Review - - Passions in Death

Passions in Death

by J.D. Robb

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Release Date: September 3, 2024

Reviewed by Nancy 

 

On a hot August night, Lt. Eve Dallas and her husband, Roarke, speed through the streets of Manhattan to the Down and Dirty club, where a joyful, boisterous pre-wedding girls’ night out has turned into a murder scene. One of the brides lies in a pool of blood, garroted in a private room where she was preparing a surprise for her fiancée—two scrimped and saved-for tickets to Hawaii.
Despite the dozens of people present, useful witnesses are hard to come by. It all brings back some bad memories for Eve who once suffered an assault in the very same room—but she’d been able to fight back and survive. She’d gotten justice. And now she needs to provide some for poor young Erin.
Eve knows that the level of violence and the apparent premeditation involved suggest a volatile mix of hidden, heated passion and ice-cold calculation. This is a crime that can be countered only by hard detective work and relentless dedication—and Eve will not stop until she finds the killer who destroyed this couple’s dreams before the honeymoon even began…

 

Nancy’s Thoughts: 

Passions in Death delivers the tightly plotted murder mystery and engaging characters readers have come to expect from J.D. Robb’s series. This story is different, though, in that it also examines the different facets of friendship, healthy and not so. 

When Eve enters the crime scene, she finds Erin Albright’s body and a satchel containing items she later learns were part of an intended surprise for the other bride, Shauna Hunnicutt. Erin had intended to fulfill her fiancée’s longtime dream of a trip to Hawaii by giving it to her as a honeymoon. 

Since Erin couldn’t bring the satchel in without ruining her surprise, someone she trusted must’ve done so. Everyone in Erin’s friend group and Shauna’s denies having known about it. Someone must be lying. But who? And why? 

As Eve, Roarke, and the detectives of the NYPSD dig into the case, they find that everything among these groups of friends was not as it seemed. There were undercurrents of various feelings other than friendship, some of them not healthy. Whether the unhealthy ones were strong enough to spur a murder, though, Eve and her partner, Det. Delia Peabody, can’t easily determine. The quest to do so carries the reader through the book. 

In addition to Roarke and Peabody, the supporting cast includes, among others, Eve’s friend Mavis and her family, Leonardo and Bella, and Electronics division Det. Ian McNab. The last several books have had a plot thread running through them about Peabody and McNab remodeling an old house with Mavis and Leonardo. Peabody and McNab will live in one side, also providing security, while Mavis and her family, including an expected baby, will have the other side. The remodeling project now is nearly done. This thread provides a lighter, happier note that contrasts with both the grim investigation and the troubling undercurrents among Erin and Shauna’s friends. 

Eve and Peabody narrow their suspect list before the end of the book. My only quibble with the story is that I (who never figure out whodunnit) was pretty sure which one was the killer for reasons I think will also point them out for regular readers of the series. 

Despite my quibble, the story is engrossing, and the characters deliver their usual strong, steady performances. One of the things I like about this series is that Eve, Peabody, Roarke, and company not only pursue justice with iron resolution but also have empathy toward the victim and toward those wounded by the victim’s loss. 

Highly recommended. 

4.5 stars 

~Nancy

 

 

Review - - Random in Death

Random in Death

by J.D. Robb

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Release Date: January 23, 2024

Reviewed by Nancy

Jenna’s parents had finally given in, and there she was, at a New York club with her best friends, watching the legendary band Avenue A, carrying her demo in hopes of slipping it to the guitarist, Jake Kincade. Then, from the stage, Jake catches her eye, and smiles. It’s the best night of her life.
It’s the last night of her life.

Minutes later, Jake’s in the alley getting some fresh air, and the girl from the dance floor comes stumbling out, sick and confused and deathly pale. He tries to help, but it’s no use. He doesn’t know that someone in the crowd has jabbed her with a needle—and when his girlfriend Nadine arrives, she knows the only thing left to do for the girl is call her friend, Lieutenant Eve Dallas.

