Jonathan Kellerman Books In Order Of Publication

[Autumn Pitz]

Where did the idea for The Murder Book come from?
This particular novel grew out of my desire to learn more about Milo.When I wrote my first Delaware novel, When the Bough Breaks, I neverthought it was going to get published let alone that I would write a series. Ifollowed it up with two more Delaware stories and then a non-Delaware novel. Atthat point I said to myself if I'm going to do more books about this guy Iwant to learn more about him. So the next novel in the series, Silent Partner,featured Delaware as the protagonist. He wasn't just a professional solving aproblem for others; he was the focus of the story. I did the same thing again inBad Love. The Murder Book takes that same approach for Milo. Hehas been a major character of the series since the beginning—to some extent asimportant a character as Alex himself—and I wanted to further explore hislife. The story also grew out of my desire to write a book that resonated beyondthe crime story. The Murder Book explores Los Angeles in greater depththan previous books in the series. It's a classic novel of corruption thatspans several decades. I know that's been done before but I thought I couldput a unique slant on it.

You're already well known for documenting the social and economicclimate of Los Angeles. How is this book different?
It's not different in type as much as in degree. While I always go backin the past—I'm enough of a psychologist to believe you can't escape thepast, you have to deal with it—The Murder Book provides more of ahistorical perspective on Los Angeles by going back in time and dealing withchanges in the city over a twenty-year period. I've always considered LosAngeles a character in my books. I'm often identified as a writer ofpsychological thrillers. But reviewers have also noted these are very much LAnovels, and that's how I see them. With the exception of one book all mynovels have taken place here. I think that puts me well within the tradition ofSouthern California hardboiled detective writers.

What is it about Los Angeles that so fascinates you?
I've always been fascinated by the extreme disparities between thehaves and the have-nots in this town. They've become much more acute over theyears and helped turn Los Angeles into a Third World colony. They also lead toanger and tension and frustration and hunger, which in turn breeds crime andextreme behavior. And although Delaware does solve mysterious puzzles, whathe's really exploring is human behavior under extreme circumstances. I'malso fascinated by the influence of the film industry here. I've lived in LosAngeles since I was a kid—since 1959—and over the years I've watched thiscity become more of a company town than ever before. Los Angeles used to have amuch greater range of businesses. Today it is permeated through and through bythe film industry—not just economically but in its entire zeitgeist. There'sa blurring of reality and fantasy here that's almost palpable.

Prior to the 1985 publication of your debut novel—the first in theDelaware series—you spent fourteen years churning out a slew of novels thatended up being rejected. What changed for you as a writer that allowed you tomake that breakthrough?
There were a couple of things that changed. In 1981 I realized I neededto approach fiction writing more professionally. I had always used writing as acatharsis. Well, if you want to do that you might as well write for yourself andstick your work in a drawer. If you want to write for other people you need toapproach it as you would a job. I began writing with a lot more discipline. Ioutlined and polished and rewrote and honed it. In other words I worked a lotharder at my writing and took it much more seriously. By that time I also hadmuch more to say because I had had some interesting life experiences. When I wonthe Goldwyn award at age 21 I was the epitome of callow. I wasn't experiencedenough to have anything significant to offer. But by the time I was in my earlythirties I was a veteran psychologist. I had worked in the trenches long enoughto have something to say about human misery. That enabled me to write a moreinteresting story.

Up until that time you had worked very hard at keeping your identity as apsychologist separate from your fiction. Why?
Essentially it was cowardice. I was afraid to reveal anything aboutmyself. On some level all fiction is biography. If you're going to succeed asa fiction writer you have to be willing to put yourself on the line. It took along time before I was ready to do that.

To what extent do you draw on specific experiences from your years as ahospital psychologist in writing the Delaware novels?
I've never drawn on my list of patients to depict specific individualsor families in distress. And I never will. But I certainly know what it's likefor families or individuals to be under stress. During my time as a hospitalpsychologist I treated thousands of children suffering from chronic and terminaldiseases, birth defects, handicaps, and injuries. I also dealt with theaftermath of alcoholism, drug abuse, homicide, suicide, divorce, rape, physicalabuse, sexual molestation, and grinding poverty. I like to think what I learnedin those years imbues my writing with emotional authenticity. I also benefitedfrom the fact that Children's Hospital was multi-cultural in the strictestsense. I was dealing with people of every conceivable background: paupers andthe idle rich, educated and uneducated, Black, White, Hispanic, you name it. Icouldn't have found a better training ground to be a writer if I had tried. Inretrospect I'm glad I was a rejected writer for fourteen years. It gave me achance to learn.

