Betrayal in Death (In Death #12)

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts, writing as J.D. Robb, comes a new novel in the futuristic series…Detective Eve Dallas investigates a homicide on familiar grounds: her husband’s hotel—and finds herself up against a murderer with a passion for the finer things in life—and death…

At the luxurious Roarke Palace Hotel, a maid walks into suite 4602 for the nightly turndown— and steps into her worst nightmare. A killer leaves her dead, strangled by a thin silver wire. He’s Sly

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts, writing as J.D. Robb, comes a new novel in the futuristic series…Detective Eve Dallas investigates a homicide on familiar grounds: her husband’s hotel—and finds herself up against a murderer with a passion for the finer things in life—and death…

At the luxurious Roarke Palace Hotel, a maid walks into suite 4602 for the nightly turndown— and steps into her worst nightmare. A killer leaves her dead, strangled by a thin silver wire. He’s Sly Yost, a virtuoso of music and murder. A hit man for the elite. Lieutenant Eve Dallas knows him well. But in this twisted case, knowing the killer doesn’t help solve the crime. Because there’s someone else involved. Someone with a more personal motive. And Eve must face a terrifying possibility—that the real target may, in fact, be her husband Roarke…

J.D. Robb fans are fanatical about New York City supercop Eve Dallas and her mysterious billionaire husband Roarke. Robb's futuristic (circa 2059) ...In Death series wages a two-front narrative war (the battle of good and evil and the battle of the sexes) and both author and readers come out winners.

When Darlene French, a maid at the Roarke Palace Hotel, is brutally beaten, raped, and strangled with a silver wire, Eve is at a loss to explain the apparently professional nature of the murder. Who would hire a hit man to kill such an ordinary woman? As she and her team of detectives (with a little grudgingly accepted help from Roarke, whose money, name, and talents can dig up a wealth of information) investigate the evidence, they find themselves in pursuit of Sylvester Yost, a vicious hired gun who's made millions in his bloody pursuit of career excellence. But it isn't until more victims appear that Eve realizes Yost's real target is Roarke himself. To discover the driving force behind the murderous campaign, Eve and Roarke will have to delve into their own pasts, which holds secrets and terrors for them both.

Robb is the nom de plume of romance writer Nora Roberts, and this series certainly delivers the same sexually charged tension and improbably gorgeous characters as Roberts's extremely popular romances. But even those readers, who generally try to steer clear of heaving bosoms and ripped bodices, will have little to fear and much to appreciate in Betrayal in Death. Eve and Roarke are impressive physical specimens, but they're also witty, gritty, and often antagonistic, irritably staking out their territories and reluctantly collaborating in the crimes that come their way (think Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd in Moonlighting, or Nick and Nora Charles on steroids and in a mood). Add in Robb's surprisingly light touch with humor, and the 13th installment in the series is a lucky find indeed. --Kelly Flynn

This 12th installment in Robb's (aka Nora Roberts) popular and critically praised futuristic cop series, set in the year 2059, finds Lt. Eve Dallas butting heads with the FBI in a race to take down a hired killer who appears to be targeting the employees of her wealthy hotelier husband, Roarke. Adding to Eve's suspicions is the sudden and unexpected visit by one of Roarke's boyhood chums from Dublin a shady character named Mick Connelly who used to run with Roarke when they were petty thieves and con men shortly after the first murder. Eve knows Mick is not the killer; in fact, she's tussled with the prime suspect, Sly Yost, before, and his signature modus operandi, what he would call "murder with class," is unmistakable. Sly's an anal sort with a taste for fine art, classical music, rape and strangulation by silver wire. But, master of disguise that he is, finding him is virtually impossible. Since the murders all take place at Roarke's hotel, Eve allows him to assist in the investigation, a stroke of creative genius on Robb's part that plays on the strengths that brought them together way back in book one (Naked in Death), and that serves to bring out Eve's softer side. So certain is Robb at maintaining an atmospheric setting for this well-paced and expertly rendered series, followers will feel as if they have gone home to the future. (Mar. 6)
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