The "...IN DEATH" series, without a doubt, is one of the best. The perfect mix of mystery, psychological thriller, and romance, each book in this series always offers up a reading delight.

Once again, Eve Dallas is faced with solving a horrific crime. This time, as often happens with Dallas, the death of a young account executive and her financial manager fiance brings her own strong emotions into the mix. Since she's already dealing with the imminent arrival of Mavis's baby, the fact that she and Roarke are to serve as birthing coaches, and not to mention the baby shower she must throw for her friend before that happens, Eve's nerves are already stretched thin.

When Mavis's pregnant friend, Tandy, goes missing, Dallas now finds herself working two cases simultaneously. The two start off on different paths, but by the end of the investigation she might find that they have a lot in common--including new life and new death.

When questions of ethics are thrown into the mix by Whitney and his superiors, the crap hits the fan, and Eve and Roarke must put aside pride and anger to deal with their relationship, while still working on justice for the murder victims.

BORN IN DEATH is another winner in this series. As always, I raced through the book in record time, and was sad to be finished with the story when it ended. I can't wait for the next release, and hope to be able to see Eve and Roarke finally get that vacation they both deserve. And, if I get to read about them running naked on the sand under a bright sun, I probably won't complain! ( )

http://reneereads.blogspot.com/2007/0... ( )

Eve and Roarke are both insulted when Commander Whitney has to warn Eve not to allow Roarke access to accounting data. The accounting firm handles data for competitors and possible competitors of Roarke's. Mavis' knocked-up buddy, Tandy Willowby, is kidnapped. The two cases prove to be linked. ( )

There's not much I can say about this series that hasn't already been said. I thought this was another winner. I liked the way the cases wrapped up, and Eve's discomfort with Mavis's pregnancy is just icing on the cake. ( )

What are we up to now? 27? Unreal.

The highlight of this book is the birth of Mavis's baby, and that's also the framework in which the story took place--beginning with Eve and Roarke attending a childbirth class with Mavis, and ending with the birth itself.

In the meantime, a young engaged couple who work in an accounting firm are brutally murdered, and signs point to the cause as emanating from within the firm. Later on, Tandy, a pregnant friend of Mavis's, due any day, disappears, and a teary and hormonal Mavis begs Eve to find her.

My absolute favorite part of the book wasn't the birth of the baby, contrary to the majority of Amazon reviews (we all know I'm contrary). It was the dilemma provided when Commander Whitney tells Eve that there's concern about Roarke using information uncovered during the case to further his own business. This was just so well done and realistic. Roarke initially reacts in anger, and tells Eve to drop the case, demanding that she prove her priorities: him or the job. I'm not going to spoil the fun by revealing how they work it out, but this is the number one reason why even after more than a score of books, this is still one of my favorite series: the marital issues and how Eve and Roarke learn to work through them.

And to my surprise, the long-awaited birth of the baby wasn't sappy or overdone. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, given the experience of the rest of the series, which shies away from sappiness--Nora never showed Eve & Roarke's wedding, for example--but it was emotional, and a fitting end to the story.

Another huge plus was that Tandy's abduction hit too close to home, not for Eve this time, as so many cases have done, but for Roarke.

Of course, there were too many funny moments and great lines relating to Eve and Roarke's phobia about childbirth to count. And mostly they weren't over-the-top, and didn't grate on my nerves.

The negatives were that the explanation of the clues found in the accounting records was very muddled; we didn't get to know Tandy well enough to worry about her--in fact, I believed until very near the end that she'd end up being a villain; and the two mystery threads meshed a little too conveniently and abruptly.

This isn't a story to read for the mystery--it's one to read for the characters, and they're done well enough to make up for any deficiencies in the mystery. ( )

RR

I've read all but a couple of the early Eve Dallas books, and like many other women, I'm in love with Roarke. I always buy the new ones when I see them at the grocery store, and thoroughly enjoy them. Nora Roberts' output is truly astounding, and the stories are always interesting, but her books are poorly edited. Although for the day or two that I'm reading her latest book, I'm getting 5* enjoyment from it, I don't believe they are really 5* books. ( )

It's a crime story set in the future. With steaming sexscenes. And a double-birth for an ending. ( )

Read 12/07

Eve Dallas, Roarke and babies... good! ( )

Two mysteries intertwine and are solved by Eve Dallas. Two accountants are murdered when they find out that accounts are not adding up. A pregnant young woman is kidnapped so that her baby can be sold and then she will probably be murdered.

#27? in the Eve Dallas series. Set in future in New York.Two bright young things, an engaged couple, are murdered separately but obviously by the same killer and on the same night. They are both working for a large accounting firm and it seems probably uncovered some fraud that has led to their death, but what? At the same time Dallas' friendship for her best friend Mavis is being stretched to the limit. Mavis is due to have a baby in the next few days and Eve and her husband Roarke are her "birthing team". Holding a baby shower for Mavis is not Eve's idea of fun, nor is being there when the baby is born. Just to complicate things a friend of Mavis', also about to give birth, disappears in mysterious circumstances. Eve discovers a link between her disappearance and that of other pregnant women. These are books I read under sufferance but it obvious from J. D. Robb's sales that others don't find them as exasperating as I do. ( )

I like the Eve Dallas series. It is a quick, easy read that does not need much thought. ( )

I really liked this book. This was one of my favorites of the entire series. ( )

This was a lovely addition to Robb's series and the continuing tale of Eve and Roarke. We've been counting down to the birth of Mavis' baby for a while now and in this book, the big day finally arrives.

Robb manages some lovely humour as Eve and Roarke, neither of which has an experience of functional and happy families, try to come to terms with what it will mean to be Mavis and Leonardo's support people at the birth. Eve finds herself doomed to throw a baby shower, and manages only with Peabody's staunch assistance.

The mystery is also solid, starting with the apparently meaningless murders of two accountants and getting more complicated and personal as time goes on. A secondary problem is added when a member of Mavis' birthing class goes missing and she asks Eve to find the woman before anything can happen to her and her unborn baby.

Robb weaves the stories together neatly - there's a bit more connection here than is truly realistic, but the story is neatly told so that it doesn't matter.

I thoroughly enjoyed the read and found it one of my recent favourites in the series. The main down side to finishing Born in Death is that I'm now up to date with the series and have to wait for the next one to be written before I can read it. ( )

The story starts with Eve and Rourke at a birthing training for Mavis, as Eve has promised that she'll be there for her at the birth. Eve is thankful to be dragged away from birth to deal with the death of a couple of lovers. Obviously killed seperately, as Eve starts to dig she gets annoyed by people getting in her way and some implications that she would compromise the case for Rourke.
Some seriously laugh out loud moments here with the baby shower and birth moments but also good tension as she investigates. This series is however losing the detective end of the story to the personalities. ( )

I am an avowed lover of series literature. I love the depth that author's can bring to characters when allowing them to grow and change over time. This particular series just gets better and better over time. As followers of the series may intuit from the title, this book involves birth and watching Eve and Roarke grow and change (as well as groan about change) through this process is fun. The mystery is interesting and has a fun twist that ties the two plots together. Loved it. Great escape reading! ( )