Framed in death

NYPD Lieutenant Eve Dallas might not know much about art, but she is a veritable connoisseur when it comes to solving a murder. So when a disgruntled artist begins leaving dead bodies posed to replicate the figures in great works of art around New York City, Eve and her crack team of investigators know exactly what to do. While many artists know that they will suffer for their work, Eve plans on doing everything in her power to make sure the murderous artist who has made her city his new canvas pays for his crimes. Robb's (Bonded in Death, 2025) sixty-first polished-to-perfection entry in her wildly popular In Death series is another enticing mix of propulsive pacing, an enthralling story line that makes effective use of its art-world framing, and one of literature's most compelling couples, Eve and Roarke, whose red-hot personal chemistry still sizzles like nobody's business. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: It has been 30 years since Naked in Death, the first in the series, debuted. Since then Robb and literary twin Nora Roberts have gone on to sell more than 500 million copies of over 250 novels. This one will be similarly big.

Someone is stalking the streets of Lt. Eve Dallas's New York, intent on bringing new life to sex workers by snuffing out their old ones. In 2061, prostitutes are called licensed companions, and that's Leesa Culver's job description when she's accosted by a plausible-looking artist who wants to hire her as a model for the night. Before the night is over, she's been drugged, strangled, costumed, and posed as an uncanny replica of Vermeer'sGirl With a Pearl Earring. The shock of the crime is deepened by the murder the following night of licensed companion Bobby Ren, whose body is discovered at an art gallery entrance costumed and posed as Gainsborough'sBlue Boy. The killer clearly has an obsessive agenda, a rapid-fire timetable, and access to unlimited financial resources that have allowed him to commission expensive custom-made outfits for the victims. This last detail both marks his power and points to the way Dallas, her gazillionaire husband, Roarke, and her sidekick, Det. Delia Peabody, will track him down by methodically narrowing the field of consumers who've purchased the costly costumes. After identifying the guilty party two-thirds of the way through the story, they'll still face an uphill battle convicting a killer with no conscience, no respect for the law, and a budget that would easily cover the means to jump bail, remove his ankle tracker, and hire a private jet to escape to a foreign land with no extradition treaty. Robb keeps it all consistently absorbing by sweating every procedural detail along with her heroine. Only Dallas' climactic interrogation of her prisoner is a letdown, because it's perfectly obvious how she's going to wangle a confession out of him. High art meets low life in a tale a lot more sympathetic to the latter. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.