After everyone on the scene is interviewed, lab results show a toxic mix of substances in the victim’s body—and for an extra touch of viciousness, the needle was teeming with infectious agents. Dallas searches for a pattern: Had any boys been harassing Jenna? Was she engaging in risky behavior or caught up in something shady? But there are no obvious clues why this levelheaded sixteen-year-old, passionate about her music, would be targeted.

And that worries Dallas. Because if Jenna wasn’t targeted, if she was just the random, unlucky victim of a madman consumed by hatred, there are likely more deaths to come.

Nancy’s Thoughts:

Few series reach fifty-eight books. Most run out of steam well before then, and the last few often seem pale retreads of the earlier ones. I’m happy to report that this is not the case with Random in Death. The plot is tight and twisty, and we learn new things about familiar characters.

As you can see from the blurb, Eve Dallas’s friend Nadine Furst and her lover, Jake Kincaid, play prominent roles in this story. Regular readers have often seen Nadine step to the fore, but this is the first extended look at Jake and at the two of them as a couple. Jake may be astoundingly famous, but he’s a decent guy, the kind fans would hope Nadine would fall for. He and Avenue A offer their help at every step of the investigation. At the end, they offer something priceless, which I won’t spoil, to Jenna’s family. 

The murder appears to be random, with Jenna crossing the killer’s path at the wrong time. But is it? Aware that a random killing is among the hardest to solve, Eve and her team search doggedly for an explanation of why Jenna and why now. Before they find the answers, the killer makes a mistake that gives them a lead.

Many of the elements of the story are standard police procedural components. Where did the murder weapon come from? Who had access to the components? Did the killer know the victims? If not, did they fit a type? What keeps the story in Random in Death fresh is the array of characters. Robb gives each victim a family different from the others, uniting them grief or anger for their daughters.

Along the way, other familiar characters play their roles. We learn what Jamie Lingstrom is doing. He’s a tech genius who wants, much to Roarke’s frustration, to become a cop rather than work in the much more lucrative private sector for Roarke or someone like him. Jamie teams up with Quilla, a clever, independent teenager who first appears in Concealed in Death. They play an important role in the investigation.

There are also updates on the joint building project of Peabody and McNabb and on Mavis and her family. Dr. Louise DiMatto and former licensed companion Charles Monroe contribute to the hunt, as do Dr. Charlotte Mira, Eve’s homicide cops, and the forensics team at Cop Central. We see these characters frequently, the scenes with Nadine and Jake offer a new, interesting element. Nadine has had relationships before, but this one seems different. And, of course, there’s Roarke, who has evolved in the series into Eve’s very effective partner in crimefighting as well as in life. Overall, though, I think the continuing appeal of this series is Robb’s ability to keep the plot fresh without letting it get scattered and to add a bit here and there to the characters readers already know and like.

Random in Death can stand alone, but readers who start with this book will miss Eve’s evolution from a loner to someone with an extensive found family and the gradual growth of her relationship with Roarke that eventually forged them into a unit. Given the tight plot, great pace, and beautiful character bits, I rate this book as five stars, highly recommended.

~Nancy

Review - - Apprentice in Death

Apprentice in Death

By J.D. Robb

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: September 6, 2016

The opening scene of this latest installment in the In Death series is chilling, with a father drawing his child into his plans to kill people he feels have wronged him.  Three people die on a skating rink in Central Park, and Lt. Eve Dallas must figure out whether all the deaths are random or at least one was a specific target.  Either way, a long-distance serial killer is unlikely to stop with one hit.  She and her team race against the clock to find and catch the killers before more New Yorkers die.

Of the usual characters, Roarke (of course), Mira, and Peabody feature most prominently, but Berenski in the lab gets new depth in his character, Lowenbaum of the SWAT team (last seen in 2012’s Delusion in Death) returns, and Somerset steps to the fore in an unexpected way.  Each of Eve’s squad, along with Feeney and McNab, also contributes to the increasingly tense investigation.

