Book Review: Jigsaw

This one looked like a slam dunk: a young woman found dead at her kitchen table, DNA on cigarette butts linking quickly to an ex-boyfriend with a criminal record. Or so homicide lieutenant Milo Sturgis thought. Then everything changed and a quick close turned into a mind-bending whodunit. That’s when Milo called in psychologist Alex Delaware, his best friend and a long-term consultant on “those cases.” The ones that are different.

Then there’s another one: an old woman found brutally murdered, her body stashed in a deep freeze and mutilated. And when Milo learns who she is, he’s stunned. This victim is someone he once knew. Complicating matters further, her home is an extreme hoarder’s den, virtually impassable due to years of stored trash and apparently meaningless objects. Except for the envelopes of cash stashed among the garbage. As Alex and Milo dig deeper into the seemingly unrelated crimes, they discover shocking links between the victims and realize they have a labyrinthine—and deadly—puzzle to solve.

Jigsaw by Jonathan Kellerman will be published February 3, 2026. Ballantine Books provided an early galley for review.

This is the 41st book in the Alex Delaware series of novels (started in 1985). This was my first in the series. Let's see how diving in over forty years later will do.

First impression: this reminds me a lot of the Robert B. Parker Spenser series, of which I have read most (long-running, reoccurring characters who are "timeless", location specific, etc.). That made me very comfortable very quickly.

It is very procedural, very step-by-step investigation with lots of dialogue. That is often par for this kind of genre tale. It does make the reading move quickly.

Fans of the series will certainly enjoy it. Newcomers are not left too far in the outfield, so that is helpful.