Book Review: Secrets in Death by J. D. Robb

Secrets in Death
Author: J. D. Robb
Series: In Death (Book 45)
Publication: St. Martin's Press (September 5, 2017)

Description: A new novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling series: Lt. Eve Dallas must separate rumors from reality when a woman who traffics in other people’s secrets is silenced.

The chic Manhattan nightspot Du Vin is not the kind of place Eve Dallas would usually patronize, and it’s not the kind of bar where a lot of blood gets spilled. But that’s exactly what happens one cold February evening.

The mortally wounded woman is Larinda Mars, a self-described “social information reporter,” or as most people would call it, a professional gossip. As it turns out, she was keeping the most shocking stories quiet, for profitable use in her side business as a blackmailer. Setting her sights on rich, prominent marks, she’d find out what they most wanted to keep hidden and then bleed them dry. Now someone’s done the same to her, literally—with a knife to the brachial artery.

Eve didn’t like Larinda Mars. But she likes murder even less. To find justice for this victim, she’ll have to plunge into the dirty little secrets of all the people Larinda Mars victimized herself. But along the way, she may be exposed to some information she really didn’t want to know…

My Thoughts: The book begins with Eve meeting Dr. Garnet DeWinter for a drink. She's irritated because something about DeWinter rubs her the wrong way but she is connected with a number of people who are in Eve's tight social circle. There is lots of nice snark about her reluctance to meet. Next thing you know is that "social information reporter" Larinda Mars comes up from the restroom and dies in Eve's arms. Eve knew her peripherally and disliked her. Someone has sliced her brachial artery causing her to bleed out.

Now Eve has to find out who killed a person that she really disliked. Just a little investigation shows that Mars was a blackmailer and her pool of victims is huge. Lots of people were willing to pay to keep their secrets hidden. As the investigation continues, it is Mars' victims who garner sympathy from Eve. Some of their secrets bring back memories of Eve's own childhood abuse and show that she is coming to terms with her own troubled past. Eve becomes even more angry at Larinda Mars when she learns that she, Roarke, Mavis, Leonardo and their infant Bella, along with Nadine Furst have also been targets in Mars' blackmail scheme.

And Mars had secrets of her own that she jealously guarded. The autopsy reveals that she had extensive face and body work which sends Eve, with the assistance of forensic anthropologist Dr. Garnet DeWinter, on a quest to find out who she was before she reinvented herself as Larinda Mars. And, while her home has some records and some of her loot, Eve and Roarke are trying to find the rest of her records to know the full scope of people that Mars had blackmailed or investigated.

This was another excellent entry into one of my favorite series. Book 45 shows that Eve and Roarke have not worn out their welcome with me and leaves me eager for their next mystery.

Favorite Quote:

"Well, it's stupid and it's no wonder people are perpetually f**ked up, as nobody can depend on something as basic as February. Which is already screwed up because it insists on having less days, then adding one like a little prize every four years even though everybody wants February to get the hell over so we can move on."

Adorable, he thought again, and really unassailable logic. "Who would argue with that?"

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.