I really don't know what to say about this. I love the Alex Delaware series, I have read all of them at least once over the last 20 years. Some are better than others (The Web should be tossed out completely) but most have been a good, decent read. I enjoyed this one too, but it was a little fragmented. Frankly, I liked that it was all tied up at the end without any of the bang-bang-shoot-em-up-car-chase sort of Hollywood ending that most authors go for (and comprise the ending of most of the Alex Delaware books.) Actually, this book lacked a lot of the Hollywood action movie claptrap and focused more on good old fashioned detecting. In general, I enjoy that but this book really didn't have much suspense. Yeah, I wondered whodunit, but I really didn't care.

Spoiler

The pregnant woman, Holly, was annoying and served very little purpose, IMHO. I had to wonder why it was included. There wasn't any need for her character development (or her husband's for that matter) and really served only as a distraction. The truth behind the bones in the backyard was the same thing; not much of a story and really could've been solved in the first 2 chapters. What I really didn't like was the turn from Alex becoming the Sherlock and Milo becoming the Watson. Yeah, I know Alex is the main character, but to demote Milo from being the capable sidekick to a face rubbing lackey really disappointed me. The whole Brangelina/TomKat storyline didn't do much for me either. Too contrived and unfulfilling. Made me wonder if Kellerman is angling for a movie deal or smarting from losing a movie deal. Hmm.

All in all not the worst in the series and worth a read, but not the best. If I were new to the Alex Delaware series and read this one first, it might've put me off to reading the earlier books, which were much better.