The first victim is found lying on a sidewalk in the rain. The second murdered in her own apartment building. Both have had their throats slashed.

New York City homicide lieutenant Eve Dallas has no problem finding connections between the two crimes. Both women were beautiful and successful; their glamorous lives and loves the talk of the city. And their intimate relations with powerful men provide Eve with a long list of suspects – including her own lover, Roarke.

As a woman, Eve is compelled to trust the man who shares her bed. But as a cop, it’s her job to follow every lead, to explore every secret passion, no matter how dark. Or how dangerous.

I know this book is way back in time, but the beginning of Eve and Roarke’s relationship is one I love so very much. It’s not the typical Billionaire romance, and Eve is not your usual female heroine. Now you don’t have to read this series from the beginning each book is stand alone. My re-read is starting from the beginning so I remember the introduction of each and every character that I love today.

At the end of Naked in Death we gained a very important character, Galahad, the cat. He secured a place in Roarke and Eve’s heart by saving her life and getting the promise of salmon every day for the rest of his nine lives.

This book opens with the murder scene of Prosecuting Attorney Cicely Towers. It’s not somewhere one would expect to find this well put together, powerful woman. Her death impacts many including Commissioner Whitney who is a close friend. A high profile victim who is attracting the press, some of which is very annoying and Eve has an answer for that.

Then we have Roarke and Eve’s personal life, Roarke always seems to be in the spotlight. He knows many people and has many deals in the works as well as working on removing all the gray from his holdings. There’s also the fact he wants a commitment from Eve and she’s having some issues with that. Her own past coloring her present and possible future.

This is a favorite scene.

“Money’s a motive that never goes out of style. I interviewed him yesterday. I knew something didn’t quite fit. Now it’s beginning to.”

She took the fresh coffee he offered, paced to the window where the noise level was rising, then away again. Her robe was slipping off her shoulder. Casually, Roarke tucked it back into place. Bored commuters often carried long-range viewers for just such an opportunity.

“Then there’s the friendly divorce,” she went on, “but whose idea was it? Divorce is complicated for Catholics when there are children involved. Don’t they have to get some sort of clearance?”

“Dispensation,” Roarke corrected. “A complex business, but both Cicely and Marco had connections with the hierarchy.”

“He’s never remarried,” Eve pointed out, setting her coffee aside. “I haven’t been able to find even a whiff of a steady or serious companion. But Towers was having a long-term intimate relationship with Hammett. Just how did Angelini feel about the mother of his children snuggling with a business partner?”

“If it were me, I’d kill the business partner.”

“That’s you,” Eve said with a quick glance. “And I imagine you’d kill both of them.”

“You know me so well.” He stepped toward her, put his hands on her shoulders. “On the financial end, you may want to consider that whatever Cicely’s share of Mercury was, Angelini’s matches it. They held equal shares.”

“Fuck.” She struggled with it. “Still, money’s money. I have to follow that scent until I get a new one.” He continued to stand there, his hands cupping her shoulders, his eyes on hers. “What are you looking at?”

“The gleam in your eye.” He touched his lips to hers once, then again. “I have some sympathy for Marco, you see, because I remember what it’s like to be on the receiving end of that look, and that tenacity.”

“You hadn’t killed anyone,” she reminded him. “Lately.”

“Ah, but you weren’t sure of that for a time, and still you were . . . drawn. Now we’re—” The beeper on his watch pinged. “Hell.” He kissed her again, quick and distracted. “We’ll have to reminisce later. I have a meeting.”

Just as well, Eve thought. Hot blood interfered with a clear head. “I’ll see you later then.”

“At home?”

She fiddled with her coffee cup. “At your place, sure.”

Impatience flickered in his eyes as he shrugged into his jacket. The slight bulge in the pocket reminded him. “I’d nearly forgotten. I bought you a present in Australia.”

With some reluctance, Eve took the slim gold box. When she opened it, reluctance scattered. There was no room for it in shocked panic. “Jesus bleeding Christ, Roarke. Are you insane?”

It was a diamond. She knew enough to be sure of that. The stone graced a twisted gold chain and glinted fire. Shaped like a tear, it was as long and wide as the first joint of a man’s thumb.

“They call it the Giant’s Tear,” he said as he casually took it from the box and draped the chain over her head. “It was mined about a hundred and fifty years ago. It happened to come up for auction while I was in Sydney.” He stepped back and studied its shooting sparks against the plain blue robe she wore. “Yes, it suits you. I thought it would.” Then he looked at her face and smiled. “Oh, I see you were counting on kiwi. Well, perhaps next time.” When he leaned in to kiss her good-bye, he was brought up short by the slap of her hand against his chest. “Problem?”

