ARC Review: Passions in Death by J. D. Robb

Passions in Death
Author: J. D. Robb
Series: In Death (Book 59)
Publication: St. Martin's Press (September 3, 2024)

Description: Homicide Detective Eve Dallas hunts a killer who turns a wedding party into a murder scene in the next novel by the #1 New York Times bestselling author, J.D. Robb, Passions in Death.

On a hot August night, Lt. Eve Dallas and her husband, Roarke, speed through the streets of Manhattan to the Down and Dirty club, where a joyful, boisterous pre-wedding girls’ night out has turned into a murder scene. One of the brides lies in a pool of blood, garroted in a private room where she was preparing a surprise for her fiancée―two scrimped and saved-for tickets to Hawaii.

Despite the dozens of people present, useful witnesses are hard to come by. It all brings back some bad memories for Eve who once suffered an assault in the very same room―but she’d been able to fight back and survive. She’d gotten justice. And now she needs to provide some for poor young Erin.

Eve knows that the level of violence and the apparent premeditation involved suggest a volatile mix of hidden, heated passion and ice-cold calculation. This is a crime that can be countered only by hard detective work and relentless dedication―and Eve will not stop until she finds the killer who destroyed this couple’s dreams before the honeymoon even began…

My Thoughts: The 59th Eve Dallas story is more of a police procedural than many of the earlier books in the series. It begins when Eve is called to the Down & Dirty because one of the brides at a pre-wedding girls' party has been found garroted in one of the privacy rooms. It so happens to be the same room in which Eve was attacked the night before her wedding to Roarke. 

As Eve sorts through all the friends of both Erin and Shauna who have formed a tight tribe since the two women met and fell in love, Eve believes that the killer was either one of the circle of friends or connected to it. As she sorts through alibis, she finds most of the guests are alibied but soon narrows the suspects to one of Erin's former lovers or Shauna's high school boyfriend. 

Both suspects seem to have the personality to have committed the crime, but neither stands out as a clear-cut favorite suspect. It takes lots of looking into the suspects pasts to find the favorite and then it is equally difficult to find a way to prove it. 

I like seeing how Eve and Roarke's marriage is growing as they grow to know each other better. Roarke doesn't have a big role in solving this case since money isn't really the motive. But he is always there for Eve and Eve has a chance to be there for him too when he has a problem at work. 

Fans of the series will enjoy spending time with Eve, Roarke, Peabody and the other long-time characters in this episode. However, this is a tighter story and most of the side characters remain firmly off to the side. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.