Secrets in Death: An Eve Dallas thriller (Book 45) (In Death, #45)

by J D Robb

No one is going to miss Larinda Mars. A ruthless gossip queen with a lucrative sideline in blackmail, there's no lack of suspects when she's murdered in a fashionable New York bar. With so many people wanting her dead, it's going to be a tough case to crack.

Lieutenant Eve Dallas may not like this particular victim, but it's her duty to bring the killer to justice. As she digs deeper into Larinda's mysterious past, it becomes clear the reporter had a unique talent for uncovering secrets. Including ones very close to home for Eve and her husband Roarke...

Someone was willing to commit murder to keep their secrets hidden. And with Eve now working to uncover the truth, she and her team are heading into serious danger.

• ISBN10: 0349415803
• ISBN13: 9780349415802
• Publish Date: 5 September 2017
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
• Imprint: Piatkus Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[nitzan_schwarz]

I really enjoyed this one! I do enjoy the plotlines where the deceased is actually a piece of shit--I don't feel quite so sorry they're dead lol. And this one left a series of victims who didn't deserve her machinations so that just added to the lack of sympathy (towards her).

I also enjoyed the obvious killer and the fact this one kind of leaned more on relationships, whether it be Eve and Roarke, Eve and Nadine, Eve and Mavis, Eve and De Winter... It all revolved around it, and personally, I'm a fan of that.

[Berls]

Okay, yeah that was good too. And I like that it didn't feel so intense and high stakes. So many of the cases I've read lately involved murders where Eve was racing a killer, trying to get them before they hit again and again. This was a clear hit, without the expectation of more. So it just wasn't as intense.

I also loved the way Eve has just completely crossed over into this place of, "these are my people, my family." it's been gradually coming to this point, but I think we've finally fully arrived there and I love it. Like the way she takes care of Peabody and McNabb in this book is kinda great.

On to the next one!

[EBookObsessed]

Eve and Roarke are always a favorite.

We first met Larinda Mars, Channel 75's entertainment reporter, in Glory in Death when she passed some gossip onto Eve for her investigation in exchange for a party invitation.  The last time we see Larinda is when she is having drinks at an club uptown where Eve is meeting with Dr. Dewinters.  Even though Eve is right on scene, there is nothing she can do save Mars nor was she able to stop the killer from getting away.

Someone let Mars bleed to death and as Eve soon learns, it might have been poetic justice since Mars had a habit of bleeding the rich and famous.  Blackmail is an ugly business but it was a hobby Larinda was very, very good at.  And when the excitment of cash payoffs no longer excited her, she started to squeeze her victims for secrets so she could increase her blackmail list.

The more Eve investigates the more victims she finds, the longer her list of potential suspect grows.  If only one of them had come to the police instead of grabbing their checkbook, Larinda would be in a cage instead of the morgue.

Things get a little too personal after Eve finds files of potential new victims bearing the names of her friends as well as herself and Roarke.  Mars has been trying to squeeze Eve's friends and acquaintences for something to blackmail her on.  Too bad she didn't try because Eve won't be a victim ever again.  Eve is angry but it won't stop her from bringing a murderer to justice.

I am always up for an Eve Dallas story.  Even though we are 45 books in, I still am excited to get the next book.  I did notice that since the body count was low, Eve had several consults from her detectives on other disturbing murders to keep the shock value high.