ABANDONED IN DEATH is the 54th in the futuristic crime series by Nora Roberts writing as J.D. Robb. Lt. Eve Dallas is tasked with solving a homicide and series of related abductions of similar-looking young women. The victim's body is left at a playground dressed in vintage clothing depicting the killer's mother at an earlier age. The playground is close in proximity to the house being renovated by Dallas' close friends.
The story is told in a dual timeline including the present and the unique perspective of the killer's mother in the past. What makes this series so enjoyable to read is the snarky dialogue, the engaging story, and the fabulous characters that we are introduced to and reintroduced to throughout the books. We see significant page time with the usual characters: Roarke, McNab, Feeney, ME Dr. Morris, Dr. Mira, and the Detectives in the bullpen as well as supporting characters from prior books coming to visit including Quilla, Charles & Dr. Louise, and Feeney's godson Jamie.
There seemed to be a spark at the end between a new character and Jenkinson. Maybe a romance in one of the next books?
If you haven't read this series, what are you waiting for? You'll have books for a while. If you have read this series, this one focused mostly on the murder story and the Mavis/Leonardo/Peabody/McNab house reno.
The woman’s body was found in the early morning, on a bench in a New York City playground. She was clean, her hair neatly arranged, her makeup carefully applied. But other things were very wrong—like the tattoo and piercings, clearly new. The clothes, decades out of date. The fatal wound hidden beneath a ribbon around her neck. And the note: Bad Mommy, written in crayon as if by a child.Eve Dallas turns to the department’s top profiler, who confirms what seems obvious to Eve: They’re dealing with a killer whose childhood involved some sort of trauma—a situation Eve is all too familiar with herself. Yet the clues suggest a perpetrator who’d be roughly sixty years old, and there are no records of old crimes with a similar MO. What was the trigger that apparently reopened such an old wound and sent someone over the edge?When Eve discovers that other young women—who physically resemble the first victim—have vanished, the clock starts ticking louder. But to solve this case she will need to find her way into a hidden place of dim light and concrete, into the distant past, and into the cold depths of a shattered mind.
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