Thank you Net Galley for letting me read this advanced copy for my honest opinion. 
I did not read the first two books in the series and that might have helped me a lot. I was very confused throughout most of the book. It was hard to keep the characters straight. I had to keep asking myself who was who. I did put most of it together by the end of the book. It was ok but nothing spectacular.

This book was very enjoyable, with many twists and turns. Will need to find more books by the Kellerman's.

thank you for the ARC! This is #3 in the Clay Edison series and I already can not wait for #4. The character development of Clay just gets better and better and the story line was very well researched and written. I loved how all of a sudden all the pieces of the puzzle came together to finish off the story.

Ballantine Books and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Half Moon Bay. I voluntarily chose to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

Deputy Coroner Clay Edison has a new baby and is working the graveyard shift so that someone is always home with the little girl. Clay gets called in to investigate a skeleton that was uncovered when workers were demolishing a local park. A call soon after, with a possible identification, leads Clay on a long pursuit to find the truth.

Having read the other books in this series, I was disappointed in the lack of progression of the character of Clay Edison. This novel was unnecessarily convoluted, with elements of the plot that did nothing to progress either the characters or the story as a whole. Had the book been edited down by around 75 pages, Half Moon Bay would have been a better read. Overall, I liked the novel, but I cannot say that I will remember it a few months from now. For these reasons, I would be hesitant to recommend Half Moon Bay to other readers.

Half Moon Bay by Jonathan & Jesse Kellerman

In this thriller, we find that buried secrets can be deadly.  Workers demolishing a local park find a decades-old skeleton of a child.  The hunt is on for “who” and how did it get there?

I found the plot to be confusing.  First, we are tracing a baby skeleton in the park; next, we are investigating a kidnapped baby.. One a baby boy and then a baby girl.  Both are cold cases.  The two cases kept overlapping.  Also, a mysterious fire was thrown into the mix.  I was disappointed.

Thanks to Net Galley for sending me an advanced reader’s copy.

In this third installment of Clay, a coroner, series, the Kellermans once again create a great read.

This time Clay discovers an old skeleton, and a man who thinks it could be his sister.

The mystery and writing are both top-notch, and fans or those new to the series will have no trouble getting involved in this fast moving, well-written mystery.

I am a big Jonathan Kellerman fan and I’ve read all the books in the Delaware series. Here Jonathan writes with his son Jesse, and the characters are very different than his Delaware series. 
The main character, Clay Edison is a coroner, and he does some crime solving on the side. The books are set in the San Francisco Bay area instead of LA, and I like the change of place. 
This was a great read with strong characters and an interesting plot that took many twists and turns before the end. I highly recommend this book, and the two other books in the series.  4 stars.

Thanks to Random House Publishing – Ballantine and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review..

I really wanted to love this book, but it didn't click with me.

The characters felt well constructed but none I could root for. It moved slow and in some parts I felt like the story was going in circles.

It's important to clarify that this is the 3rd book of a series and maybe I needed to read the first two in order to connect better with these characters.

It was not a bad story, just not for me.

I like Jonathan Kellerman's new character, Clay Edison.  But this book was hard for me to follow.  Half Moon Bay is the third book featuring Clay, a Deputy Coroner.  When the bones of an infant are discovered near a controversial excavation site near Berkeley, Clay Edison is called in. As the investigation into the identity of the bones continues, Clay receives a call from a man who wonders if the bones could belong to his sister who died in childhood. Clay works to solve the mystery of the lost bones as well as the mystery of the lost sister.  He also deals with his new baby girl and balancing work, home, and finding the truth.  The story was complicated and sometimes too mixed for it to flow well to me.  But I still love Kellerman and I really like the Clay Edison character.

Really glad to have read Half Moon Bay. As a devoted Jonathan and Faye Kellerman fan, I read an early Jesse Kellerman novel and was not impressed but read this one and was delighted. Now I'll go back and read the prior J&J Kellerman novels.

I haven't read Jonathan Kellerman in a number of years so I was looking forward to reading a book from a new series by him.  While a little slow to start it was a interesting book.  It is the second in a series and I can't help but think if I had read the first I'd have more background on some of the characters.  That being said the main characters are engaging... there are some great passages that really draw you in...  I liked all the angst of a new father - true to life and depicts the all consuming focus one has with a new infant.  Interesting in the end how some of the plot comes back to the child.  In between is a poignant mystery, a buried skeleton (again interesting characters where it was found) bones and the search for a sibling.  A lot going on but if you take the time you will enjoy it.  I am going to go back and read the prior book that featured these characters.

The father/son writing team of Kellerman and Kellerman have created another winner in the Clay Edison series.  Clay is an interesting character and his  job as a coroner gives another added insight into crime story telling.  At times, it seems the many characters drag the story down a bit, but I like the twist at the end and what it might mean for the series.  Good recommendation for someone who has finished the latest Alex Delaware!