The exchange between Eve and Peabody about Lowenbaum nicely illustrates the difference in their two characters while giving him a very nice introduction:

“Lowenbaum. He’s so cute.” At Eve’s steely stare Peabody hunched her shoulders. “I’m with McNab through and through, but I can see cuteness through my eyes and my Cute-O-Meter.  You have to admit, he ranks high on the Cute-O-Meter.”

“Cute’s for kids and puppies—if you’re into kids and puppies.  I’ll give you he’s frosty enough.”

He’s also a very good cop, willing to follow the investigative trail wherever it leads, even when he finds it personally disturbing.

Later in the book, we get a look at Eve and Summerset through Roarke’s eyes. He and Eve quarrel over her need to take a statement from Summerset.  When Summerset intervenes, Roarke snaps at him, too.  Roarke stalks off, leaving Summerset with Eve.

“I frightened him,” Summerset told Eve when they were alone.  “It’s difficult to see weakness in the one who raised you.”

“Understood, but—”

“And you worry him.  You look, Lieutenant, as brutally tired and heavy as I feel.  And what can he do for us, he asks himself when one he loves above all else must use one he cares for as a child for a parent? Why, snarl at them both, of course.”

The team uncovers the identities of the killers fairly early in the book, but the difficulty in actually finding them, especially after a second hit, ramps up the tension as the story progresses. The race against time has an urgency that makes the book difficult to put down.

As is often the case in this series, the investigation causes both Eve and Roarke to ponder fathers and children and the importance of roads not taken.  The role of mentor also comes in for some discussion, and there’s a little comic relief near the end, as Eve and Roarke attend the first birthday party for Mavis and Leonardo’s Bella.

One of the killers is twisted but pathetic, while the other is twisted and evil.  As the story progresses, additional motivations emerge, and the expectations of one are thwarted by the plans of the other.  The targets are also well drawn, with distinct personalities despite having very little time on the page.

The action scenes, packed with danger, move fast but are clearly choreographed and easy to follow.

Apprentice in Death has a tight plot, engaging character interaction, and a smooth pace.  It also introduces new characters and sheds new light on familiar ones.

~Nancy

Review - - Brotherhood in Death

Review -- Brotherhood in Death

Brotherhood in Death

By J.D. Robb

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: February 2, 2016

As the In Death series progresses, Eve Dallas’s circle of friends widens, a development that often baffles her.  It’s great for the series, however, because it gives the author more characters to explore.  Brotherhood in Death begins with one of Eve Dallas’s favorite characters in trouble.  Dennis Mira, husband of NYPSD profiler Dr. Charlotte Mira, went to meet his cousin at their grandparents’ house.  He walked into a room, and saw his cousin Edward seated in the desk chair, which was in the center of the room, and bleeding in the instant before someone hit Dennis in the head. When he came to, his cousin was gone, and the chair was back where it belonged.

Eve learns about the case when Charlotte Mira asks her for help.  Eve soon deduces that Edward Mira has been kidnapped. As she digs into his life, she comes to believe that his disappearance is a result of old wrongs back at him.  Other longtime friends of his also become victims, and Eve realizes that the youthful crimes she believed Edward Mira committed were much worse and spread much farther than she first suspected.

One of the pleasures of reading a long-running series is seeing the various characters evolve.  Eve and Roarke have mostly made peace with their pasts and their different views of what’s acceptable in an investigation.  Peabody and McNab found each other.  Brotherhood in Death follows up with Nadine Furst’s reaction to the events of Obsession in Death and marks an important step for Officer Troy Trueheart.

Although Eve has mostly laid the ghosts of her past to rest, aspects of this investigation revive them.  Robb deserves credit for handling that part of the story in a way that shows Eve’s growth and layers texture into her relationships with other characters.

The suspense plot proceeds at a good pace and is lightened by touches of humor.  This is a satisfying installment in this best-selling series.

~Nancy Northcott

What do you enjoy about reading a series?

