In a darkened theater, watching the screening of the old movie "Psycho" Chanel Rylan breaths her last and brings Lt. Eve Dallas in to investigate. Now the young actress with her whole life ahead of her belongs to the murder cop, and she will stop at nothing to get her killer. The coward who used the DARK IN DEATH will soon be in her sights.

During the early investigation, a surprise tip comes from an author who believes that someone is using her murder/police procedural hit books to kill. The death of the actress follows one book, and after investigating further, they find it is possible that another death can be attributed to those books. A completely different type of murder. Patterns are a thing cops look for and can follow but will they be in time to save another victim with an ever-changing MO?

This might be author J.D. Robb's 46th In Death offering but there is nothing old or trite about DARK IN DEATH. This time the killer is not one of the characters introduced but one we get to follow along with Eve and her ever-vigilant team to discover the identity and apprehend. We still get a glimpse into Eve's world, at home with billionaire husband Roarke, a former thief (never charged) now a civilian consultant and, at cop central, with the varied and oftentimes funny team of cops. You have to love the break in tension when the loud ties and louder socks come in play. The suspense is real as the reader follows along while the investigation heats up and we are helplessly turning pages getting lost in the action.

I do enjoy the way the stress is broken up with realistic family and work-related situations. Little things like a visit by little Bella who loves her Das and wants Ork while her father gets queasy at the sight of Eve's murder board; a jealous Galahad, when she comes home smelling of dog; or the fact that Feeney gets irate when he finds that a rock star was in the house and she didn't tell him, and he wants her to fix it. Then, of course, we have the incredibly hot and steamy love life of Roarke and Eve and being Summerset free we are offered a game of trailing clothes as Roarke searches the big mansion for his wife. The touches of the publishing world are very interesting to us laymen, and makes readers admire the hard work of authors even more.

DARK IN DEATH is a fantastic read with a cop that won't stop and a team of like-minded cops in the bullpen with humor, romance and everyday life thrown in which makes this book another winner.