Do you ever go back and reread your earlier novels?
Very rarely. In my down time the last thing I want to do is read my ownwork. I'd rather read the works of other authors and spend time with familyand friends. Except for the occasional need to check a fact or two, I rarely goback to my previous works. When I write a novel I live with it every day forabout a year. And during that process I tend not to be too introspective. Ithink to some extent introspection can be the enemy of productivity. One reasonI've been able to write so many books is I focus on each project to theexclusion of all else. I have no doubt that if I did read my earlier books I'dspot things I wouldn't necessarily do today. That notwithstanding, on those fewoccasions when I do leaf through an old passage the work seems to hold up prettywell. When the Bough Breaks came out more than 20 years ago and stillsells at a steady pace. Apparently when people pick up a new Delaware novel theyoften decide to go back and check out the older ones. I get a big kick out ofthat. It's a very gratifying feeling.

Writers often talk about finding their "voice." How do you describe yourwriter's voice?
I don't think about it much. It's just the way the words come out ofmy head. I'd much rather write than talk about writing. What people say theylike about my books is the sense of place and the memorable characters. And theylike the psychology—the insights they feel they're getting. They like thatpeek into another world. My voice in the Delaware novels tends to be somewhathardboiled. There's an element of cynicism in it. It's the outsider, theobserver, looking in. And that's what a psychologist is. The stories arerarely about Delaware himself but rather about what he sees and the people whotalk to him. The voice is that of the observer offering comments to others or,more often, to himself. Much of the story in these books takes place in Alex'shead. That's why they're not turned into movies. A lot of what goes on isinternal.

What inspired you to make Milo Sturgis, Delaware's partner in crimesolving, a gay homicide detective?
I wish I could say it was some great sensitivity on my part. I neverliked the notion of an amateur detective coming in and showing up the cops. Ifelt a psychologist who worked with cops was much more plausible. Once I figuredthat out I knew I had to have a policeman in the story and I wanted to avoid theboring clich of the gruff, grizzled veteran detective. This was back in 1981and I knew the LAPD officially had no gay officers. So I thought making Milo gaywould create a certain amount of tension. Ironically, one of the guys who wantsto be the next police chief here is a gay, Jewish associate chief. That showshow far things have come at the LAPD. But back then a gay homicide detective wasa revolutionary concept and certainly played against stereotype. For the samereason I had Delaware's first girlfriend working with power tools while he wasthe one dealing with emotions. What interests me in the world are the exceptionsrather than the norm.

Among the secondary characters in The Murder Book are several LosAngeles real estate moguls. Are they based on anyone in particular?
No. That's always been a point of pride with me. The fun of writingfiction is in making things up. And because I came to fiction as a psychologistI was always careful not to betray confidentiality. That made me a better writerbecause it forced me to use my imagination. In Silent Partner I had aHoward Hughes-like character. I viewed him not as a person but as an icon, ametaphor, and a larger than life figure. In Flesh and Blood I had acharacter that was a colleague of Hugh Hefner. But he was quite different fromHefner. These guys were made up of a whole cloth, as are all my characters. Eachtime you write a book you're creating new people. It's a godlike illusion.

A well-known quote about writers suggests they hate to write but lovehaving written. Is writing easy or hard for you?
That's a tough question to answer. In one sense it's very easy. Inever get writer's block. Words just seem to flow out of me. But that'sbecause I outline compulsively in order to get a firm grip on my stories, whichtend to be very plot heavy. It's not that I love plotting but I believe awriter should never cheat the reader. That plotting process is hard work. Thewriting I find most difficult is non-fiction, which requires you to aim forclarity and elegance of style. Fiction writing allows you much more leewaybecause you're creating a whole world.

Your wife, Faye Kellerman, is also a well-known best-selling author.What's it like to be married to a fellow writer? Do you talk about writing orgive each other feedback on story ideas?
It's great being married to another writer. One of the nice thingsabout our situation is we don't compete with each other because we weremarried for 12 or 13 years before we got published. And neither of us came towriting from an English department background. (Mine was psychology; hers wastheoretical mathematics and dentistry.) We don't trade ideas but we do readeach other's books. It's a great luxury having an in-house critic who'sreally constructive and on your side. We used to read each other's work inprogress every week or so but over the years we've gotten more secure in ourown abilities. Nowadays, instead of looking for help from each other webasically say, "read it and have fun with it." Fortunately we enjoy eachother's stuff. When we do "talk shop" we tend to focus on the business side ofpublishing—which can be very strange—as opposed to the creative side.

