Kevin's Corner: FFB Review: Portrait in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries by J. D. Robb

Friday, July 22, 2022

FFB Review: Portrait in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries by J. D. Robb

Summer of 2059 is still underway as Portrait in Death begins. Despite the crushing heat that she believes she prefers over the winter cold, Eve Dallas is almost giddy as Rourke’s major domo, Summerset, is about to go on a three-week vacation and will be gone. With her personal nemesis out of the magnificent mansion, she won’t have him nagging her about anything. It will be glorious and she can barely contain her happiness.

That was plan until Summerset trips over the cat, goes crashing down the stairs, and breaks a leg and a lot more. Not only is Summerset not going away anytime soon, he is going to need a lot of help and that means even more folks in the house.

Not that he is her priority as that will fall to Roarke. A new murder case is going to take a lot of her time and energy. That case has already begun as the ambulance arrives to help Summerset.

Nadine Furst of Channel 75 got a tip about a possible murder. The smell coming out of the recycler means somebody has been dumped in the bin. The person dumped was Rachel Howard. She was murdered and then dumped in the bin across the street from the convivence store where she worked. A part time college student at Columbia, with plans to be a teacher, somebody took that and a lot more from her.

That same person sent information to reporter Nadine First. It isn’t the first time a killer has used Furst to convey information to the public and she is clearly a conduit again. Her desire to report the news will clash, as it has done before, with NYPSD Lieutenant Eve Dallas’ desire to nab a killer or killers and stop the killing.

What follows is yet another entertaining read in the long running series. All the usual caveats apply as the formula remains the same. What also remains the same is that one quickly gets lost in the entertaining story and does not notice the flaws/quirks in the story telling. If one can have a ‘guilty pleasure” in reading, I freely admit this series is mine as I have found them a great way to escape and refresh the mind when the world and my life is way too much.

The series to this point and my reviews:

Naked in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book 1) March 2021

Glory in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book 2) April 2021

Immortal in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book 3) May 2021

Rapture in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book 4) June 2021

Ceremony in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book 5) July 2021

Vengeance in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book 6) September 2021

Holiday in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book 7) October 2021

Conspiracy in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book 8) October 2021

Loyalty in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book 9) January 2022

Witness in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book 10) March 2022

Judgement in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book 11) April 2022