DARK IN DEATH

4 stars out of 5

Good book - held my interest throughout and I easily polished it off in two days. But compared to others I've read in this series (one of my favorites, BTW), it just didn't have much pizzazz - kind of like driving a Maserati with half-inflated tires.

Even though Lt. Eve Dallas and her hunky Irish husband Roarke heat up a few rooms in their house now and then, they seemed a titch off their usual game (even Roarke's faithful majordomo, the curmudgeonly Summerset, is off on a rare holiday). Only Eve's coworker and friend Peabody remains as bubbly and colorfully dressed as usual. The plot, while clever and interesting, was a bit plodding, with not much real action (again, compared with previous books in the series).

Early on, Dallas is called in when a dead woman turns up in a movie theater. Just as Janet Leigh is reeling from horrific stabbings in her hotel shower in Alfred Hitchcock's classic movie Psycho, the woman's life was similarly ended by a single ice pick plunged into her neck. In the thrill of the movie, no one noticed the killer - who left virtually no clues for Dallas and her team to follow.

Then out of the blue, Dallas gets a visit from the author of a popular series of books featuring former police detective Deann Dark. The real-life movie murder, the author says, mirrors events in one of her books - too closely for her comfort. Dallas tends to agree, and when an earlier homicide turns out to copy scenes from yet another of the books, she's convinced they're tracking a very determined, and very careful, serial killer.

It seems clear that the killer has taken the Dark books to heart; problem is, there are quite a few others just waiting to be brought to life (or more accurately, to death). To try and get ahead of the next hit, Dallas and Roarke hit the books, hoping to learn who the next victim might be. 

Overall, I enjoyed the book despite its more laid-back feel (every once in a while, in fact, it's nice to read a murder mystery in which I'm not biting my nails worrying that one or two of the main characters will land in the hospital or worse). But I also suspect that not many readers, including me, will call this one a series favorite.

Dark in Death by J.D. Robb (St. Martin's Press, January 2018); 384 pp.