Memory in Death

Author: J.D. Robb
Published: June 27, 2006 (Berkley)
Category: Romantic Suspense
Series: In Death #22
Rating: 9/10

During the Christmas season, Eve and Peabody are wrapping up an open-and-shut case when a very unwelcome blast from the past walks into Eve's office. Her abusive foster mother, Trudy Lombard (the sort who makes you bathe in ice-cold water because you're an evil and dirty girl), comes in all teary, wanting to reunite with her little Eve after all these years. Eve kicks her out and gets sick as a reaction. Thankfully, she comes clean to Roarke about Trudy, and they're prepared for her. She later realizes that Trudy's after Roarke's money, but I'm also surprised it took her so long. Of course, Trudy would underestimate Roarke, and he scares her away.

Trudy really is evil and I hated her in a way I rarely hate characters. After all, they're not real! After Roarke warns her off, Trudy decides to extort the money by beating herself up and making a video framing Eve and Roarke. It turns out she's been blackmailing her former foster children, threatening the new lives they've created with the ugliness of their childhoods. Eve deals with lots of horrible people, but sometimes they don't come across as evil; they seem like bad guys. Trudy Lombard was an evil woman and the scary thing is, there could easily be people like her taking in foster kids for the money and mistreating them.

The murderer's identity was pretty easy to figure out in this one, but the story was so great, with more of Eve's past revealed and healed, sort of like lancing a boil. Pretty picture, I know.