Festive in Death (In Death, #39) by J.D. Robb Series: In Death #39
Published by Berkley on September 9th 2014
Genres: Futuristic, Mystery
Pages: 389
Goodreads
Eve’s Personal Life More Interesting Than Mystery
FESTIVE IN DEATH is the latest entry in the long running In Death series. As usual, the story is divided between the personal life and growth of Eve Dallas, the New York murder cop, her husband Roarke and now her increasing number of friends and colleagues and the mystery of the book. This book’s personal focus is on the Christmas holiday. These books have a formula now and this book is right in the normal mold.
THE STORY: As Christmas approaches, Eve is learning to cope with her life as she has a more normal life having resolved most of her horrible childhood. As she says in this book, it never completely leaves her, but she can go forward. Over the past several years described in the preceding books, Eve has acquired a number of friends that she now has to shop for. She also has to deal with the annual Christmas party that Roarke hosts.
Eve is also investigating the murder of personal trainer Trey Ziegler who had a secret stash of cash and a whole lot of women who got his “personal” treatment. Eve dislikes the victim but dislikes the crime even more and aggressively looks for the murderer.
OPINION: For this book, I found the murder mystery pretty bland. I wasn’t particularly interested in the crime, the victims or the potential suspects. That being said, I really enjoyed the look into Eve’s mindset at this point. It is nice seeing her become more open as a person, being able to express caring for others more openly. She has matured quite a bit over the last several books and it is nice seeing her construct a happy life for herself. This book felt more like a reward for longtime readers as Eve touches base with various people in her life.
WORTH MENTIONING: My favorite part of the book — “pink magic coat”.
FINAL DECISION: This book has its moments that I really enjoyed. The murder was not particularly compelling but I am enjoying seeing Eve begin to adjust to a life with friends and family. There is a sense of relaxing into her life and the reaching of the promise that Eve having other people to care about makes her a better cop. The best part of this book is Eve’s personal life.
CONNECTED BOOKS: FESTIVE IN DEATH is the 39th In Death book. Because the personal parts of this book are better than the mystery, I recommend this for fans of the series. There are better In Death books for new readers.
STAR RATING: I give this book 4 stars.