“This is crazy. You can’t expect me to take something like this.”

“You do occasionally wear jewelry.” To prove his point, he flicked a finger at the gold dangling from her ear.

“Yeah, and I buy it from the street stall on Lex.”

“I don’t,” he said easily.

“You take this back.”

She started to pull at the chain, but he closed his hands over hers. “It doesn’t go with my suit. Eve, a gift is not supposed to make the blood drain out of your cheeks.” Suddenly exasperated, he gave her a quick shake. “It caught my eye, and I was thinking of you. Damn you, I always am. I bought it because I love you. Christ Jesus, when are you going to swallow that?”

“You’re not going to do this to me.” She told herself she was calm, very calm. Because she was right, very right. His temper didn’t worry her, she’d seen it flare before. But the stone weighed around her neck, and what she feared it represented worried her very much.

“Do what to you, Eve? Exactly what?”

“You’re not going to give me diamonds.” Terrified and furious, she shoved away from him. “You’re not going to pressure me into taking what I don’t want, or being what I can’t be. You think I don’t know what you’ve been doing these past few months. Do you think I’m stupid?”

His eyes flashed, hard as the stone between her breasts. “No, I don’t think you’re stupid. I think you’re a coward.”

Her fist came up automatically. Oh, how she would have loved to have used it to wipe that self-righteous sneer from his face. If he hadn’t been right, she could have. So she used other weapons.

“You think you can make me depend on you, get used to living in that glorified fortress of yours and wearing silk. Well, I don’t give a damn about any of that.”

“I’m well aware of that.”

“I don’t need your fancy food or your fancy gifts or your fancy words. I see the pattern, Roarke. Say I love you at regular regular intervals until she learns to respond. Like a well-trained pet.”

“Like a pet,” he repeated as his fury froze into ice. “I see I’m wrong. You are stupid. You really think this is about power and control? Have it your way. I’m tired of having you toss my feelings back in my face. My mistake for allowing it, but that can be rectified.”

“I never—”

“No, you never,” he interrupted coolly. “Never once risked your pride by saying those words back to me. You keep this place as your escape hatch rather than commit to staying with me. I let you draw the line, Eve, and now I’m moving it.” It wasn’t just temper pushing him now, nor was it just pain. It was the truth. “I want all,” he said flatly. “Or I want nothing.”

She wouldn’t panic. He wouldn’t make her panic like a first-time rookie on a night run. “What exactly does that mean?”

“It means sex isn’t enough.”

“It’s not just sex. You know—”

“No, I don’t. The choice is yours now—it always was. But now you’ll have to come to me.”

“Ultimatums just piss me off.”

“That’s a pity.” He gave her one long last look. “Good-bye, Eve.”

“You can’t just walk—”

“Oh yes.” And he didn’t look back. “I can.”
Glory in Death (In Death, Book 2). Kindle Locations (1026-1079). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

The second high profile victim a rising star Yvonne Metcalf adds far more questions than answers as Eve once more faces her inner demons and the possible involvement with Roarke. Eve gives Nadine the scoops CJ wants and the snark continues there.

Plenty of twists and turns as the pieces fall together with the case, the answer to the ultimatum and so much more!

5 Contented Purrs for J.D.

J.D. Robb

With a phenomenal career full of bestsellers, Nora Roberts was ready for a new writing challenge. As her agent put it, like Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, and caffeine-free Pepsi, a pseudonym offered her the opportunity to reach a new and different group of readers. The first futuristic suspense J. D. Robb book, Naked in Death, was published in paperback in 1995, and readers were immediately drawn to Eve Dallas, a tough cop with a dark past, and her even more mysterious love interest, Roarke.

The series quickly gained attention, great reviews, and devoted readers. Since the debut of Loyalty in Death (the ninth In Death book) on Halloween 1999 on the New York Times bestseller list, every J. D. Robb title has been a New York Times bestseller. While fans had their suspicions, it wasn’t until the twelfth book in the series, Betrayal in Death (2001), that the publisher fully revealed that J. D. Robb was a pseudonym for bestselling powerhouse Nora Roberts. Unmasked, Nora Roberts fans who hadn’t yet picked up one of the Robb books were quickly playing catch-up.

