ABANDONED IN DEATH

4 stars out of 5

As a longtime fan of this series, it seems to me that the stories are becoming a bit less edgy and the characters a bit more mellow than in years past. That's not to say either is any less appealing, though - they're still set in the future (this one in 2061) amid all the fun gizmos like meals programmed into a machine and vehicles that can land and take off vertically, calls for homicide detective Eve Dallas to draw on childhood experiences to help solve a couple of murders and prevent another - not pleasant recollections given what she was forced to endure.

Eve's salvation came in large part by way of her now husband, the Irish hunky and filthy rich Roarke (who, happily, gets to put his considerable expertise to good use in helping to solve the case). It begins with a woman's body that's laid out on a bench at a New York City playground. Clearly, she was murdered - but just as clearly, the killer arranged her body with great care. She sported a new tattoo and body piercings, but the clothing didn't quite fit and looked to be vintage. The real puzzlement, though, was the note left on the body: Bad Mommy.

The working premise is that they're dealing with an older killer - most likely male - who, like Eve, endured a traumatic childhood that involved a mother who was less than mother-like - but with no other clues, how will they find him? Readers get some glimpses by way of flashbacks into the lives of the "bad mommy" and her child, but it isn't till a second woman's body is found in a similar fashion - and Roarke puts some of his high-tech research tools to good use - that Eve begins to think positive. From there, it's a race to the finish, with a big twist (which, of course, I won't reveal). All told, another one well done, and I'm already chomping at the bit for the next.

Abandoned in Death by J.D. Robb (St. Martin's Press, February 2022); 361 pp.