Review - - Down the Rabbit Hole

Review ~ Down the Rabbit Hole

By: J. D. Robb, Mary Blayney, Elaine Fox, Mary Kay McComas, and R.C. Ryan

Publisher: Jove

Release date: September 29, 2015

Down the Rabbit Hole is a fitting name for this anthology, as each story deals with twisted reality, either actual or perceived, and has elements tying it Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

The lead story, Robb’s “Wonderment in Death” is a solid entry in the In Death series. When a woman stabs her brother for no apparent reason and then commits suicide, her actions initially appear to be the result of a longstanding disagreement.  Eve Dallas’s friends Louise Dimatto and Charles Monroe, however, knew both people and are sure this can’t be what it seems. For them, Eve pulls rank to handle the case and soon finds out how many people are eager to prey on the recently bereaved. It’s nice to see Charles and Louise step to the fore for a while, and the other characters are in fine form.

“Alice and the Earl in Wonderland” by Mary Blayney finds an earl and the woman who refused to marry him transported from Regency London to its modern counterpart.  Their counterparts here have been transported back to the era they left but don’t appear in the story.  As the Lord Weston and his Alice walk through London, they see change everywhere they look. Electricity, mass transit, and women wearing trousers and holding professional jobs are all a bit of a shock to them.  The couple have a great rapport, despite their unsatisfactory relationship, and their guide is engaging.  The story is a fun look at culture shock.

“iLove” by Elaine Fox examines what can happen when someone is entirely devoted to his smartphone. Macy Serafini adores Jeremy Abbott but finally reaches her limit for tolerating his constant attention to his phone.  She breaks up with him, and Jeremy finds himself sucked into the world of online dating in a cool way I don’t want to spoil.  Too late, he realizes how much he loves Macy.  Has he lost her for good?  Or can he win her back via unconventional use of a dating app?

“A True Heart” by Mary Kay McComas uses the search for the perfect Halloween costume as a way to make a busy Elise, who’s recovering from a really bad relationship, re-examine her approach to life and love.  A great guy named Max loves her, but bad romantic experiences have left Elise with a tough protective shell.  Only if she can find a way around it can she seize her chance at true love. It’s difficult to give a character who hurts others a sympathetic aura, but McComas handles it so deftly that the reader is rooting for Elise.

“Fallen” by R.C. Ryan is a time travel with shapeshifters mixed in. Sent to Scotland to buy a valuable piece of land from highland Laird Colin Gordon, Beth Campbell takes a tumble and finds herself back in medieval Scotland.  The laird there reminds her of Colin but is under a terrible curse.  Even if she saves him from it, there’s no certainty that they can be together.  Her sojourn in this era forces her to face all the things she doesn’t like about her life and so leads her to make a fateful choice.

Obviously the stories vary in their themes and approaches.  Each put its own spin on Wonderland and romance, and all were enjoyable.

~ Nancy Northcott

A former attorney who never outgrew her love of comic books, science fiction and fantasy, Nancy left the legal profession to pursue her dreams of creating her own action adventure stories.  Check out her terrific contemporary romances set within a fantasy world in present-day Georgia. 

Review - - Devoted in Death

Devoted in Death  

By J.D. Robb

Publisher: Putnam

Release Date: September 15, 2015

The latest In Death mystery finds Eve Dallas standing over the body of a man who has been extensively tortured. Close examination reveals a heart outline with the initials E and D inside it carved into the victim’s skin. Eve doesn’t yet know that she’s looking at the latest victim of a pair of spree killers who consider torturing and killing an aphrodisiac.

As Eve investigates, she discovers other victims who appear to have been killed in the same way, some with the carved heart and some without it. She begins to realize there are many potential victims, and the arrival of a deputy sheriff from the Ozarks, who’s on this couple’s trail because of people they killed in his community,  provides information that adds more victims to Eve’s tally.

The plot is nicely layered, with discoveries leading slowly to the killers’ identities, and enough dead ends and false starts for the case not to seem too easy.  The pace was fast enough to feel solid but not so fast as to omit important information or shortchange big moments. The people who knew the victims are sketched in enough detail to make them seem real but not so much that they have a chance to take over the scene.

Deputy Sheriff Banner is an engaging and sympathetic character.  While he’s not part of the NYPSD, he was a fun addition to the story, and he has an interesting encounter with Roarke.  The aftermath of it demonstrates the continuing evolution of Roarke and Eve’s marriage.

