Shadows in Death

Shadows In Death by J. D. Robb (pseudonym for Nora Roberts) brings murder, romance, and suspense to a well-written futuristic police procedural and romantic suspense set in New York City and Ireland in May 2061. This is the fifty-first book in the In Death Eve Dallas series and I have read all of them up to this point.

This story starts with our protagonist, Lieutenant Eve Dallas of the NYC police department, being called to a crime scene while at the theatre with her husband (and sometimes, civilian consultant), Roarke. The victim is Galla Modesto, one of the heirs to the family-owned Modesto Wine and Spirits business based in Italy.

It’s always entertaining to spend time with Eve, Roarke, and Eve’s colleagues. She is definitely a compelling and three-dimensional character. Her need to serve and protect comes through in every book, but the underlying impetus for this is best understood by reading this series in order. Due to the way Eve was raised, she often doesn’t understand commonly used phrases and this comes into play a few times in this book making her seem more real and less perfect. As always, the interactions between Eve and Roarke are enjoyable and bring a different facet of Eve’s personality to light. Many of the reoccurring police characters play significant roles in this book. We also get to see a different side of Commander Whitney which gives him added dimension for the first time.

The prose is well-written, entertaining, and engaging. This time Roarke’s past intertwined with the storyline. The plot is thought-provoking, but there was a scene near the end that never should have occurred. I understand why it was in the book, but it detracted from the good police work that had occurred before it. I was disappointed that the author would include this in the book. The ending location and action was also unbelievable. While this book has some action, it is mostly a police procedural.  It is tragic in places and uplifting in others. Robb is an author that manages to embed humor in her novels, providing some much needed levity to offset some of the more serious and grim aspects of the story. There is a steamy scene or two in the novel as well. Themes include love, respect, isolation, family dynamics, animal cruelty, child abuse, greed, murder, jealousy, obsession, hatred, pride, and arrogance.

If you enjoy engaging near-future police procedurals with some romance, then I recommend this series. Overall, it is entertaining, and over time, it is like spending time with old friends. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.

I purchased a digital copy of this novel. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and are not biased in any way. Publication date was September 8, 2020.