Two In Death reviews

If you only know how far behind I am in reviews......well, I think I have mentioned it once or twice so I won't go on with it this time, but seeing as I finished Interlude in Death today, I thought I should probably post something about the last In Death book that I finished back in November.

At the luxurious Roarke Palace Hotel, a maid walks into suite 4062 for the nightly turndown - and steps into her worst nightmare. A killer leaves her dead, strangled by a thin, silver wire. He's Sly Yost, a virtuoso of music and murder; a hit man for the elite. Lieutenant Eve Dallas knows him well. But in this twisted case, knowing the killer doesn't help solve the crime. Because there's someone else involved. Someone with a very personal motive. And Eve must face the terrifying possibility that the real target may, in fact, be her husband, Roarke...

For once, Eve should have a relatively easy case. Within hours of a young maid being murdered Eve knows exactly who the murderer is. What she doesn't know is why, and more particularly why he appears to be targetting people connected to Roarke. What does soon become clear is that at some point or another it is likely that Roarke is going to be one of the targets. So Eve needs to figure out how to stop a murderer, a man who seems to have the ability to come and go at will, before he gets to Roarke. Of course, Roarke being Roarke, he doesn't exactly start hiding. One of the more attractive things about Roarke is his supreme confidence in his abilities, whether they be to keep out of trouble, to be able to skirt around the edges of the law to get what he wants, or to take care of Eve. Not sure I would want to live with a man like that...but he is certainly ace to read about!

The gang is all here, Peabody and McNab, Feeney, Mavis. Amongst all the gruesome police procedural information, Robb still manages to make me laugh - especially at the antics of Peabody and McNab, and at Eve's reaction to the on-off relationship between them. The fact that Robb can do this throughout most of the In Death books is a real testament to ability to balance the crime and police aspects with the romance of the relationship between Eve and Roarke, the growing comraderie between the recurring characters and the necessary humour to stop the books from being bogged down and too clinical.

Added into the mix this time, a blast from the past in the form of Roarke's old friend, Mick, and we see a little more of the Roarke that owns nearly everything, more of the man who used to operate outside of the law but now has scaled back his operations in those kind of activities.

Another winner from J D Robb. Now I just need to start reading the books faster than she puts them out, which is a challenge in itself!

Number-one New York Times best-selling author Nora Roberts, writing as J.D. Robb, has taken romantic suspencse to an electrifying new level in her In Death series. Now she takes Lieutenant Eve Dallas off-planet, where she just might lose the man she loves....

Eve is resigned to the fact that she's been ordered to give a seminar at a police conference - and that she'll have to leave Earth to do it. But dedication to her job only goes so far, and when a legendary commander sets his sights on taking down her husband, Roarke, Eve will do everything in her power to stop him...

This is one of those books that was put out a few years ago, where you pay a small price for a novella that was previously published as part of an anthology but now it is being published by itself. I actually quite like these books when I get them from the library but I tell you what, the typeface in this one was tiny!

Given that the book was only 88 pages long I don't want to spend all time writing about what happened in the story, apart from to say that Nora Roberts/JD Robb has again done what she does best...write absorbing stories about fascinatingly complex characters, and makes many readers very happy.

Eve has been forced to give a speech at a crime fighting conference that just happens to be being held at one of Roarke's off world resorts. Roarke is hoping for an opportunity for a brief holiday while they are there, but firstly it takes Eve quite a while to recover from the inter planetary travel, and then, there is the body that is found in the hotel. It soon becomes clear that whoever the murderer is they are trying to frame Roarke. The fact that one of the legends of the force has decided that he is going to bring down Roarke once and for all can't be anything more than a coincidence can it?

There is quite a bit of discussion in this story about the relationship between fathers and their children, in particular their sons, which certainly helped to bind this short story into something more than we have a body, and now we need to find out who did it!

Many of the elements that I love about the In Death books were here. Eve is surrounded by her colleagues...no make that friends...including Feeney, Mira and Peabody (no Mavis and only a small mention of Summerset in this one (although of course, he is most definitely NOT one of Eve's friends)). Eve also butts head with the head of security, another strong and capable woman, and her wits are tested to the extremes, especially against a man who believes that women should not be in the police force, and who intimates that he has the power to either stall her career, or to advance it...for a price. A very high price.

JD Robb certainly manages to pack a lot into 88 pages!

I am sure I have commented on this before, but it is amazing to me that Nora Roberts is so prolific, and yet, for the most part, the quality of her storytelling doesn't suffer at all.

I am reading one of these books about every three months! Next up....Seduction in Death.