The way characters become more or less prominent in a given story, depending on their roles, keeps this series from feeling stale.  This time around, detectives Santiago and Carmichael stepped to the foreground. With everyone awaiting Officer Trueheart’s results on the detective’s exam, Baxter and Trueheart dropped into the background a bit.  Baxter did, however, have some very nice moments of concern for the young officer.

Robb further develops the character of Dr. Garnet DeWinter, whose relationship with Eve remains a bit uneasy.  One of the joys of this series is the way Eve Dallas has grown as a character and her relationships with others have developed.  Robb doesn’t rush these changes but lets them happen organically, as they might if these people were real. So while Eve and DeWinter are moving toward a better relationship, they’re still dancing around each other to a degree.

One of the most appealing parts of this particular story was the way two of the killers’ captives responded to their situation and tried to support each other despite the horrendous physical and emotional damage inflicted by their captors.  At the same time, scenes in their points of view heightened the sense of time running out. The NYPSD’s takedown in this instance was particularly satisfying.

In any long-running series, some books will appeal more to particular readers than others.  For me, Devoted in Death ranks among the best of the In Death novels.

~ Nancy Northcott

Review - - Obsession in Death

Obsession in Death

By J.D. Robb

Publisher: Penguin Putnam

Release Date: February 10, 2015 (hardcover)

This latest installment of the In Death series takes an unusual twist.  Someone is killing people who had run-ins with Lt. Eve Dallas, and the killer is leaving notes to Eve at the crime scenes. Not even Dr. Mira can predict when or whom the killer will strike next, but she’s certain he will eventually turn from destroying Eve’s foes to eliminating her inner circle so as to supplant them. The uncertainty and the killer’s escalation keep the tension high.

The danger is leavened with humor, though, as Eve and Peabody investigate leads.  Mira has gone through Eve’s fan mail and pulled possible candidates’ letters.  Robb uses the two detectives’ visits to the authors to set Eve’s businesslike persona against the gushy enthusiasm of some of her fans.

The story gives the detectives under Eve’s command a chance to shine, showcasing the solidarity that was such a key part of Treachery in Death.   Each of Eve’s close friends gets a moment in the spotlight, and the way Eve and Roarke deal with the threat fits with the evolution of their relationship in the past several books.

The tension escalates, and the stakes rise to a nail-biting climax.  The resolution that follows is satisfying and appropriate.  This is a top-notch entry in the series.

~ Nancy Northcott

A former attorney who never outgrew her love of comic books, science fiction and fantasy, Nancy left the legal profession to pursue her dreams of creating her own action adventure stories.  Check out her terrific contemporary romances set within a fantasy world in present-day Georgia. 

Review - - Festive in Death

Festive in Death

By J.D. Robb

Publisher: G. P. Putnam’s Sons

Release Date: September 9, 2014

This latest installment of the In Death series finds Eve Dallas trying to track down the killer of a man absolutely nobody liked and many people had good reason to loathe. Trey Ziegler was officially a personal trainer and unofficially a gigolo, blackmailer, and rapist.  As a result, suspects are thick on the ground.

The mystery is tightly constructed, with new revelations about the victim sending the story in different directions as it progresses.  Robb’s knack for writing child characters flashes to the fore with a brief appearance by Tiko, who originally appeared in Memory in Death. She also sketches the secondary characters with her usual skill, each distinct from the others and adding to the range of reactions to the Ziegler’s death.

Winnowing down the suspect list spurs Eve and Roarke to consider the nature of love and of their own relationship.   This story incorporates many kinds of love and affection, both among the series regulars and between the dead man’s associates and victims.  There are many warm moments, especially as Eve deals with Christmas--always such a trial for her--and the personal connections it emphasizes.

Personal stylist Trina, who may be the only person in the universe Eve truly fears, plays a slightly different role this time around.  She also contributes an amusing bit to Eve and Roarke’s holiday party.

