JD Robb: Golden in Death (review)

A fun and enjoyable fiftieth (!!!) book in this near-future mystery series…

I read and enjoyed some of JD Robb’s Eve Dallas near-future mysteries back in the 1990s, when they first came out.   But somehow, over the years, I lost track of the series, and didn’t read any more.  So I was happy to get an advance review copy of the fiftieth (!!!) title in the series, Golden in Death, from the publisher.  And I enjoyed it a lot. 

One of my favorite types of mysteries is a police procedural, and this is arguably (give-or-take a few romance-y scenes, which I tended to skim over quickly) a police procedural, as we get to watch Eve and her colleagues find evidence, follow the clues, and look for connections…with, of course, some help from Roarke and his crew.  The hunt for the perpetrator ranges from basic legwork (tracing relationships into the past in search of a motive) to the highly technical (what was the deadly toxin that was used, and who had the expertise to work with it), and it’s all enjoyable. 

I remember liking the relationship between Roarke and Eve way back when, and that still holds true, although after 50 books, I might have expected a bit more development on that front.   After so many years, I didn’t remember very many other specific characters, but I did remember Summerset, Roarke’s major-domo, and was glad to see that he was still around.  And finally, with the exception of the aforementioned romance-y scenes, which don’t seem really necessary to move the plot along (but may be necessary from a series consistency perspective), I like the crisp writing style, which seems to match the police procedural nature of the book.  

I was pleased to find that I didn’t feel as if I needed to have read all of the intervening books to enjoy this one, and I now plan to pick up some of the others along the way.  My thanks again to the publisher, St Martins, and Edelweiss for the review copy.  Also please keep in mind that I try to fight “star-inflation” a little bit.  I reserve 5 stars for a very few of the books I read, maybe one in thirty or forty.  So 4 stars is a great rating and a solid “read” recommendation from me. 

Buy: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | Kobo US | Kobo UK | Kobo Canada