J. D. Robb’s In Death series featuring Eve Dallas
continues to work incredibly well. The novels are set in the
mid-21st century, primarily in a Manhattan that is comfortably
familiar with just enough futuristic tinges to keep it exotic.

Dallas is a New York Police and Security Department (NYPSD for
short) homicide lieutenant who is not personally likable but is
professionally admirable. She is married to a charming and
enigmatic character named Roarke, an Irishman with a dubious
background who has gone “legitimate.” Roarke is
fabulously wealthy, and his resources extend far beyond the
monetary. Given that he absolutely adores his wife, he is quick to
extend himself into her investigations when some red tape gets in
the way of her ability to obtain information. He is also willing to
extend himself in other ways as well, resulting in a lively
balanced mix of the mysterious and the erotic. With KINDRED IN
DEATH, the 29th installment in the series, Robb combines a chilling
murder, a diabolical killer and a fascinating investigation to
create a work that sets another new benchmark for herself and her
protagonist

Dallas, who is not really into the warm and fuzzy, is preparing
to stand as Matron of Honor at the wedding of her friend Louise,
just as she begins to enjoy an idyllic (and rare) off-duty holiday
weekend with Roarke. But her attention from both matters is
suddenly diverted when an unspeakable murder hits close to her
professional home. Jonah MacMasters, a veteran New York police
lieutenant, has been newly promoted to the rank of captain and
celebrates the occasion with a weekend trip with his wife. They
return home to discover that Deanna, their 16-year-old daughter,
has been brutally raped and murdered in her own bedroom. They are
devastated, all the more so because they believed Deanna would be
perfectly safe with their state-of-the-art surveillance and
security equipment in place. MacMasters specifically asks that
Dallas head up the investigation, which she accepts and undertakes
with a single-minded vengeance.

The only evidence that the killer has left behind is a
deliberate, cruel taunt to MacMasters, which makes it clear that
the murder was a carefully calculated and premeditated act of
revenge against him, using his only daughter as an instrument. This
small bit of carelessness begins a search into MacMasters’s
past cases and Deanna’s activities. Using her own resources,
Roarke’s all-pervasive influence, and a combination of
futuristic technology and timeless, dogged police work, Dallas
gradually unearths the perpetrator, a genius with the seeming
ability to change his identity and appearance at will as he strikes
again and again.

Longtime fans of J. D. Robb and Eve Dallas will once again find
much to love here. Roarke’s ability to provide professional
and personal succor to his wife, while managing a network of
business interests, presents him as a benevolently omnipotent and
riveting character who often steals the spotlight from Dallas. But
it is Dallas’s tenacious pursuit of the shadowy murderer and
the combination of past and future investigative techniques that
make KINDRED IN DEATH a memorable installment in this long-running
and worthwhile series.