Indulgence in Death

I quite enjoyed this one. There was less gratuitous bitching between Roarke and Eve - perhaps they're learning to work together as a couple better, as most people do if they're going to make it in the long run. That's good to see depicted realistically, for a change.

The plot itself was a bit of a puzzle, and has been adequately described in the book description. I honestly can't say much more without spoilers.

One of the things I really enjoy about this series is that Eve is shown to be growing as an individual, and not just in her relationship with Roarke. She has relaxed in her interactions with her partner, Peabody. She thinks about how the current murder spree might affect her friends, and reaches out to warn some of her friends not to take any private appointments until the case is over. The Eve we met in the earliest books wouldn't have done that - for one thing, she had very few connections to other people. When she realizes that one of her friends is still grieving deeply for a loved one who was murdered in an earlier novel, she invites him over for a gathering of friends the following weekend - despite the fact that she really doesn't like socializing at all (and follows through by making that weekend happen and inviting the rest of their circle of friends).

As usual, I enjoyed the depiction of a society that has largely gotten past the need to worry about criminalizing what goes on between consenting adults or the genders of adults persons engaged in a relationship. It's still a bit silly about permitting some drugs while criminalizing others - there's no explanation of why are alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, and “boosters” and “focus” permissible while “whore,” “rabbit,” “zeus,” “zoner,” and others are illegal - but I suppose that's one of those areas where Robb/Roberts and I just don't see eye to eye.

I can't think of many authors who can take a series to 31 volumes and keep me interested. I'm not going to claim that these books are deathless prose, but they're fun, and they keep me interested. I haven't been driven to pick up anything she's published as Nora Roberts, but I'll keep reading this series for a while yet, and I might even go back someday and read this series over again from the beginning.