Innocent in Death

Author: J.D. Robb
Published: February 20, 2007 (Putnam)
Category: Romantic Suspense
Series: In Death #24
Rating: 10/10

The mystery was pretty good for this one, with Even investigating the death of a poisoned history teacher in a swanky Manhattan school. Among all the teachers, students, and parents, several likely suspects arise, as swanky schools are far from squeaky clean.

Eve and Roarke's story is fantastic, with the return of Magdalena, Roarke's old flame from his criminal days. She's a blond bombshell who happens to be sharply intelligent, glamorous, cultured, and sophisticated. Eve comments to Summerset that he'd prefer Magdalena to be Mrs. Roarke, but in a not-so-surprising turn, Summerset is on Eve's side. He tells her she's got to get Roarke to see Magdalena's sly manipulation. When they were partners, Magdalena ditched Roarke to run away with their rich (and really old) mark. Now she's back because Roarke's hugely rich (and hot and in his prime) and she figures she can bump Eve out of the picture and take up where she left off.

You'd think Eve would just take care of the problem, but she's not too good with this love stuff. Roarke, normally the sensitive one of the relationship, is blind to Magda's sabotage, so he gets angry when Eve gets jealous or paranoid. It's really great seeing the two of them work out their squabble, and you know that Eve will deck Magda eventually.

This one was really great, one of my favorites in the series.