Encore in Death by JD Robb

In Death #56

403 pages

Isis Large Print / Library

 

Blurb

 

The Sunday Times bestselling series is back. Eve Dallas is investigating the murder of a much-loved actor at a glittering party. The spotlight has never been brighter. Or deadlier...

It was a glittering event full of A-listers, hosted by Eliza Lane and Brant Fitzhugh, the most glittering of all celebrity couples. Everyone had expected the party to be in the newspapers the next day but not because one of the hosts was murdered! As the crowd had gathered to watch Eliza sing, Fitzhugh had raised a final toast to his glamorous wife and fallen to the floor. Death by cyanide poisoning. It's time for Lt. Eve Dallas to make her entrance.

From all accounts, Fitzhugh wasn't the kind of star who made enemies. Eliza, on the other hand, had many rivals, and a few of them could class as enemies. Since the champagne cocktail that killed Brant was originally intended for Eliza, could it be that she was the real target?

With so many people at the party, Eve has her work cut out determining who could commit murder in the middle of a crowd. As one who's not fond of the spotlight, she dreads the media circus surrounding a case like this. All she wants is to figure out who's truly innocent, and who's only acting that way...

 

Review

 

Reading a new In Death story is like coming home, like wrapping myself in a soft warm blanket and sinking into its comfort. Sure, I first came to these stories for the mysteries, and I still thoroughly enjoy the clever plots, the imaginative crimes and motives, and the riveting conclusions. But the characters—Eve, Roarke, Peabody, McNab, etc—and the interactions between them appeal to me at least as much as those crimes and investigations. Eve questioning common sayings never fails to amuse me just as I always have to concede she actually has a point. We do say a lot of weird things without ever questioning them (unless our name is Eve Dallas 😊).

And, as always, Robb delivered. The crime was imaginative and the investigation riveting. The cast of secondary characters was colourful and fascinating. If I missed anything in this story, it was an update on the house Peabody and McNab are renovating seen through Eve’s eyes. I also wouldn’t have minded Mavis and Leonardo making an appearance in this story. But apart from that, I just lost myself in this tale. The pages almost turned themselves and I found it next to impossible to put the book down. 56 books in, I’m still not getting bored with this series and I have a hard time imagining I ever will. In fact, the only other thing I want to add here is: is it September yet?

 

***Contains minor spoilers***

 

I called this one from the very start and I think my recent deep dive into mystery and Agatha Christie specifically may have a lot to do with that. In fact, almost immediately this story reminded me of a Miss Marple story I read not too long ago, and that impression was constantly confirmed since this story is full to the brim with what I would call Christie tropes: ‘Always look at the partner’, ‘never trust actors’ and ‘never underestimate the help’ go a long way to solving the puzzle here.

This is not a criticism of JD Robb by the way. There are more than enough original plot points in Encore in Death to make it its own story. It just made me smile when I spotted the similarities between a book by the undisputed Queen of Crime and the equally undisputed Queen of Romance Writers.