Obsession in Death
It’s a few days after Christmas when Lt. Eve Dallas and her partner Det. Peabody are called in to investigate a homicide. Nothing unusual about that, this time it’s the murder of a well-known defense attorney with whom Eve has butted heads on several occasions. This time though there is a message scrawled on the wall – a personal message addressed to Eve – “With great admiration and understanding. Her life was a lie; her death our truth. She showed you no respect, spoke ill of you, sought to profit by undermining all you work for. It was my pleasure and honor to balance the scales. Justice has been served. Your loyal and true friend.”
Since marrying uber-millionaire Rourke, Eve has acquired more friends than she ever thought she would but none of them would go to this length to avenge for her, so who is this person killing on her behalf? Like a cat leaving the gift of a mouse on the doorstep this killer leaves bodies with personal messages. But, what happens when Eve doesn’t react with the type of gratitude the killer is expecting? Simple … the killer must move on to eliminating friends and family so Eve can finally appreciate that the killer is her only “true friend”.
And so the chase is on.
Eve must sort through the why of these killings and determine who might be next, so part of this book is a little trip down memory lane of the cases Eve has solved. Since this is #40 in the series, that is quite a few and, quite frankly I could not remember all the details of some of the cases discussed. That part of it left me a little frustrated. On the flip side of that dilemma it also made Eve take inventory of those around her that she now considers friends. Pre-Rourke Eve lived a very solitary life, work and home – work and home – repeat, but now she has all these friends to worry about, “how did there get to be so many?” she asks herself. I enjoyed this aspect of the book because it brought out Eve’s softer side … Yes!! … She does have one. As always there are a few close calls along the way, but in the end the culprit is apprehended (fans of the series would accept no less) just in time for the ball to drop in Times Square ushering in 2061. If Ms. Robb (aka Nora Roberts) remains true to her publishing schedule we should find out what the New Year holds in store for Rourke, Eve, et al in or around September this year.
