Silent Partner was published by Bantam Books in 1989. Sharon Ransom, a beautiful psychologist with whom Alex once had a brief relationship, is found dead — an apparent suicide. Alex’s guilt over having ended the relationship drives him to investigate, and he discovers that Sharon was connected to a sex-therapy practice serving the wealthiest and most powerful men in Los Angeles. The clinic’s records contain secrets that multiple people would kill to suppress.
The novel marks Kellerman’s move to Bantam and a larger readership, and it introduces the recurring theme of institutional corruption — how wealthy institutions (clinics, hospitals, universities) can become shelters for predators when the powerful have incentives to look away.
Collecting Silent Partner
First edition (Bantam Books, New York, 1989): Boards with dust jacket.
Market values:
- Fine in dust jacket: $30–$75
- Very good: $15–$30
Projected values (2026–2036): Moderate appreciation.
The Los Angeles Novel
Silent Partner expands the series’ Los Angeles geography into new territory: the entertainment industry, Bel Air mansions, and the peculiar intersection of wealth, therapy, and celebrity that defines the city. Alex’s former lover, found dead in apparent suicide, turns out to have connections to a world of exploitation hidden behind the glamorous surface. Kellerman uses the city’s physical landscape — the contrast between canyon luxury and valley ordinariness — as a structural principle.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Alex Delaware novels are there? Over 40, published between 1985 and the present. Kellerman has published approximately one Delaware novel per year since the mid-1980s, making it one of the most prolific single-detective series in American crime fiction.