Staff Pick

January 31, 2012

I have to admit that I am a big fan of J. D. Robb. Her In Death series starts off in the year 2058. The setting is New York. Only a few pages into Naked in Death, the first book, I was hooked.

Eve was found in an alley covered in blood with no memory of who she was or how she got there. She was put in foster care; they named her Eve Dallas and estimated her age at eight years old. Through nightmare flashbacks, Eve pieces together her past. We learn along with her that she had been sexually abused by her father.

Now, Eve Dallas is a homicide cop. She makes it her business to stand up for the dead. Because of her abusive background, the hardest cases for Eve are exploited children. She had just closed a case where a father butchered his daughter and is immediately put on another case. In Naked in Death, a prostitute has been shot to death. This is an unusual case as guns were banned decades ago. Along with the gun, the killer left the police a message, "ONE OF SIX."
Eve’s eyes turn to Roarke, the man who saw the victim last. She puts him at the top of her list.

Roarke's fought his way out of the slums of Dublin the only way he knew how: with his fists, his mind, and walking on the shady side of the law. His father was a drunk and a criminal of the worst caliber; and his mother was abusive. Now, Roarke is one of the wealthiest men on the planet, and he doesn’t like being the main suspect in Eve’s investigation. The problem is, for a man who doesn’t like cops, he finds an immediate connection when he meets Lieutenant Eve Dallas, the dedicated, so-by-the-book cop.

The attraction is mutual, but Eve has a job to do. Determined to find the real killer, she uses gut instinct, intelligence, and raw know-how to clear Roarke’s name and solve the murder.

This series should be read in sequence since J. D. Robb not only centers on the growing relationship between Eve and Roarke; she also gives the readers insight into their friends as well.

The crime scenes are graphic and the language is strong. But if you like Romantic Suspense, this is a series you shouldn’t miss.

Rose G.
Buckner Branch