Retro Review – Naked in Death by J. D. Robb

I had forgotten I had scheduled a Retro Review for today until my calendar popped up yesterday. All my reminder said for the book title was TBD, I searched my kindle looking for TBD and then I realized that TBD (To Be Determined) meant when I scheduled the review I hadn’t decided on a book. So I started thinking and I came up with two possibilities a western or a J. D. Robb. Both I enjoy reading and re-reading so I decided that instead of flipping a coin I would ask some totally unbiased people. I raised a very scientifically worded, unambiguous question on twitter and tallied the results. I had 100% +/- 3% variance on J. D. Robb. Thank you @JoannaMikalis and @smexys_sidekick for your opinions. The western I will review another time.

Naked In Death Cover
Publisher: Berkley Books
Publish Date: 1995
How I got this book: Purchased

Eve Dallas is a New York police lieutenant using her instincts to hunt for a ruthless killer. And she’s going against every warning telling her not to get involved with Roarke, an Irish billionaire—and a suspect in Eve’s murder investigation. But passion and seduction have rules of their own.
This blurb came from the author’s website here.

Naked In Death is book one of probably the longest running series I have read except for the Nancy Drew or The Hardy Boys series. It took me a while to pick this one up in fact I think probably four or five of them had been released before I decided to give the series a try. I am so glad that I took a chance because I have had hours of laughter, tension, tears, and sexytimes as I read, re-read and listen to this series during long drives. The In Death series is set in a futuristic Earth primarily based in New York City.

Eve is such a complex character with her passion for the law, by the book behavior and insistence on standing for the dead since they cannot stand for themselves. She didn’t care what that person did in life, their stature in society, who they knew or were related to. Any speculation that she treated a murder victim differently based on their stature resulted in an immediate increase in her temper. Eve’s very stubbornness, while serving her well as she progressed through the ranks, was also her downfall when it came to taking care of herself or playing the political game. Eve lives for her job so she doesn’t have a social life or any clue how to deal with a guy who isn’t a co-worker, a witness or a suspect. This makes it even more entertaining when she encounters Roarke.

I hope you will forgive me as I pause for a moment to pay mental homage to Roarke. He happens to be my personal favorite romantic hero that I have ever read. Eve first encounters Roarke’s name in the appointment book of one of her murder victims a Sharon DeBlass whose occupation was a licensed companion (legalized prostitute, very high end) and who happened to be the granddaughter of Senator DeBlass a very influential, very conservative, and very used to throwing his political weight around man. Roarke was one of the last few meetings that the victim had written in her appointment book. That combined with the extreme lack of information available to Eve during her background search ensured he was one of Eve’s suspects.

Their first encounter at Sharon’s funeral happens to strike sparks. Roarke can’t believe that he didn’t spot Eve as a cop instead of an attractive woman and Eve can’t believe how arrogant Roarke is. Roarke does discover Eve’s weakness when he offers her real coffee on the flight back into NYC. Her reaction to the coffee leads to the very first gift he gives her. Their relationship grows as the twists and turns into what appears to be a serial murder investigation become more complex. Eve also has to deal with political pressure coming from Senator DeBlass and from the Chief of Police outside her precinct. As Eve and Roarke start to spend time together things keep happening to place Roarke at the top of the suspect list and therefore discredit her investigation based on her personal behavior.

I loved the interaction that Eve and Roarke had with each other. I was also introduced to several key reoccurring characters in this series. Those supporting characters also continue to change and grow as Eve and Roarke change and grow. They help to solidify the setting and how complex people really are. I was also not let down by the mystery of determining who the murderer was. The answer to that question was really complex but I could mentally go back and trace the threads as Eve was closing the case. I highly recommend that if you enjoy romance, mystery, strong characters, and a vivid world that you give the In Death series a try. Make sure you start with Naked In Death so you don’t miss anything. In fact I think since I have just re-read this one I need to start re-reading the series again *grin*.

I give Naked In Death an A+

Links to Purchase:

Barnes & Noble | Amazon Book
| Kindle eBook

19 thoughts on “Retro Review – Naked in Death by J. D. Robb”

  1. Can you believe it I added NiD to my iBooks app today. Two years ago I started it, loved what I was reading but my e-reading divice wasn’t an e-reader/phone/pad…it was actually a converted nintendo DS. So it wasn’t fun reading. Anyhoo….I really have a sofspot for Nora Roberts in the mid nineties to about 2003-4. After that she gave me nice reads but I couldn’t get wow-ed again. But Eve and Roarke were able to wow me again and the suspense, so good! I really need to get my froove on with this series. 😀

  2. @Leontine: So glad you like Eve and Roarke! You have a lot of fun reads ahead of you. I can’t wait until you meet Peabody and McNabb LOL.

  3. YEA!!! Great retro review E. Eve and Roarke-how I love them. I started re reading the series earlier this year because I love reading how they met and the early years of their marriage. My all time book in this series though has to be Innocent In Death. Lord, what a tear jerker.

  4. @aurian: Thank you. This series is a lot of fun. All of the developments the different characters have gone through. *Happy sigh*

  5. @Tori: Thanks *grin* they are wonderful! Innocent In Death is a really good one. I was thinking last night that it is hard for me to pick my favorite because several of them have scenes that I just love.

  6. Longtime lurker comes out to say – I love Naked in Death! I just listened to it again last week, it’s a comfort listen for me, you know … when nothing else is working?! If you haven’t listened to the audio versions, I highly recommend them. I’m getting 2 new puppies in a few weeks and the DH and I’ve been thinking of names – yeah, it is probably going to be Eve & Roarke. No one else will get it but I will laugh myself silly when I yell “Roarke, come” out the back door … and he does!

  7. I love this series! Eve and Roarke are my romance novel super-couple; the laugh, they fight, the help each other, etc… I’m so glad you featured this book …anyone who hasn’t read it — should!

  8. @Peggy P: Thanks for deciding to pop out and say :). The audio versions are wonderful! Eventually I will have them all in audio too. I have found myself giggling in advance of certain parts as I am driving. I love the thought of using those names for your puppies LOL.

  9. This is an awesome series! I remember discovering this series when I was 19 and there were about 10? books already out. I went and bought all of them and my RT at the dorms thought I was crazy cuz while everyone was out having fun on the weekend, I was the only one in my room reading.

    I can’t believe how long this series is now. I have every one. I don’t even flinch (much) at paying the hc price since I have to have each new book the moment it’s available. I don’t even know if I could reread them all… but one day I’m going to try 🙂

  10. @Joanna Mikalis: This is such a great series I agree. Eve and Roarke are a lot of fun in their interactions with each other and other characters. I also hope I have introduced this series to some new people because it is so worth reading.

  11. @erinf1: You sound like me when I have discovered a new-to-me series or author. I need a vacation so I can re-read them all *grin*.

  12. That is a bummer but the nice thing about having so many authors, ideas, and genres available is that everyone can find their reads of choice :).

  13. I LOVE this series! Just love it! And whenever I am going thru a reading slump, these are the books I return to. They never fail to knock me out of my slump and remind me of the joys of reading 🙂 I’m planning on rereading them all at some point…I just can’t resist going back to the beginning where Eve and Roarke met. Great review!

  14. Pingback: Naked in Death by J.D. Robb (1995)* | Adventures of a Reluctant Fiction Nerd

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