's Victims.A secondrate actor is found mutilated in a car trunk. Then a psychologist at a Los Angeles hospital for ...
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A Cold Heart
Jonathan KellermanBONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Jonathan Kellerman's Guilt.NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LAPD homicide detective Milo Sturgis summons his friend psychologistsleuth...
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Silent Partner
Jonathan KellermanBONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Jonathan Kellerman's Guilt.NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER At a party for a controversial Los Angeles sex therapist, Alex Delaware en...
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The Conspiracy Club
Jonathan KellermanNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER When his passionate romance with nurse Jocelyn Banks is cut short by her kidnapping and brutal murder, young psychologist Jeremy Carrier is left ...
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Killer
Jonathan KellermanNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Jonathan Kellerman returns with this stunning thrillera mesmerizing L.A. noir portrayal of the darkest impulses of human nature carried to shocking ...
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Twisted
Jonathan KellermanNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER With her energies focused on a baffling, vicious gang slaying and her personal life in shambles, Hollywood homicide detective Petra Connor has a ...
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Serpentine
Jonathan KellermanNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Psychologist Alex Delaware and detective Milo Sturgis search for answers to a brutal, decadesold crime in this electrifying psychological thriller from t...
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A Measure of Darkness
Jonathan Kellerman & Jesse KellermanDeputy coroner Clay Edison goes to extreme lengths for a forgotten Jane Doe in the new thriller from a fatherson team of bestselling authors who write “brilliant, pageturning ficti...
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Night Moves
Jonathan KellermanNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The master of the psychological thriller makes all the right moves in this new novel of spellbinding suspense. Even with all his years of experience...
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The Murder Book
Jonathan KellermanJonathan Kellerman has distinguished himself as the master of the psychological thriller. Now L.A. psychologistdetective Alex Delaware confronts a longunsolved murder of unspea...
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Motive
Jonathan KellermanNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERJonathan Kellerman writes razorsharp novels that cut to the quick. Now comes Motive, which pits psychologist Alex Delaware and homicide cop Milo Sturgis ag...
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Bones
Jonathan KellermanBONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Jonathan Kellerman's Victims.When it comes to writing deftly layered, tightly coiled novels of suspense, #1 New York Times bestselling ...
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Crime Scene
Jonathan Kellerman & Jesse KellermanNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A former star athlete turned deputy coroner is drawn into a brutal, complicated murder in this psychological thriller from a fatherson writing team that ...
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Gone
Jonathan KellermanBONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Jonathan Kellerman's Guilt.#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Missing acting students Dylan and Michaela are found in the remote moun...
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Breakdown
Jonathan KellermanNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Jonathan Kellerman has been universally hailed as the master of psychological suspense, and the blockbuster new thriller featuring Alex Delaware and...
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Savage Spawn
Jonathan KellermanThis thoughtprovoking and timely book from a #1 New York Times bestselling novelist and noted child psychologist reveals the factors that often lead to explosive and shocking ...
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Dr. Death
Jonathan KellermanBONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Jonathan Kellerman's Victims.Who killed the killer? In this brilliant and startling psychological thriller, Jonathan Kellerman, perenni...
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Bad Love
Jonathan KellermanNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER It came in a plain brown wrapper, no return addressan audiocassette recording of a horrifying, soullacerating scream, followed by the sound of a...
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The Ghost Orchid
Jonathan KellermanPsychologist Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis confront a baffling, vicious double homicide that leads them to longburied secrets worth killing for in the riveting thriller ...
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The Burning
Jonathan Kellerman & Jesse KellermanThings get personal for Deputy Coroner Clay Edison when a murder hits close to home in this riveting, emotional thriller from the bestselling fatherson team who write “brilliant, p...
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Guilt
Jonathan KellermanNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “The combination of Alex Delaware [and] Detective Milo Sturgis . . . makes for the most original whodunit duo since Watson and Holmes.”ForbesIn an ...
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Mystery
Jonathan KellermanBONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Jonathan Kellerman's Victims.The closing of the grand old Fauborg Hotel in Beverly Hills is a sad occasion for longtime patrons Alex ...
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City of the Dead
Jonathan KellermanNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The past comes back to haunt psychologist Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis when they investigate a grisly double homicide and uncover an even mor...
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The Golem of Hollywood
Jonathan Kellerman & Jesse KellermanThe #1 New York Times bestselling author of the acclaimed Alex Delaware novels and the awardwinning #1 international bestselling author of The Genius combine their extraordinary ta...
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Deception
Jonathan Kellerman“Kellerman doesn’t just write psychological thrillershe owns the genre.”Detroit Free Press Her name is Elise Freeman, and her chilling cry for help comes too late to save...
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Evidence
Jonathan KellermanBONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Jonathan Kellerman's Victims.In a halfbuilt mansion in Los Angeles, a watchman stumbles onto the bodies of a young couplemurdered and l...
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Capital Crimes
Jonathan Kellerman & Faye KellermanInternationally bestselling husband and wife Jonathan and Faye Kellerman team up for a powerful onetwo punch with Capital Crimes, a gripping pair of original crime thrillers.MY SIS...
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The Museum of Desire
Jonathan KellermanNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Psychologist Alex Delaware and detective Milo Sturgis struggle to make sense of a seemingly inexplicable massacre in this electrifying psychological thri...
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Victims
Jonathan Kellerman“With his latest, [Jonathan Kellerman] not only brings his ‘A’ game but also ratchets it up a notch or three. . . . Victims will keep you up at night.”Bookreporter Acidtongu...
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Survival of the Fittest
Jonathan KellermanNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The daughter of a diplomat disappears on a school field triplured into the Santa Monica Mountains and killed in cold blood. Her father denies the...
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Billy Straight
Jonathan KellermanNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A resourceful runaway alone in the wilds of Los Angeles, twelveyearold Billy Straight suddenly witnesses a brutal stabbing in Griffith Park. Flee...
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True Detectives
Jonathan KellermanIn Jonathan Kellerman’s gripping novels, the city of Los Angeles is as much a living, breathing character as the heroes and villains who roam its labyrinthine streets. Sunny on the...
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Unnatural History
Jonathan KellermanNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The most enduring detectives in American crime fiction are back in this electrifying thriller of art and brutality from the #1 New York Times bestselling...