One of the pleasures of this series is the evolution of the characters’ relationships, particularly within Eve’s circle.  Two books ago, with Thankless in Death, Robb tied off some running themes in the series, which aren’t listed here so as to avoid spoilers.  While the settling of the questions involved was a natural, welcome evolution within the story world, it also closed some avenues of conflict.  As yet, nothing else has filled the resulting vacuum.

When it comes to giving this book a rating, I’ve gone back and forth.  During some of the holiday scenes, the mystery mostly falls of the radar screen though the scenes revolving around it are first rate.  On the one hand, as a longtime reader of the series, I enjoyed spending time with the regular characters as they celebrated the season and their connections to each other.  On the other, I found that the absence of ongoing conflict at times resulted in the story being less edgy than earlier ones.

So I go with 4.5 stars.

~Nancy Northcott

A former attorney who never outgrew her love of comic books, science fiction and fantasy, Nancy left the legal profession to pursue her dreams of creating her own action adventure stories.  Check out her terrific contemporary romances set within a fantasy world in present-day Georgia. 

Readers, do you enjoy a good mystery?

Are you a fan of multi-book series with continuing characters?

What keeps you coming back for each new book?

Tell us about a series with continuing characters that you've enjoyed. 

Review - - Concealed in Death

Concealed in Death

By J.D. Robb

Publisher: G. P. Putnam’s Sons

Release Date:  February 17, 2014

Regular readers of the In Death series may be somewhat surprised to find that this latest installment opens with Roarke, Lt. Eve Dallas’s wealthy husband.  He’s in an old building he’s having rehabbed.  When the contractor encourages him to take a ceremonial first swing or two at a wall that’s coming down, Roarke obliges, but what the wall is hiding shocks them all.  Behind it lie the bodies of twelve young girls.  Figuring out why and how they came to be there and catching their killer take Eve and company on a journey through the past that reminds both Eve and Roarke of their own painful childhoods.

The previous book in this series, Thankless in Death, has become a favorite.  When that happens with any book in a series, it sets the bar high for the next one, so I was a bit nervous going into this book. Concealed in Death clears the bar, though.  The mystery is tightly constructed, and most of the regular characters appear at least briefly.

Robb also introduces a new character, forensic anthropologist Garnet DeWinter, a fashionable, renowned doctor who doesn’t always share Eve’s views on case management.   As Eve’s investigation moves to the youth shelter organization that formerly occupied Roarke’s building, we meet a clever, young girl who’s living there, Quilla.  It’ll be interesting to see whether she’s a single-shot guest or will become a recurring character.

We also learn more about everyone’s favorite ex-grifter and music vid star, Mavis Freestone.  Her revelations mesh perfectly with the earlier stories and are critical to the plot.  Through her, Eve learns about a man named Sebastian who takes in homeless girls and teaches them to steal.  He, too, has potential to be a great recurring character.

One of the things I like about the In Death books is the way the characters and their relationships evolve from book to book.  Someone reading the first one, Naked in Death and then jumping to Concealed in Death would find Eve drastically different, but the differences have arisen gradually.  There are some particularly lovely bits in Concealed in Death between Eve and Charlotte and Dennis Mira that wouldn’t have been possible in the early days of this series.

Thankless in Death resolved some old issues for both Eve and Roarke, and it isn’t yet clear how these changes will settle.  It’ll be interesting to see what new stumbling blocks Robb devises, if any, to complicate Eve’s work.

The one downside to the book is that it wasn't as edgy as some others in the series.  The murders all took place in the past, and there is not a sense of current jeopardy or urgency.  Overall, though, it was an engaging and satisfying story.

~Nancy Northcott
www.nancynorthcott.com


A former attorney who never outgrew her love of comic books, science fiction and fantasy, Nancy left the legal profession to pursue her dreams of creating her own action adventure stories.  Check out her Light Mage Wars series, contemporary romances set within a fantasy world in present-day Georgia.  Bet you can't read just one! ~PJ

One person who leaves a comment on today's post will receive a hardback copy of CONCEALED IN DEATH.  (U.S. addresses only)