Robb’s peers in the mystery world are fans as well, with accolades for the In Death series from such blockbuster authors as Stephen King, Jonathan Kellerman, Dennis Lehane, Kathy Reichs, Lisa Scottoline, Janet Evanovich, David Baldacci, Harlan Coben, Robert B. Parker, Ridley Pearson, Linda Fairstein, and Andrew Gross.

The In Death books are perpetual bestsellers, and frequently share the bestseller list with other Nora Roberts novels. J. D. Robb publishes two hardcover In Death books per year, with the occasional stand-alone original In Death story featured in an anthology.

Forty books later, there is no end in sight for the ever-popular In Death series.

Here is the novel that started it all- the first book in J.D. Robb’s number-one New York Times-bestselling In Death series, featuring New York homicide detective Lieutenant Eve Dallas and Roarke.

It is the year 2058, and technology now completely rules the world. But New York City Detective Eve Dallas knows that the irresistible impulses of the human heart are still ruled by just one thing: passion.

When a senator’s granddaughter is killed, the secret life of prostitution she’d been leading is revealed. The high-profile case takes Lieutenant Eve Dallas into the rarefied circles of Washington politics and society. Further complicating matters is Eve’s growing attraction to Roarke, who is one of the wealthiest and most influential men on the planet, devilishly handsome… and the leading suspect in the investigation.

When I started this series I didn’t have this review blog and I just realized I have been selfishly keeping this series to myself. I just finished reading the 51^st book, and was reflecting on how much these characters have grown since the first book. So I pulled out the paperback to read and found the print too small to read. So now I have a project, to get the rest of these books on my kindle because sometimes I just want to do a reread.

In this book we meet not only the troubled NYPSD Lieutenant Eve Dallas but also the irresistible, charismatic, and gorgeous billionaire Roarke. All set in 2058, which at the time seemed like a long time into the future.

Eve is haunted by her last case in which she had to terminate the perpetrator, not because of him but the circumstances around it. She is expecting to go through the mandatory testing in the morning but her commander assigns her a top priority all data sealed case overriding the testing.

She is partnered with Captain Ryan Feeney, head of the electronics detective division, who was her mentor as she travailed the ranks. The victim Sharon DeBlass is Senator DeBlass’ granddaughter and he thinks he can run things his way.

The biggest clue in this is the weapon, a .38 caliper Smith and Wesson handgun at one time standard police issue, now banned and a collector’s item. There aren’t many out there and the list of owners isn’t very long.

One name that comes up as a possible owner of such gun and who’s name also appears in the victim’s address book is Roarke. Eve is confident she can get to talk to him although Feeney is skeptical.

She’s unsuccessful until the funeral, and Roarke is surprised to find out she’s a cop. His cop radar didn’t go off and he’s certainly attracted to this feisty police lieutenant.

This is a favorite scene.

“Roarke.”

He stopped, and as he had at the service, turned and met her eyes. She thought she caught a flash of something in them: anger, sorrow, impatience. Then it was gone and they were simply cool, blue, and unfathomable.

She didn’t hurry as she walked to him. Something told her he was a man too used to people—women certainly—rushing toward him. So she took her time, her long, slow strides flapping her borrowed coat around her chilly legs.

“I’d like to speak with you,” she said when she faced him. She took out her badge, watched him give it a brief glance before lifting his eyes back to hers. “I’m investigating Sharon DeBlass’s murder.”

“Do you make a habit of attending the funerals of murder victims, Lieutenant Dallas?”

His voice was smooth, with a whisper of the charm of Ireland over it, like rich cream over warmed whiskey. “Do you make a habit of attending the funerals of women you barely know, Roarke?”

“I’m a friend of the family,” he said simply. “You’re freezing, lieutenant.”

She plunged her icy fingers into the pockets of the coat. “How well do you know the victim’s family?”

“Well enough.” He tilted his head. In a minute, he thought, her teeth would chatter. The nasty little wind was blowing her poorly cut hair around a very interesting face. Intelligent, stubborn, sexy. Three very good reasons in his mind to take a second look at a woman. “Wouldn’t it be more convenient to talk someplace warmer?”

“I’ve been unable to reach you,” she began.

“I’ve been traveling. You’ve reached me now. I assume you’re returning to New York. Today?”

“Yes. I have a few minutes before I have to leave for the shuttle. So . . .”

“So we’ll go back together. That should give you time enough to grill me.”

“Question you,” she said between her teeth, annoyed that he turned and walked away from her. She lengthened her stride to catch up. “A few simple answers now, Roarke, and we can arrange a more formal interview in New York.”

