The story

Nine years, two weeks, and three days ago Lt. Eve Dallas was a detective working secondary on her first big case. Over twe weeks, The Groom tortured and murdered four women. He was nicknamed The Groom because of the ring he left with the victims. The case was never solved but now he's back and it is Eve's turn to run the investigation. Dallas takes her cases personally but this one becomes even more personal when she pieces together that all the women worked for her husband Roarke and she may be one of the killer's intended victims. A task force is swiftly organized with one goal - find the killer before the next woman dies.

Creation in Death is the 27th book in Robb's ...in Death series and I've read them all. I described these books to a friend as a guilty pleasure but I am unrepentent about enjoying them. If uninterrupted I can finish one in a couple of hours so they are not heavy reading.

About the series.

The books are set in New York city in the future, the first in 2058 and the latest in 2060. There are science fiction elements. For example: space flight, including, apparently, interstellar, is commercialized and and available for recreational travel; the police use weapons similar to the Star Trek phaser that can be set to stun or kill; communication devices, both mobile and home devices, are well developed; nearly sentient robots are used for personal servants and to supplement the human workforce in a variety of jobs; they have flying cars (about time, we were promised them years ago); and something like the Star Trek holodeck can be found in the homes of the wealthy. But the stories are not science fiction and the gee-whiz technology is, for the most part, just background.

Eve Dallas is married to Roarke, the most wealthy man in the universe. Eve doesn't care about the money and has to be taken in hand by Roarke and several friends to attend to clothing and personal grooming. Roarke has a shady past but he makes himself an honest man to help him win Eve. In addition to his vast wealth, Roarke is good looking, generous, a genius with security and computers, and doesn't look at others in terms of class. He is also brought into cases as a consultant.

In the first book, Eve and Roarke meet while she is working a case. Roarke is instantly smitten; it takes Eve a bit longer to warm up to him and she strongly resists having anything to do with his wealth. Eventually they marry.

So why do I like this book and why does the series appeal to me?

The mystery/crime genre is one of my favorite sources of pleasure reading and the ...in Death series falls into the police procedural sub-genre. The cases build logically and Robb doesn't pull solutions out of the air. They collect evidence and one discovery leads to another. One somewhat science fiction device does come into play frequently - massive computing power. They are able to perform deep data mining at a level we are just starting to work toward. And the computers can take that data and correlate it against an apparently unlimited number of parameters.

For me, though, the ...in Death series is character driven. While the crimes are generally interesting, I read the books for the characters. Picking up this latest was like meeting old friends. By the way, if you haven't read any of this series, don't start here because you will miss a lot. Seriously. First read the other 26 in order. Robb does a wonderful job of gradually fleshing out her characters over the course of the books. The relationship between Roarke and Eve is initially rocky at time, matures, and stabilizes. Bits of Eve's and Roarke's pasts are revealed gradually. Friends are introduced, integrated into their lives, and are also developed. In fact, Robb did something interesting in Creation in Death with two of her recurring characters, Mavis the former thief, now rock singer, and wife to a clothing designer and Trina, the hair and makeup expert. Their knowledge and skills are nicely worked into the story and play a part in identifying the killer.

I also like the dialog she provides the characters. She carries off the insulting banter among the cops very well and comes up with interesting turns of phrase and the slang of the isn't forced. Here is an exchange between Roark and two police officers working the investigation:

Yo, Blondie-boy," she called out and McNab glanced over his shoulder.

"You talking to me, D-Cup?"

"You're up. Liquid."

"Can do. You want?" he said to Roark. "Something to drink."

"Yes, thanks."

"Buzz or no buzz??

It took Roarke a moment to translate, and in that moment he felt very old. "Could use the buzz."

"On it." As McNab bounced out of the room, Calendar sent Roarke a quick and pretty smile.

"So, you're like absolutely packed, right? Doing the backstroke in the megawealth. What's that like?"

"Satisfying," he decided.

"Betcha." With a push of her feed, she sent her chair skidding over so she could see his screen. "Wow. Multidudinous data with simo searches and cross. You got secondary recog going, too?"

This, he could easily translate. "I do. cheking like names, anagrams, cross dates. Lay it down for a spread, do deep for ancestry, and other potential connects."

"Smart. McNab said you were frosty in there. Serious mining."

These books are a cross of several genres: some elements of the romance novel; bits of science fiction; and more of police procedural.The characters are likable and there are usually a few laughs. They can be explicit in sex and violence. for the most part I consider them a light, fun read.

If I was going to single out a weakness it would be that Roarke is too good to be true: incredibly wealthy and attractive; a genius with security and computers; and able to help the police solve cases using his hacking and data mining skills. I think his characterization comes out of Robb's (actually Nora Roberts) romance novelist side. Still, there is enough sex and violence to make the books interesting to guys.