Crime Scene: A Novel (Clay Edison)

Wow! I loved this story and the coroner/detective at the heart of the story. This is also a well written mystery, opening slowly, disclosing easily misread clues from the past of a nearly perfect crime.

Fortunately, the perpetrators didn’t count on Clay Edison failing to ignore inconsistencies in the case, a convicted murderer’s younger sister insisting her brother had an alibi, or a disgraced university professor with unexpected compassion.

I can’t wait to read the next book by this father-son duo. I hope this is just the first of many Clay Edison novels to come from them. Man, this family has story telling talents extraordinaire!

Crime Scene by Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman is the first in a new series by two excellent and entertaining writers. Jonathan brings a ton of experience to this genre and his son offers fresh insights and new vision. Clay Edison is a Berkeley, California cop but not on the street. He is a Coroner’s Investigator who examines all deaths that are not natural. In Crime Scene Clay is looking at the death of a psychologist and others who traveled in the dead man’s circle. Initially it looks like a natural death, the cause of death ruled a heart attack. But there are circumstances that bother Clay and he refuses to call the death natural. A twisty, sometimes subtle, and involving investigation begins and before too long the death creates more questions than answers. I am a huge Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman fan and welcome this new series. It goes without too much thought that I recommend the back list of both outstanding writers as well as Crime Scene.

I picked up this book after a recommendation for a book later in the series. I really like to read a series in order, so I picked up #1. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the book is about a deputy coroner, Clay Edison. Clay spends time investigating why the people in his care actually died. I didn’t know coroners got out in the field! At any rate, it was an interesting, if long-ish book, and I recommend it for those of you who like police procedurals. I hope the second book carries some of these characters on.

Natural causes or foul play? That’s the question Clay Edison must answer each time he examines a body. Figuring out motives and chasing down suspects aren’t part of his beat—not until a seemingly open-and-shut case proves to be more than meets his highly trained eye.

Eccentric, reclusive Walter Rennert lies cold at the bottom of his stairs. At first glance the scene looks straightforward: a once-respected psychology professor, done in by booze and a bad heart. But his daughter Tatiana insists that her father has been murdered, and she persuades Clay to take a closer look at the grim facts of Rennert’s life.

What emerges is a history of scandal and violence, and an experiment gone horribly wrong that ended in the brutal murder of a coed. Walter Rennert, it appears, was a broken man—and maybe a marked one. And when Clay learns that a colleague of Rennert’s died in a nearly identical manner, he begins to question everything in the official record.

All the while, his relationship with Tatiana is evolving into something forbidden. The closer they grow, the more determined he becomes to catch her father’s killer—even if he has to overstep his bounds to do it.

The twisting trail Clay follows will lead him into the darkest corners of the human soul. It’s his job to listen to the tales the dead tell. But this time, he’s part of a story that makes his blood run cold.

My Thoughts: It was supposed to be a simple case of accidental death; all the signs were leaning in that direction. But something about Tatiana’s plea for a closer look takes Clay Edison on a convoluted journey to places he would never have anticipated going.

There is something so appealing about a detective that goes beyond the call of duty. Who knew that all the people who kept standing in his way had their own mistakes to protect?

Of course, Clay showed himself to be an “outside the box” thinker, who sometimes came across as a rule breaker. His attitudes and behaviors made a more interesting story for me.

I liked following the clues with Clay, in Crime Scene, this fascinating tale that takes us from California’s Bay Area to Lake Tahoe.

In the end, justice is done. A 4.5 star read for me.

Detective Edison is introduced as working for the coroner. However, his only co tact with the bodies is to decipher their surroundings and transport them to the coroner's more. Henceforth it is his task to determine the cause of death according to five categories. However, some cases lead him to lengthy investigations. In this case it leads him to reinvestigating two other closed but related cases.

His personal life includes a family that is no longer closely knit. He visits his parents occasionally and has less contact with his brothers. Fortunately a retired officer who worked in the coroners case treat him like family. He and his wife invite this handsome, former basketball player now a deputy investigating deaths to dinner on a regular basis. They enjoy their time together. They have a daughter away at college working on her dissertation, an "ABD" until she receives a PhD.

Through his investigations of deaths he meets a variety of interesting people. Many cases are straight forward and close quick!y. Others take more investigation. Some he pursues on his hunches against his bosses directions.

Thus, this is a well written book as one expects from the Kellermans. It has potential to lead into a series of interesting investigations.

For me, the book ambled its way to what I felt was the expected and safe conclusion. In some ways, I think I was expecting Clay to have supporting friends or co-workers versus being a lone, self appointed investigator. That said, there is a lot of depth even for people with brief appearances. The mystery was interesting enough that I plan on reading at least the next book.

Crime Scene is the first book in the new Clay Edison series by Jonathan Kellerman and Jesse Kellerman. A police procedural story with a lot of mystery, secrets, lies, twists and turns, betrayal, some suspense, and a touch of romance. It had an interesting storyline, complex characters, a bit of humor, and was intriguing. A good start to this series.

There were several things that I enjoyed about this book, but I had a difficult time getting into the story. Throughout the first part of the story, it was mostly being told he said this, he did that, he went there, etc., or Edison's inner dialogue. There was barely any type of emotion from the character at all, and it just seemed monotonous. About half way through the book it seemed to get somewhat better, there were more interactions between the characters, and the story was becoming more intriguing.

The ending left a lot to be desired in my opinion. Unfortunately, I won't be able to get into details because I refuse to give away spoilers. I can say that there were questions left unanswered, about both the case and Edison's romantic involvements. It wasn't anything major, just things that I would have liked to had closure on. That may just be me though.

Overall, this had a great plot which I enjoyed, and it was a good start to this series. I would have liked to seen more character development, been shown instead of told about the characters, more closure to the case, and any romantic involvements, as I believe that this would have made for a better read. Hopefully, these types of things will be incorporated into the stories as the series continues.

I have heard a lot of wonderful things about this father and son writing duo. This is the first time I have read anything by either of these authors, and although it wasn't my favorite, I'm looking forward to trying a different book. I would recommend this book, and authors.

I have voluntarily reviewed this arc provided by the publisher via NetGalley.

I tried to get through this book but it never caught my interest and I just stopped reading 60% through--something I hardly ever do. I love both his parents' books but reading this author is like having a second job--it's work. The text is generally leaden, the characters uninteresting, the plot less than engaging. (Occasionally there is some interesting text which bears the mark of the father, not the son.) What kept me reading is that it is strangely well-written--I kept asking why something that was well organized, clear, and direct could be so boring. What came to me: Jesse must be a very good, if not exactly riveting, NON-fiction writer; I bet he got A+ on all his essays and compositions in school. But to write fiction you need additional skills; in fact if you have those skills you don't actually need to be a good writer in the most basic sense (consider the Kay Scarpetta novels--the initial ones were clunky and embarrassingly awkward but the plot was fascinating and the author knew what she was talking about).

That comparison is kind of obvious--Jesse's protagonist (Clay Edison) works in a coroner's office but there is hardly anything about the actual business of the office that comes through. You would think Edison was simply working an ordinary job that occasionally brought him into contact with murders (plus all the material about working with psychologists was clearly written by the father and has little to do with the plot).

This was a waste of my effort and goodwill. I don't think his parents are doing him any favor in the long run. They may be hurting their own sales.