Dead of Night (Anthology 4-in-1)

# ****½ "Eternity in Death" by J. D. Robb. Futuristic mystery.

This is part of the In Death series, #29 or thereabouts. A young woman is killed by exsanguination (I love that word!), and Eve Dallas is on the case. I was irritated by Roarke's credulity about vampires--I could buy him believing in witches and magic in Ceremony, but not vampires. Peabody's belief, on the other hand, seemed more on the order of someone who likes scary movies--that is, not as serious.

My other problem was that Eve "just knew" who the killer was. I realize that might be partly because it's a novella and length is a problem, but in the past, Eve has gone out of her way to confirm or disprove what her instincts tell her, so I don't buy that she'd go strictly on show more instinct in this case.

Regardless, though, it was a strong story, and I particularly appreciated the depiction of the bartender's character.
# **** "Amy and the Earl's Amazing Adventure" by Mary Blayney. Time travel romance.

Amy is on vacation in England and when touring an earl's historical home, she's given a magic coin. Bartender Simon, brother of the current earl, recognizes it and demands an explanation.

Amy and Simon are whisked to the past where she's the earl's sister's companion and he's the earl, and they have to return the coin and figure out how to get back to their own time.

The premise was a little convoluted, as you can tell from my messy attempt at a synopsis, and all the activity didn't really give Amy and Simon enough time to convincingly fall in love, but I did enjoy the dual time travel, with both of them working together, and I thought their reactions to the different time period were believable. What was most fun was that Amy was better prepared for the time period because she'd read historical romances.
# **½ "Timeless" by Ruth Ryan Langan. Time travel romance.

Laurel is touring a Scottish castle when she lifts a tapestry and finds herself in the past... and everyone believes she's the laird's wife who's been missing for some time.

This one was really hard to swallow. Laurel never comes up with an explanation for why she's dressed oddly or why she doesn't remember anyone including her own child. Worse yet, she's barely taken aback by the time travel. She never tried to convince anyone she's not the laird's wife, never tried to explain who she is. And then she spent way too much time angsting over her attraction to the laird because she's not his real wife, and it would be wrong.

Topping it off, it has my very least favorite time travel romance ending.
# ***½ "On the Fringe" by Mary Kay McComas. Time travel romance.

Bonnie's husband Joe has separated from her because she's "too distant." She's miserable, but she's waiting for him to take the first step toward reconciliation. Then her grandmother is injured and insists that Bonnie find the carpet in her attic.

It's a magic carpet, and it takes Bonnie on a voyage of what might-have-been.

I absolutely loved the magic carpet stuff. Once that showed up, the story became interesting. Too bad it took so long to show up though, because I heartily disliked the characters by the time it did.

I find it hard to believe a man asking for a separation because his wife is distant. Having an affair because of that, yes. Separating, no. It's probably sexist of me, but that seems more like a female action.

Then the ending with the grandmother contradicted what we'd been told about the magic carpet's rules. And I was not remotely happy that it turns out the whole thing came about because Joe was being paternalistic. Gah.

Read just the middle of this story--it's fabulous. show less

I always buy these yearly anthologies simply for the new Eve Dallas/Roarke novella by J.D. Robb. She doesn't disappoint with ETERNITY IN DEATH, which centers around an evil psychopath who truly believes himself to be a vampire.

Mary Blayney's story, AMY AND THE EARL'S AMAZING ADVENTURE, actually didn't make much sense to me, and I didn't finish it.

Ruth Ryan Langan writes a really good Scottish time travel story with TIMELESS. Although I don't really like historicals, I enjoyed this short story.

ON THE FRINGE by Mary Kay McComas is another time travel, about a wife who wonders what life would have been like if she'd made different choices and decisions.

DEAD OF NIGHT is worth the read simply for J.D. Robb's story, but TIMELESS is also a show more pretty good read. show less

Got this for the Eve Dallas story. Eternity in Death is a story about a woman found exsanguinated and Eve coming to grips with the vampire wannabe subculture in her city. I liked it.

I'm pretty sure I came across Amy and the Earl's Amazing Adventure, still, not a bad story where Amy, an american on holidays in England and Simon, bartender and brother of the current earl are whisked into the past to fix issues and then to get back to the modern day. Falling in love along the way.

Timeless was a bit ho-hum. Woman finds herself in the past and looks just like a man's wife. She has to survive in the past and what happens when she returns. Didn't really strike me as a great story.

On the Fringe is a story of what-has-been where the ending kinda show more left me cold. I could see no reason why the characters did what they did or why they bothered with remaining in the situation they were in.

Overall it did what I wanted it to, provided me with a Eve Dallas story, the rest were kinda forgettable. show less

J.D. Robb's story is the best in the collection. The others fare poorly in comparison. Novellas do not offer an author much space to flesh-out their characters or provide depth to their plot. The fact that many readers will be already familiar with the In Death series and characters gives Robb a decided advantage. Overall, not recommended, except for Robb fans.

What do you get when you mix blood, murder and the night? A vampire wannabe? Eve will need to put aside her superstitions and find the killer before his next move.

Four excellent stories written by four excellent authors. I really enjoyed all four of the stories in this book and would love to read more by all of these authors. Each story could have made a great book, and I was disappointed to have the first one end where it did as I'd have liked to have read more.

I can only give this book 2 stars due to i only bought it for JD Robb, The other authors were good but i Love and follow JD Robb religiously! I wouldn't run out an buy books from the other authors. JD Robbs story gets a full 5!