I just finished two books: Deception by Jonathan Kellerman and Split Image by Robert B. Parker. I follow both authors mainly because of the characters they write. Kellerman’s Alex Delaware is fairly monochromatic but the characters that surround him are spectroscopic. Milo Sturgis is a police detective with all the physical grace of a grizzly and the heart of a poet. And I love that Kellerman writes his gayness as just another attribute and not something that must be evaluated endlessly. The mysteries really take a back seat to the interaction between these two characters and the myriad odd balls they meet while investigating.
As to Parker, I have only read his Jesse Stone books. Some day I’ll go back and find the first Spenser novel and start those. But for now I like the dialogue driven, angst laden stories in Paradise, Massachusetts. It may be a small town but they are just as messed up as any big city. A corrupt board of selectmen, organized crime, and careless rich people. And talk about characters. Jesse is my favorite, of course, hard bitten, no nonsense, but not quite able to let his first wife go or the bottle of scotch. Tom Selleck plays him in the TV movies. You get the idea. And then there is Suit Simpson, Molly Crane, Detective Healy, all amazing individuals that you could pick out of a line up. And again, the mystery is there and well thought out, but for me secondary to the minimalist dialogue and brilliant characters.
With both story lines it helps to start at the beginning, but not absolutely necessary. So, for good writing and amazing characters, give them a look.
