Eve Dallas Celebrates Her 50th Full-Length Case in J.D. Robb’s ‘Golden in Death’ [REVIEW]

When a deadly toxin is delivered to multiple New York City residents, it’s up to Eve Dallas to catch the sender in J.D. Robb’s Golden In Death. (Photo by Helena Lopes on Pexels.com)

An innocuous gift. A terrifying weapon. Now New York City’s Eve Dallas must discover the motive behind the attack. Will her latest case leave her baffled, or will she be able to stop the killer from striking again? Find out in J.D. Robb’s 50th bestseller, Golden In Death.

St. Martin’s Press

Kent Abner is a beloved pediatrician with a flawless reputation. When he receives an unassuming package one gorgeous April morning, he finds a cheap trinket inside: a golden egg that can be opened in two halves. But when he pries it apart, it releases an airborne toxin that kills him.

After the hazmat team clears the area—and both Eve Dallas and her husband Roarke are tested to ensure neither of them are infected—she hunkers down and tries to figure out who in the world would ever want to kill the good doctor. But the only thing she can find that he’s guilty of is being an angel who watches over the weak and defenseless.

Meanwhile, as the lab tries to identify the deadly toxin, Eve continues her attempt to track down the person behind the deadly “gift.” But when someone else is killed using the same method, suddenly it’s evident that she’s either dealing with a psychopath or someone who hates both victims enough to snuff them out. The only thing she has to figure out now is what binds the deaths together.

As the 50th outing for Eve, Roarke and the gang, Golden In Death takes a bit different approach to the futuristic police procedural series that Robb has been churning out for the past 25 years. Although both spouses are here, much of the familiar cast we’ve come to love in the past books takes a back seat to the case itself. Roarke is still mysterious, laconic, and sexy, especially when paired against Eve’s laser focus and fierce determination. And as always, their banter sparkles and makes them a couple to envy.

The rest of Eve’s usual crew aren’t integral to this case, however, and thus they pretty much melt into the background of this particular tale. But such is life. Not everyone is omnipresent in our lives at every turn, and sometimes we are forced to do things on our own, or at least with very little help, and that is the case here. It’s not a deal breaker for us as readers, but their absence (or in this case, relative silence) is sorely felt. Hopefully they will all be back up and running for case 51.

Nevertheless, the case itself is fascinating, although a bit tough to wrap our minds around during quarantine. It centers on a hyper specific airborne toxin that kills with startling efficiency, which in my book is a tad too close to the airborne virus we’re all hiding from at the moment. But if you can get past the similarities and focus on the case at hand, it makes for an intense, engrossing read that I couldn’t quite figure out, which always generates suspense and keeps me turning pages, eager to connect all the dots. Eve apparently has the same drive to know the whole story and piece together a puzzle that in the beginning makes no sense whatsoever. After all, why would anyone kill a kid doctor? You’ll have to read Golden In Death to find out.

Oh, and case 51? It’s titled Shadows In Death, will debut in September (if all goes well) and is available for pre-order now wherever books are sold.

JD Robb
(Photo courtesy Facebook)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

J.D. Robb is the pseudonym for number one New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts. She is the author of over 200 novels, and there are more than 500 million copies of her books in print.

Among these titles is her futuristic suspense In Death series, which features Eve Dallas, a tough cop with a dark past, and her mysterious love interest, Roarke. The first book in the series, Naked In Death, was published in paperback in 1995.

The series quickly garnered attention, praise, and a legion of faithful followers. Beginning with the ninth book in the series, Loyalty In Death, published on Halloween 1999, each book has become a New York Times bestseller. But it wasn’t until the 12th book of the series, Betrayal In Death, that the publisher revealed Robb’s true identity.

Perpetual bestsellers, the In Death books frequently share bestseller lists with other Nora Roberts titles. Robb publishes two books per year and 50 books later, it doesn’t appear they will slow down anytime soon.

To find out more about Robb, visit JDRobb.com, like her on Facebook, or follow her on Pinterest and Instagram.

GOLDEN IN DEATH
By J.D. Robb
400 pp. St. Martin’s Press. $28.99

Purchase Golden in Death at one of these fine online retailers: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Half Price Books, IndieBound, and Powell’s.