Murder for Christmas.....

Book Info: Holiday in Death by J.D. Robb. Originally published by Berkley in 1998.

     The time has come...... This 7th book begins to have a repetitive feel. Just like the previous 6 books, Eve catches a nasty case and overworks herself, Roarke bullies her into sleep and taking care of her self, and various friends and colleagues put in their appearances.

     Along those lines, even the case itself has flashbacks to previous books. Here we see a man that dresses as Santa to gain entrance to homes, where he than rapes and murders his victims. Loose the santa and the crimes scenes have an eerie connection to Robb's first book in the series.

     With that in mind, Robb is able to keep the reader guessing. In this novel we see all our favorite secondary characters: Feeney, Whitney, Mira, Summerset, Mavis and Leonardo, McNabb and Peabody. Charles Monroe, the charming LC from Glory in Death who gets away with calling Eve Lieutenant Sugar, makes a reappearance. We get to see that even LC's have a heart and want someone to love them.

     Other interesting tidbits: Peabody and McNabb keep going round, though McNabb is outed by Roarke. It is now know to all (except Peabody) that McNabb has the hots for her. Peabody gets her first undercover assignment. And it is noted that Peabody's position as Eve's aide has boosted her standing in the department, as well as giving her the nickname Dallas' Pet.  Since it is Christmas in the novel, Eve is learning how to handle all of these new friends that have appeared on her horizon. Not only does she have to figure out how to eke out time for a personal life, but she also has to figure out how to Christmas shop for each of them. True to format, we see that the strongest of women can't handle it all alone. Just like Roarke needed Eve when his world took a nasty curve in Vengeance in Death, the rape of these women takes Eve to a place where the memories are horrible. Roarke, is too observant to miss this and much to Roarke not to try and help Eve through it.

All in all... I enjoyed this one and will probably continue on this path for a while. I hope to have one of the non-fiction books read to put up here soon but school keeps getting in the way.