“I hate to waste time,” he said easily. “You strike me as someone who feels the same. Did you rent a car?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll arrange to have it returned.” He held out a hand, waiting for the key card.

“That isn’t necessary.”

“It’s simpler. I appreciate complications, lieutenant, and I appreciate simplicity. You and I are going to the same destination at the same approximate time. You want to talk to me, and I’m willing to oblige.” He stopped by a black limo where a uniformed driver waited, holding the rear door open. “My transport’s routed for New York. You can, of course, follow me to the airport, take public transportation, then call my office for an appointment. Or you can drive with me, enjoy the privacy of my jet, and have my full attention during the trip.”

She hesitated only a moment, then took the key card for the rental from her pocket and dropped it into his hand. Smiling, he gestured her into the limo where she settled as he instructed his driver to deal with the rental car.

“Now then.” Roarke slid in beside her, reached for a decanter. “Would you like a brandy to fight off the chill?”

“No.” She felt the warmth of the car sweep up from her feet and was afraid she’d begin to shiver in reaction.

“Ah. On duty. Coffee perhaps.”

“Great.”

Gold winked at his wrist as he pressed his choice for two coffees on the AutoChef built into the side panel. “Cream?”

“Black.”

“A woman after my own heart.” Moments later, he opened the protective door and offered her a china cup in a delicate saucer. “We have more of a selection on the plane,” he said, then settled back with his coffee.

“I bet.” The steam rising from her cup smelled like heaven. Eve took a tentative sip—and nearly moaned.

It was real. No simulation made from vegetable concentrate so usual since the depletion of the rain forests in the late twentieth. This was the real thing, ground from rich Colombian beans, singing with caffeine.

She sipped again, and could have wept.

“Problem?” He enjoyed her reaction immensely, the flutter of the lashes, the faint flush, the darkening of the eyes—a similar response, he noted, to a woman purring under a man’s hands.

“Do you know how long it’s been since I had real coffee?”

He smiled. “No.”

“Neither do I.” Unashamed, she closed her eyes as she lifted the cup again. “You’ll have to excuse me, this is a private moment. We’ll talk on the plane.”

“As you like.”
Naked in Death (In Death, Book 1). Kindle Locations (612-648). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Roarke invites Eve to see his collection and offer his weapon for testing. Now that was an interesting evening. I had forgotten how Summerset treated Eve in those first books.

More bodies are showing up, and with the first one sealed it limits what can be said to the press in an effort to gain public support. We meet Nadine Furst, the persistent journalist as she tries for more than just the press conference drivel.

We also meet Eve’s best friend Mavis as she sings and dances at The Blue Squirrel an interesting venue, that also becomes her spot to meet with Nadine.

Things with Roarke heat up as Eve eliminates him as a suspect and there’s many twists and turns before the pieces come together in this page turning read.

I will will be reading these in order all over again. It’s fun to go back to the beginning and meet everyone.

5 Contented Purrs for J.D. Robb!

J.D. Robb

With a phenomenal career full of bestsellers, Nora Roberts was ready for a new writing challenge. As her agent put it, like Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, and caffeine-free Pepsi, a pseudonym offered her the opportunity to reach a new and different group of readers. The first futuristic suspense J. D. Robb book, Naked in Death, was published in paperback in 1995, and readers were immediately drawn to Eve Dallas, a tough cop with a dark past, and her even more mysterious love interest, Roarke.

The series quickly gained attention, great reviews, and devoted readers. Since the debut of Loyalty in Death (the ninth In Death book) on Halloween 1999 on the New York Times bestseller list, every J. D. Robb title has been a New York Times bestseller. While fans had their suspicions, it wasn’t until the twelfth book in the series, Betrayal in Death (2001), that the publisher fully revealed that J. D. Robb was a pseudonym for bestselling powerhouse Nora Roberts. Unmasked, Nora Roberts fans who hadn’t yet picked up one of the Robb books were quickly playing catch-up.

Robb’s peers in the mystery world are fans as well, with accolades for the In Death series from such blockbuster authors as Stephen King, Jonathan Kellerman, Dennis Lehane, Kathy Reichs, Lisa Scottoline, Janet Evanovich, David Baldacci, Harlan Coben, Robert B. Parker, Ridley Pearson, Linda Fairstein, and Andrew Gross.

The In Death books are perpetual bestsellers, and frequently share the bestseller list with other Nora Roberts novels. J. D. Robb publishes two hardcover In Death books per year, with the occasional stand-alone original In Death story featured in an anthology.

Forty books later, there is no end in sight for the ever-popular In Death series.