Portrait in Death

Author: J.D. Robb
Published: February 25, 2003 (Berkley)
Category: Romantic Suspense
Series: In Death #16
Rating: 9/10

The 9/10 doesn't come from the quality of the villain, but from the growth in Roarke's back story. I was disappointed in the villain this time because the investigation was very loosey goosey. The murderer considers himself an artist (pronounce it like "artiste"), killing people and taking perfectly posed death photos. Then he dumps the body in public places and sends the pictures to Nadine Furst so he can get some media exposure. The selection of the victims was pretty random, so it felt like there was nothing Eve could do to stop future killings.

At Roarke's newly established women's shelter, he meets the therapist on staff, who knows more about his past than he does. She tells him the story of his true mother, not the Meg Roarke he knew and hated, but a pretty young girl who stayed with the abusive Patrick Roarke because she wanted her son to have a family. The news shocks Roarke so much that he takes it out on Eve and Summerset, shutting them out. Eve winds up thinking that he's tired of her, and it's all his fault that she's in love with him when she didn't want this whole love thing in the first place.

Eve also puts Peabody's name in for the next detective's exam, since she's been working in homicide for 18 months already and closed a cold case in the last book. Officer Troy Trueheart, placed under Baxter's wing for training, plays a larger supporting role this time, and it's nice to see that he's doing well after working with that horrible officer in Conspiracy in Death.