Robb is a truly writing machine, turning out numerous books per year under her romance author name Nora Roberts, in addition to two books per year under her murder mystery nom de plume of JD Robb.  Despite this cranking pace, her books continue to entertain and delight.  FRAMED IN DEATH is book sixty-one (the mind boggles!) in her futuristic police procedural In Death mystery series.

Robb tends to mix up what kind of mystery development the readers get in her In Death series.  FRAMED IN DEATH is another like her most recent, BONDED IN DEATH, where the readers know who the murderer is fairly early on in the book.  But then we get the enjoyment of watching the police procedural part unfold, showing us how the crafty Lieutenant Eve Dallas and her stalwart partner, Peabody, catch the murderer.

A truly creepy artist is murdering sex workers to use in his artwork, posing them as characters from famous historical paintings.  He places his artworks outside the buildings of art gallery owners who have turned down taking his work for display.  The murderer is deliciously disturbed, and I really enjoy the famous artist tie-ins.

One of the best parts of this series is the found family that Eve has built for herself.  Over the twenty years that this series has been around, Eve’s circle of friends has grown dramatically.  Eve started out as a loner, but has crafted strong ties to so many people that she works with and hangs out with.  It’s delightful!  In the last I'm-not-sure-how-many books, Eve’s best friend Mavis and her partner-turned-bestie Peabody have been building a house for their spouses and family to live in.  It’s finally finished!  And no Roberts/Robb book would be complete without a lot of decorator or builder descriptions.  Clearly, the author’s passion is coming out.

Robb’s FRAMED IN DEATH is an engaging police procedural with a small side of romance and a delightful secondary cast of characters.  While the story is formulaic, Robb can be counted on to enliven it enough that the reader might not even notice.  Plenty of laughs and love provide a great counterweight to the murderer being pursued and inevitably brought to justice.