Judgment in Death by J D Robb

In an uptown strip joint, a cop is found bludgeoned to death. The weapon's a baseball bat. The motive's a mystery. It's a case of serious overkill that pushes Eve Dallas straight into overdrive. Her investigation uncovers a private club that's more than a hot spot. Purgatory's a last chance for atonement where everyone is judged. Where your ultimate fate depends on your most intimate sins. And where one cop's hidden secrets are about to plunge innocent souls into vice-ridden damnation...

When Eve is called into investigate a murder in a uptown strip joint, she isn't expecting to find a cop working a second job. When it becomes clear that the man was killed because he was a cop, things escalate. It's not helped by the fact that things also seem to be connecting back to an old business association between Roarke and a shady character who seems to be very good at evading justice, no matter how water tight the case.

As is normal with these books, Eve takes the investigation very personally, and we get a little more insight into her traumatic childhood. One thing that interests me is that whilst Eve (and more precisely Roarke) have access to all the information they need to be able to find out who Eve really is, they choose not to. If I knew someone who could find that kind of information, and do so without alerting the authorities that I was looking, I am pretty sure that I would want to know. Having said that, I guess it also does make sense that Eve doesn't want to, given how terrible her childhood really is. It really isn't a surprise that she has blocked so much of her past.

This book had a lot more of the hardened Roarke - the man who used to skirt on the edges of the law, who had more than one dodgy business, the man who could revert to violence at any time...and it was great!

The dynamics between Roarke and Eve as they continue to get used to being married, with everything that means, were really good in this book. There were variations between possessiveness and jealousy, as well as the tender moments and underlying care for each other.

There was a little less of the secondary characters in this book, although they were all there. Peabody and McNab are still hot for each other, Mavis literally adds colour to which ever scenes she appears in, and Summerset still gets up Eve's nose.

Another really entertaining read in this great series! I have requested the next one from the library. Now I just have to wait for it to come in!

Rating 4.5/5