Twenty-five years ago you helped found a psychosocial rehabilitationprogram for kids with cancer at the Children's Hospital in Los Angeles (CHLA).The program endures to this day and is considered one of the finest of its kindin the country. Are you still actively involved?
Not directly. I'm still a Clinical Professor of Pediatric Psychology atUSC's School of Medicine and a Clinical Professor of Psychology at USC'sDepartment of Psychology. Although I don't do a lot of teaching I dooccasionally supervise grad students, post-doctoral fellows, medical residents,and so on. Some of my students are full professors. I try to keep in touch withthe field. Aside from that my main contact now is philanthropic in nature. Forexample, our foundation recently funded a quality of life research study at CHLAof children with brain tumors.

We've talked about how your work as a clinical psychologist played amajor role in what you bring to the Delaware character. Does your work as awriter impact what you do as teacher and psychologist?
I don't think it does. When I sit there with a grad student talkingabout a case, we're just talking about the case. I'm a psychologist again,not a writer.

How does it make you feel to know, twenty-five years later, that the CHLAprogram you directed and help found has been so successful and changed so manylives for the better?
I was there for only a few years but I consider myself very fortunate tohave been part of that program. Like most people who become healthcareprofessionals I became a psychologist because I really wanted to help people. Itwas a chance to give something back and make a difference in people's lives. Itreated a lot of kids and they got better. There's no greater feeling in theworld. With perhaps one exception I've always considered the work I did as apsychologist much more important than what I did and continue to do as anovelist because when you get right down to it fiction writing is verynarcissistic work.

What was the exception?
In 1993 I published a book called Devil's Waltz, a Delaware novelthat dealt with a condition known as Munchausen by Proxy, a dangerous form ofchild abuse in which a parent induces symptoms in his or her child in order towin the attention of healthcare professionals. At the time few people had heardof the syndrome, including most doctors. After the book came out I got a numberof calls from doctors and nurses around the country who said, "You know, we havethis kid and we didn't know what the hell was going on with him…and now weknow." That novel saved lives. It was incredible.

Is there any part of you that misses your old life as a psychologist?
No. I like what I'm doing now. But it did take me a while to totallylet that old life go. I wrote three books while working full-time as apsychologist. Eventually, however, I had to give it up. The demands wereantithetical to what I wanted to accomplish as a writer and what I needed to dofor my publisher. For example, it's difficult for a psychologist to just upand leave town. But publishers want you to go on book tours and travel. Idecided I was going to try writing full time to see if I liked it and so I easedout of my practice. (It took a couple of years to finish up with the kids I wasseeing.) What I really like about full-time writing is the personal freedom. Asa therapist every hour of my day was booked up for months. I'd routinely havenine or ten appointments per day. Now I can wake up and say, "Gee, I can dowhatever I want." It's very liberating. Fortunately, one of the things I gotfrom my former career was a strong sense of discipline. A lot of people havedifficulty dealing with a lack of structure in their lives. If they have toomuch leisure time they get nothing done. Because of my years as a psychologistthat was never an issue for me.

What do you consider your greatest strength and your greatest weakness asa writer?
Sometimes I think I get a little too wordy. I'm always trying to reinmyself in and say more with less. At the start of each day's writing I alwaysgo back and revise my work from the day before. I consciously try to make sureI'm not over-writing. Perhaps my greatest strength is the psychologicalinsight I bring to my fiction. I like to think there's a certain uniquequality to what I do but that's up to other people to judge. I also think Ihave a pretty good sense of place. And people tell me I'm a very vivid writer;that there are scenes and characters that stick out in their minds. I also liketo think I bring a sense of compassion to my writing. I'm basically anoptimist. I don't want pat happy endings but I also don't see a need towrite an ending that's morose. People should be entertained when they read.Arguments over whether a piece of writing is entertainment or literature arenonsensical and pretentious. If we don't stray too far from our cavemanancestors sitting around a fire telling stories, that's okay. Some of theworld's most enduring classics are simply great stories at heart.

What's the most important thing your reading public should know aboutyou?
How much I appreciate them. Like most writers I write for myself and notan audience. But at the same time I have a profound appreciation for my readers.It's a great thing to take a project from initial concept to finished book,put it out in the public, and have people not only buy what you've written butalso come back again and again for more. I couldn't do this without them.

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