Romance

Eve has to solve a locked room mystery where game designer Bart Minnock is found in his locked holo room with his head cut off. Roarke is involved because he knew Minnock and acted as a mentor to him and his partners when they were setting up their business. The book also explores friendship and love and we see both Eve and Roarke growing in each book. The first book was published in 1995 but internal chronology has only about two years passing. It is great to catch up with other secondary characters too. I was glad when Trina put in an appearance. She might be the only person tough, homicide detective Eve actually fears as she comes at her with cosmetics and scissors to trim her hair. I love the humor and the banter in the series. ( )

Fantasy in Death
3.5 Stars

Eve and her team investigate the death by decapitation of an up and coming video game developer. The only problem is that he was apparently alone in his locked holo-room at the time of his murder.

J.D. Robb's In Death books are a lot of fun. The cases are interesting; the characters are compelling (especially Eve Dallas and her sexy billionaire husband, Roarke), and the dialogue is fantastic. Unfortunately, this particular installment fell flat mainly due to the overabundance of cyberspeak and the ultimate resolution, which is exceedingly far-fetched and unconvincing even for the futuristic setting of the series.

Better luck with the next one. ( )

Kind if slow throughout, but a pretty exciting ending. Lots of good Eve & Peabody moments. ( )

In Death 30