Memory in Death

J.D. Robb
aka Nora Roberts

3/24/2006

It's Christmas time in New York City, 2059. Eve Dallas returns to Cop Central to meet a woman who dropped by. As soon as Eve starts talking to and recognizes the woman, she immediately reacts negatively and emotionally, kicking Trudy Lombard out of her office. Lombard was the woman in Eve's first foster home who mentally abused and purposefully neglected Eve. She never struck Eve, but was a great manipulator. Eve never wants Lombard in her life again.

Lombard won't allow herself to be kicked out. She didn't come to New York with her son and daughter-in-law to reestablish an old relationship. Instead, Lombard knows Eve is married to Roarke, the richest man known. After seeing Eve, Lombard approaches Roarke the next day. If he pays her enough, she promises not to reveal Eve's past. Roarke kicks her out of his office after he listens to her spiel. He had known she was coming and he had his own threats to return.

Lombard is determined to get even. Someone beats her to it - literally. Lombard is found dead in her hotel room. She had been hit over the head. Eve and Roarke had just come to talk to her and put her out of their lives when they found Lombard's daughter-in-law knocking on the older woman's door. No one expected what they found inside the room.

It looks like Eve or Roarke could be the main suspects. They are hosting a large Christmas party when Lombard is killed so they cannot have done it themselves. But they could have hired someone if another cop thought they were suspicious. Now Eve is determined to find Lombard's murderer even if she hated the woman while alive.

OK, every good series has the book that doesn't quite click. This one fits that category in the Eve Dallas series. Memory in Death is not the book for someone who hasn't read any of the other novels. The mystery is weak. This book instead relies on the strength of the characters in a non-suspenseful time. It examines Eve's own personality as she accepts and begins to understand her own inner changes since Roarke, then Peabody came into her life. She has learned to accept her painful past. More importantly, she has learned to allow people to become part of her life.

J.D. Robb uses this novel to explore the new Eve and to tie up some threads from past novels. This introspection is helpful for the reader following Eve's story. But the suspenseful edge that is normally in the Eve Dallas novels is missing. That is as important to these stories as the relationships between Eve and Roarke and Eve and her other friends. As I said earlier, the mystery is weak. There's two potential suspects and it is obvious who the killer has to be.

You can find more about this book at .

Notice: Sexual situations

Naked in Death
Glory in Death
Immortal in Death
Rapture in Death
Ceremony in Death
Vengeance in Death
Holiday in Death
"Midnight in Death" Silent Night
Conspiracy in Death
Loyalty in Death
Witness in Death
Judgment in Death
Betrayal in Death
Seduction in Death
"Interlude in Death" Out of This World
Reunion in Death
Purity in Death
Portrait in Death
Imitation in Death
Remember When (written w/ Nora Roberts)
Divided in Death
Visions in Death
Survivor in Death
Origin in Death
Memory in Death
Born in Death
Innocent in Death
"Haunted in Death" in Bump in the Night
Creation in Death
Strangers in Death