Book Review: Remember When by Nora Roberts/J. R. Robb

Remember When
Author: Nora Roberts/J. D. Robb
Series: In Death (Book 17.5)
Publication: Berkley (September 15, 2003)

Description: Featuring Lieutenant Eve Dallas, Remember When blends present-day romance and futuristic suspense in a thrilling two-part novel that combines the incomparable talents of two #1 New York Times bestselling authors: Nora Roberts and her alter ego J. D. Robb.

Antiques dealer Laine Tavish is an ordinary woman living an ordinary life. At least, that's what everyone in the small town of Angel's Gap, Maryland, thinks. They have no idea that she used to be Elaine O'Hara, the daughter of a notorious con man...

Laine's past catches up with her when one of Big Jack's associates turns up in her shop with a cryptic warning and is then run down in the street. Now the next target of a ruthless killer, Laine teams up with sexy PI Max Gannon to find out who's chasing her, and why. The answer lies in a hidden fortune that will change not only Laine's life, but also the lives of future generations—including New York City detective Lieutenant Eve Dallas.

In a future where crime meets cutting-edge technology, Eve is used to traveling in the shadowy corners outside the law. She will attempt to track down the treasure Laine and Max sought once and for all—and stop the danger and death that has surrounded it for decades...

My Thoughts: This two-part novel begins with a romantic suspense title and ends with a futuristic mystery. 

Laine Tavish is the owner of an antiques shop in rural Maine. She has a hidden life. Once she was the daughter of conman Jack O'Hara and taught by him how to do a wide variety of scams. However, after one too many broken promises, her mother divorced Big Jack and the two learned to live straight. But when an old colleague of her father's comes to see her and dies in a hit-and-run, Laine is pulled back into her father's world.

Max Gannon is a private investigator working for an insurance company and trying to track down a missing lot of diamonds worth several million dollars. Leads take him to Laine whom he suspects of working with her father and his colleagues to hide the diamonds. 

However, Laine is innocent but has now become the target of one of the conspirators who believes that all of the diamonds should be his and that it is a good plan to kill his "partners" in order to accomplish his goal. He believes that Laine knows where the diamonds are and is willing, even eager, to kill her to find them. 

Laine and Max fall in love while he's protecting her from the killer. The pair does manage to locate half the diamonds and, after capturing the villain, manage to find still another quarter of the haul. Leaving one-quarter in the wind.

Fast forward 50-some years to New York City in 2060 where granddaughter Samantha Gannon has written a best-selling novel about her grandparents and the diamond theft. When she returns home after a whirlwind author tour, she discovers the body of her friend and housesitter Andrea gruesomely murdered. Enter Homicide Detective Lieutenant Eve Dallas...

Apparently, someone has read the book and wants to find the lost quarter of the missing diamonds and thinks that Samantha either has them or knows where they are. Eve and her team including civilian consultant and husband Roarke are on the case and unravelling both the past and the present to bring the murderer to justice and maybe just find those last missing diamonds.

Both parts of the story were excellent. Roberts cut her teeth on writing romances and romantic suspense and all the parts work well. Laine and Max are great characters who just mesh. Neither was looking for love and both were hit upside the head with it. And the In Death portion of the story was also excellent. Eve and Roarke also have a timeless sort of love. And the mystery woven through both parts of the story was compelling too. 

For me the strength of the writing is in the relationships between the characters which is full of respect and love. Strong people finding each other is at the heart of the romances. Add in brains and the story is complete.

Favorite Quote:

Blood didn't tell. DNA didn't make us. We made ourselves, if we had any guts we made ourselves.

I bought this one recently as I was gathering all of the In Death novellas. You can buy your copy here.