Heartbreak Hotel by Jonathan Kellerman

Alex Delaware is surprised when he gets a call from an old woman.  She knows of his work and wants to chat with him.  He can't imagine what he can do for her but she's almost 100 and doesn't go out anymore so he visits her.

Ballentine Books and Edelweiss allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published February 14th.

She lives in an odd forgotten part of an old hotel in the Hollywood area and is pretty much the only tenant in that section.  Sometimes the cottages get overnight guests but not often.  She's content there.  Alex can tell by her household goods and the rent she pays that she's fairly well off.  What she talks about with him is if genetics can have an influence over whether a person is good or bad.  If the ancestors were bad, would the grandchildren be?  It's not expressed in quite that manner but she alludes to it.  He asks her just what her question is and who she might be talking about but she told him she was tired and asked him to return the next day and she would tell him more.  When he returns, she's dead.  Unfortunately, it's not from natural causes.

He contacts Miles and they begin looking into the case.  Almost everyone she knew is dead.  She has no family and no one particularly close to her.  To find the truth they will have to go back years.  She once was a girlfriend to a crook...

This tale finds relatives of the men she associated with all over everywhere.  Dead bodies start showing up regularly, too.  There was a theft and nobody wants to share the wealth.  While they piece together the story, they find some ugly tales on the way and have no sympathy for the bad guys.  There's an overwhelming feel of greed which turns into murder.  The worst part is that it wasn't what they thought it was.  So much bad happened and there was no reward.  It was very ironic and justice won again.

Alex and Miles make a good team and I enjoy reading about them.  I'll be watching for the next book.