I enjoyed this slow paced mystery. I am a fan of Clay and enjoyed reading more about him in this third installment. There is more than one storyline which keeps it interesting. 
Many thanks to Ballantine Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I chose this Kellerman title for review because of the title Half Moon Bay.  My father often worked in Half Moon Bay in probation and taught Criminal Justice at Santa Clara University.  We lived in RWC.  While I was disappointed to not read more on local details,  the real life everyday feel of Clay’s young family, his work as a Coroner  who tries to help find the answers to a missing child held my attention.  I would read more in this series.

This book was challenging to read. So many characters! I had a hard time keeping all their names straight. There were two main story lines which made it more confusing. I really like the Clay Edison character and was determined to finish this book. I spent more time on it than I would have liked because of all the details, many that didn't contribute to the story line. Hoping that this author keeps it less complicated next time.

Another well written book by this duo father and son. I liked the pace and the story line. Kept my interest the whole way through. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher!

This book was a really good, quick read. I was curious how they would make a story about a coroner interesting, but I would absolutely read more stories in a series of books about the main character. As a parent of small children, I especially related to the main character’s vain attempt at a work life balance on little sleep. The jumping back and forth between stories was a little tough to follow at times, but overall I really enjoyed it.

The father and son writing team, Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman, are back with another stellar book. This time Clay Edison, a deputy coroner in Berkeley, California, is adapting to fatherhood (and a baby who doesn’t seem to need very much sleep) and it’s going to take some time. Meanwhile, Clay is working the graveyard shift so that he and his wife can take care of their new daughter without childcare expenses.  One evening he is called to a construction site at a local park where a skeleton has been uncovered.  The bones belong to a child who was buried decades earlier.  While trying to make an identification, Clay is contacted by someone who believes the child could be that of his baby sister who went missing years before.  

Half Moon Bay is filled with interesting characters and a plot that evolves and twists.  Clay is a competent coroner who is determined to resolve the question of the child’s identity, while remaining objective and unbiased.  He takes his job seriously and always tries to do the right thing.  This is what makes his character so appealing to me.

This is the third book in the series but I didn’t even realize it until after I finished it.  This book was definitely easy to read as a stand-alone and I thoroughly enjoyed my introduction to Clay Edison. 

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.

Thank you to Random House for providing a copy for an honest review.

It has been a while since I picked up an investigative crime thriller but seeing that this book was set in an area I knew well, it intrigued me to try it. Clay Edison is a coroner in the East Bay of California with a newborn who gets called to the site of a park that is being demolished. There they uncover the remains of a baby and from there the story takes off with 2 mysteries needing to be solved after a man comes forward saying that the baby might be his sister who he never met. 

Clay is a very likable person, smart and straight forward who understands the politics of policing and human nature. The inclusion of his newborn daughter is a delight as he deals with things many 1st time parents do like late nights and realizing that being a parent means doing things differently than you used to. His interactions with her and his wife were fun and relatable.

You realize early on in the novel finding the baby is not a simple case as local groups get involved in making the discovery a political matter. I found many parts of the plot realistic as to the nature of America today with different groups fighting, infighting and then government trying to reign it all in. This book does not preach to you what is right or wrong, instead focusing instead on the truth of the case and how simple things can sometimes be twisted. Add into this boiling pot some racists and it of course gets even more complicated and dangerous.

There is another plot point that I found myself connecting to more and where more of the suspense came from. Clay (by himself) takes on the case of what happened to the baby sister of a local man who might have had a sister 50 years ago. This case twisted so many times and I found this is what kept me turning the pages, wanting to find out the end. I liked how the story ended and have now have an interest in reading the 1st 2 books of this series.

Overall if you are looking for a good page turner and enjoy stories that have multiple twists and display the art of investigation I would recommend this. It is not necessary to read the 1st two books in this series. 

Includes: racists characters, adult language, detailed description of coroner activities/cases

Clay Edison has proved that he is willing to past his regular job duties as a Deputy Coroner, often digging deep into the cases he has been assigned. He is burning the candle at both ends as he is now a father and his new baby is hardly letting him get enough sleep. The last thing Clay needs about now is to investigate another murder. However, that is exactly what he ends up doing.

When the skeleton of a child is unearthed by workers while demolishing a park, Clay just has to start looking nto things. At the same time, however, an unsettling phone call truly concerns Clay. His sister had gone missing five decades ago, and the skeleton just might be hers. So, this case definitely has a personal edge as far as he is concerned.

As things turn out, not only is the skeleton unearthed, but years of violence, secrets and betrayal as well. Clay's past has become his present.

I found this book to be much more intense than the first two books in the series, Crime Scene and A Measure of Darkness. After all, Clay's past gave this book an extra level of intensity, especially when it touched on serious and delicate issues. For him to work with the case before him, and whatever could have happened to his sister, all the while balancing family life, most definitely kept me riveted to this book. My only issue is that I now need to wait at least a year for the next book in the series.

Many thanks to Random House/Ballantine Books and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.