Dark in Death
Ratings16
Average rating4.1
"It was a stab in the dark. On a chilly February night, during a screening of Psycho in midtown, someone sunk an ice pick into the back of Chanel Rylan's neck, then disappeared quietly into the crowds of drunks and tourists in Times Square. To Chanel's best friend, who had just slipped out of the theater for a moment to take a call, it felt as unreal as the ancient black-and-white movie up on the screen. But Chanel's blood ran red, and her death was anything but fictional. Then, as Eve Dallas puzzles over a homicide that seems carefully planned and yet oddly personal, she receives a tip from an unexpected source: an author of police thrillers who recognizes the crime--from the pages of her own book. Dallas doesn't think it's coincidence, since a recent strangulation of a sex worker resembles a scene from her writing as well. Cops look for patterns of behavior: similar weapons, similar MOs. But this killer seems to find inspiration in someone else's imagination, and if the theory holds, this may be only the second of a long-running series. The good news is that Eve and her billionaire husband Roarke have an excuse to curl up in front of the fireplace with their cat, Galahad, reading mystery stories for research. The bad news is that time is running out before the next victim plays an unwitting role in a murderer's deranged private drama -- and only Eve can put a stop to a creative impulse gone horribly, destructively wrong."--
Series
Featured Series
59 primary books70 released books#46 in In Death
In Death is a 70-book series with 59 released primary works first released in 1911 with contributions by J.D. Robb and J. D. Robb. 1 book is still to be released. The next book is scheduled for release on .
Reviews
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J.D. Robb goes meta.
This book added a bit of winking fun to the long-running (#46!) In Death series. After a young woman is murdered in a movie theater with an ice pick to the back of the neck, it doesn't take long for Eve Dallas to learn that the murderer is modeling his or her killings after a successful crime novel series, that just happens to feature a tough PI who doesn't always play by the rules. This allows Robb/Nora Roberts to get in all sorts of digs, subtle and not, at popular authors and the culture of fandom. As Eve discovers while reading fan mail,
“A lot of (the fans) who write multiple times talk about the make-believe people like they're actually people. Some of them get a little pissy when those make-believe people don't do just what they figure those make-believe people should do. Some get more than a little pissy. A lot of the pissy is because the characters haven't banged....it makes me wonder why (the author) doesn't write back and say ‘Thanks for your interest. Now fuck off.'” Ouch. I resemble that remark just a little...
A fan who has gone off the deep end proves to be surprisingly difficult to catch, and once again it's a combination of good detective work and an assist from civilian consultant Roarke that lets Dallas catch the killer. Other than the obvious glee that Robb/Roberts takes in making meta comments on writing, reading, plagiarism (Janet Dailey, I don't think you are off the hook yet), and people who peek at the ending of a book, this is a fairly standard In Death novel, with little new development for the characters. The exception is one secondary character, who does get a promising romantic partner; I hope we see the relationship develop in the coming installments.
One of the more enjoyable In Death books that I have read in a long time, and I've been there since the beginning. Brava and touche, Ms. Roberts.
