Dark in Death

J.D. Robb goes meta.

This book added a bit of winking fun to the long-running (#46!) In Death series. After a young woman is murdered in a movie theater with an ice pick to the back of the neck, it doesn't take long for Eve Dallas to learn that the murderer is modeling his or her killings after a successful crime novel series, that just happens to feature a tough PI who doesn't always play by the rules. This allows Robb/Nora Roberts to get in all sorts of digs, subtle and not, at popular authors and the culture of fandom. As Eve discovers while reading fan mail,

“A lot of (the fans) who write multiple times talk about the make-believe people like they're actually people. Some of them get a little pissy when those make-believe people don't do just what they figure those make-believe people should do. Some get more than a little pissy. A lot of the pissy is because the characters haven't banged....it makes me wonder why (the author) doesn't write back and say ‘Thanks for your interest. Now fuck off.'” Ouch. I resemble that remark just a little...

A fan who has gone off the deep end proves to be surprisingly difficult to catch, and once again it's a combination of good detective work and an assist from civilian consultant Roarke that lets Dallas catch the killer. Other than the obvious glee that Robb/Roberts takes in making meta comments on writing, reading, plagiarism (Janet Dailey, I don't think you are off the hook yet), and people who peek at the ending of a book, this is a fairly standard In Death novel, with little new development for the characters. The exception is one secondary character, who does get a promising romantic partner; I hope we see the relationship develop in the coming installments.

One of the more enjoyable In Death books that I have read in a long time, and I've been there since the beginning. Brava and touche, Ms. Roberts.