Crime

It's nearly Christmas in NYC and Eve's day starts with a man dressing as Santa Claus as he dives out of a window killing himself and the innocent guy he landed on. Things get worse when Trudy Lombard ambushes her at work loudly proclaiming that she's Eve's mother.

Trudy Lombard was the first foster parent Eve had after escaping from her abusive father. She was a nasty woman who also abused Eve by bathing her in cold water, denying food, locking her in a dark room and verbally abusing her. How she's in New York with her son Bobby and Babby's new wife Zana and she wants compensation for her care of Eve.

Eve has an intense physical reaction to Trudy as she flashes back to her abused childhood but manages to sent Trudy on her way. Then Trudy tries to blackmail Roarke for $2 million with threats to expose Eve's files to the public. He puts on scary Roarke and sends her on her way.

When Eve and Roarke go to see her so that Eve can confront her, they find her dead in her hotel room after what looks like a physical altercation. Despite how much Eve is involved, she is given the case. This is the first time she is standing for a victim that she does not empathize with. She learns that Trudy's blackmail attempt isn't her first. She's kept illegal records of all of her fosters and is blackmailing a number of them.

As she is solving the case, she's also confronting her very difficult past and getting through it with the help of her friends and her beloved Roarke. ( )

Memory in Death

When a woman from Eve's past appears with a nefarious agenda, Eve and Roarke decide to confront the threat head on only to be forced to investigate when she turns up dead.

The identity of the killer is fairly obvious from the start as is the motivation. That said, there is an additional twist at the end that comes as a complete surprise. Robb always manages to pull one out of the hat at the last minute.

The character development is compelling as always. As more details about Eve's childhood emerge, it is impossible not to respect and admire her considering that trauma she not only managed to survive but overcome as well.

Roarke is amazing as always and this book shows once again that he is not a man to be trifled with when it comes to the woman he adores.

In sum, an enjoyable addition to the series with an interesting albeit predictable mystery and the additional bonus of extra information concerning Eve's past. ( )

It's nearly Christmas in NYC and Eve's day starts with a man dressing as Santa Claus as he dives out of a window killing himself and the innocent guy he landed on. Things get worse when Trudy Lombard ambushes her at work loudly proclaiming that she's Eve's mother.

Trudy Lombard was the first foster parent Eve had after escaping from her abusive father. She was a nasty woman who also abused Eve by bathing her in cold water, denying food, locking her in a dark room and verbally abusing her. How she's in New York with her son Bobby and Babby's new wife Zana and she wants compensation for her care of Eve.

Eve has an intense physical reaction to Trudy as she flashes back to her abused childhood but manages to sent Trudy on her way. Then Trudy tries to blackmail Roarke for $2 million with threats to expose Eve's files to the public. He puts on scary Roarke and sends her on her way.

When Eve and Roarke go to see her so that Eve can confront her, they find her dead in her hotel room after what looks like a physical altercation. Despite how much Eve is involved, she is given the case. This is the first time she is standing for a victim that she does not empathize with. She learns that Trudy's blackmail attempt isn't her first. She's kept illegal records of all of her fosters and is blackmailing a number of them.

As she is solving the case, she's also confronting her very difficult past and getting through it with the help of her friends and her beloved Roarke. ( )

It is December 2059 and St. Nick is very much dead on a street in Time Square. Humans, without parachutes, don’t do well when they go over the side of a building. In this case, when he went out a window and jumped from the 36th floor of the Broadway View Hotel. Witnesses report he was yelling “Ho, Ho, Ho” as he came down before crash landing on an innocent bystander who had the worst timing to pass by.

For Lieutenant Eve Dallas and her partner, Detective Peabody, their latest case is the deaths of Max Tubbs (Santa Claus in full outfit) and Leo Jacobs (innocent and unlucky bystander). Dallas designates Peabody as the primary on the case though she will, of course, heavily assist and guide the case.

Clearly some “recreational pharmaceuticals” were involved as it was definitely not a suicide. Through questioning Dallas learns that a group of coworkers pooled their money to rent a suite and buy some drugs from a dude known as Zero. The plan was for a holiday party. Nobody was supposed to do anything heavy drug wise. Certainly, nobody was supposed to die. Zero runs a club nearby. He is also her first clue on a case that is small potatoes compared to what is coming.

Dallas went through a lot in her childhood. The horror of her brutal past comes back in bits and pieces. Sometimes it is a crime scene that brings back what long has been buried. Sometimes it is the victim and what they went through. In this case it is the form of a long forgotten foster mother, Trudy.

Trudy, from long ago in Texas, shows up at Dallas’s job to get reacquainted. There was extensive media coverage after the last case and Trudy saw some of it. So, she knew Dallas was now in NYC and brought the family. Seeing her in the present violently rocks New York City Police and Security Department Lieutenant Eve Dallas to her core.

When she gets herself back together, she realizes that Trudy is in town for one thing and one thing only. She wants money. No doubt she wants a lot of money. She wants to use Dallas’s past as leverage to get paid. She did not count on Dallas and Roarke refusing. That wasn’t the only thing she did not count on.

What follows is another fast-paced read. Part mystery, part thriller, the action flows forward at a steady pace as Dallas, Peabody, and others solve their latest case. The year is 2059, but folks still murder for the classic reasons. In this case, greed kills.

My reading copy came in digital format by way of the OverDrive/Libby app and the Dallas Public Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2023 ( )