With this series Robb has started to shift gears from mysteries with a lot of romance to mysteries with some romance. At this point these are really police procedurals with a strong romance component. And I'm happy with that mix.

In this outing Eve is thinking she'll have some downtime after the uncomplicated case she and Peabody worked on concludes. Peabody, who was primary on the case, is happy with how things went but because of an altercation with a perp, decides to get some workout time in. When she goes to the gym at cop central and sees all the hard-bodied cops working out, she decides to bail. But then she remembers the older gym where there's likely to be noone using the outdated equipment. That decision has dire consequences when her shower is interrupted by someone arguing in the locker room. Peabody overhears two cops (a man and a woman) discussing their corrupt side business and comes close to being discovered and losing her life because of it. Shaken, but determined, she makes a beeline to Eve and dumps it all in the Lieutenant's lap. What follows is the step-by-step investigation of Eve and her team as they build a case against the dirty cops.

This was a change of pace from some of the serial killers Eve has faced. This time around she knows who's done the deed she just has to prove it. I love watching as Eve doggedly pursues the culprit and lays her case. And there are some very nice moments between her and Roarke and her and her squad. What brought this down a star was how very bad the corrupt cops were (and how many of them) - if they're this bad, I had a hard time believing IAB wouldn't have been onto them before this. My other quibble is the speechifying that happens about the importance of the honor of the police dept., how bad it is when there are dirty cops, etc. It fits with Eve's character that this is important to her, but I thought Robb laid it on a little thick.

That said, diving into a new Robb book never gets old. Can hardly wait for November's book.