Memory in Death

Kudos to the author,for never disappointing her readers for this character, Eve Dallas and her husband Roarke! Their adventures, in the future as a police detective & spouse, are always filled with suspense. Even knowing Eve will "always speak for her victims", the story lines are never dull. The saucy life she lives with her husband and friends, is full of entertainment. Worth getting involved with these stories about Eve! She will pull at your heart & soul!

I just want to say that this story is above and beyond the last two - Survivor & Origin. I enjoy all of the "In-Death" books but some are definitely better than others. "Memory" takes place in the year 2059 and it is about a week prior to Eve & Roarke's second Christmas together. Eve is totally caught off guard when one Trudy Lombard, Eve's foster care mother from when she was 9 years old, just shows up in her office at Cop Central. Needless to say, Trudy was one nasty foster care parent and Eve's memories of her are more like nightmares. Trudy tries to blackmail Eve into wangling $2,000,000 out of her husband under the pretext that she owes Trudy for taking care of her when she was a child (of course Trudy's idea of care was starvation and cold baths). When Eve throws her out of her office, she goes to Roarke. That little meeting in Roarke's office is really quite amusing. The story takes off from there as Trudy ends up dead in her hotel room and the rest is a who, why and how "done it," leaving our favorite Lieutenant with more to accomplish during the holiday season than just shopping. The supporting characters are all here, Peabody, not much on McNab, however, they are off to Scotland for the holidays and Peabody is a little anxious about meeting McNab's family for the first time. Of course, Mira and Feeney are highlighted as well as Baxter and Truehart. We see Eve's character developing nicely. When Christmas finally does roll around, Eve doesn't even baulk at the elaborate gifts Roarke bestows upon her (a total change from her attitude in "Glory in Death"). Eve herself is quite the thoughtful gift-giver. As always, there is a lot of action and comedy and you can't help but laugh at Eve's way of looking at the world. Thank you Nora for another great "In-Death" book. I saw where some of your books will be made into movies for Lifetime TV. They need to make a movie based on one of the "In Death" books; it would surely be a winner.

J.D. Robb continues her excellent series with yet another great installment. In this book, Lieutenant Eve Dallas is forced to confront painful memories from her past when one of her foster mothers, Trudy Lombard, surfaces at the police station to talk to Eve. Trudy had left emotional scars on Eve and memories of cold baths, being locked in the dark, and scrubbing the kitchen with a toothbrush overwhelm her. Eve leaves the police station instead of wrapping up an investigation, which is so out of character that Peabody contacts Eve's husband, Roarke. When Roarke arrives home, he finds Eve huddled under the hot shower. This is the last weak moment for Eve as she pulls herself together to face her emotions at seeing Trudy again. Meanwhile, Roarke is furious and fully expects Trudy to visit him as well as he suspects blackmail is behind Trudy's return. Sure enough, Trudy attempts to extort $2 million dollars from Roarke at his office; the resulting scene is very powerful and displays Roarke's full capabilities. Eve wants to confront Trudy herself and Eve and Roarke go to Trudy's hotel to tell her they will not be subjected to blackmail. However, Trudy is dead and the rest of the novel focuses on Eve's investigation into Trudy's death. Eve also has to cope with her own indifference to Trudy's death as she generally feels a sense of compassion for the victims. This was a highly enjoyable read and a great addition to the series. Highly recommended!

"Origin of Death" with the Icove case becomes the catalyst for the action in this new novel. Eve and Roarke had a lot of television "vid" coverage locally and nationally because of that case involving genetics and murder. It is now a Friday, a few days before Christmas and Eve has caught a scene where a party Santa has jumped out a high rise and landed on a pedestrian killing him as well. Eve makes her partner Peabody the "primary" on the case and she does well on scene. When Lt. Dallas walks back into her office at Central she finds a middle aged lady that she doesn't at first recognize - she buried the memory of this woman - Trudy Lombard, former foster mother who was anything BUT a nurturing type. Darkness and cold baths flash Eve back and cause her to throw Trudy out as Trudy makes sly insinuations. Eve forewarns Roarke at home and sure enough the next day, Trudy goes to him to try to blackmail him for two million dollars for her to keep quiet about Eve's past. Of course, Roarke will have no part of that and puts the "fear of God" into Trudy who rushes away - still plotting and planning. Eve and Roarke spend some time together Saturday preparing for a Christmas party that night for over 200 hundred people. Eve even gets into the swing of things helping supervising the decorating of the ballroom and finding she can handle a more "domestic" type of task. Eve and Roarke decide on Sunday to go visit Trudy at her hotel and explain that they will not give in to her blackmail and so that Eve can confront her with confidence. They find Trudy's son Bobby's wife banging on the hotel door. They have a maid open it and Trudy is found dead!! While Eve and Roarke are not suspects as they were surrounded by people at their party, a host of other possible suspects including other former foster children are soon added to the list. Eve has sentimental feelings for Trudy's son Bobby as he used to sneak her food but she does not let that get in the way of her investigation. As Eve deals with her memories and finding Trudy's killer, she and Roarke also share happy times at Christmas and she grows closer to Dr. Mira and her family as well. A wonderful story and actually a welcome break from the previously more gory "Origin in Death".

Memory in Death is the latest in the in Death series written by J.D. Robb, aka Nora Roberts. This latest novel is set at Christmas, just a couple of weeks after the conclusion of the Icove case of Origin in Death, and the two novels are very strongly connected. For, the concomitant publicity wrought by the resolution of the Icove case is the primary cause for the action of the new novel. In brief, Trudy Lombard who was once Eve Dallas's foster mother, an abusive and sadistic woman, catches the news about the Icove case which features the primary Eve Dallas, married to the fabulously wealthy Roarke. Resolved to be repaid for having housed Dallas for a few months, Lombard comes to New York City with intent to blackmail Dallas and Roarke so she will be silent about Dallas's traumatic childhood. Though Dallas is badly shaken and spun into the black well of her traumatic childhood memories, she rejects Lombard, as does Roarke whom the woman later approaches. The action of the novel commences when Dallas and Roarke set out to Lombard's hotel to face her down together and discover her murdered with her body showing signs of a severe beating. Fans of J.D. Robb are doomed to disappointment if they come to Memory in Death expecting the tension and bloody trails that are the hallmark of previous novels or even the philosophical musings that are the subtext of Origin in Death. Instead, Memory in Death mirrors the slowing down of business activity-even cop business-that occurs as Christmas nears; thus, it pays homage to the Christmas season in spite of its unorthodox opening with the death of a party Santa. Though restraining the central characters to the investigation of one murder, Robb retains the sense of the diurnal occurrence of murder by having other investigative officers report in to Dallas on the progress of their cases. This is something that she has seldom done even though readers sometimes hear about the case-load of a regular like Baxter. Thus, Robb slows down the pace, reduces the frantic urgency, and so sets the stage for what Christmas is about: loved ones, family, and friends. In a sense, the novel is a Christmas home-coming for the regulars, almost all of whom are present at the party, and who are like family to Eve Dallas and Roarke. The party itself, like Dallas's later conversation with Peabody when she calls from Scotland, is given too short shrift, and this undercuts in some slight way to holiday celebration. One of the benefits of the slow pace of Memory in Death is that it allows for the development of relationships, such as that between Dallas and Charlotte Mira. The Miras are shown, through Charlotte's conversation with Eve, to be a warts and all less than perfect couple. The result is that Dallas, who struggles periodically with roles and the interpersonal aspect of marriage, is reassured that perfection is unlikely. Mira continues to teach Dallas about marriage, family, and friendship. If Feeney is Dallas's surrogate father