Barbara’s Rating:  5 of 5 Stars

Series: In Death #53

Publication Date: 9/7/21

Period:  Future New York – May of 2061

Number of Pages:  384

I absolutely LOVE this series and this book is an outstanding addition to it.  We’re at book 53 and I truly hope we have another 53 books to go!  The writing is exceptional, the mysteries are plausible, and – goodness – the imagination it must take to come up with the very credible and believable inventions they have in the future.  It just boggles the mind.  Then, there are the characters – Roarke, the mysterious Irish billionaire; Lieutenant Eve Dallas, the New York City cop with a dark past (who just happens to be Roarke’s wife); Detective Peabody, the New Ager who is Eve’s partner and protégé; and a plethora of other supporting characters with whom you’ll wish to become friends. 

As May of 2061 is rapidly heading into June, Lieutenant Eve Dallas catches a call as she is heading to work during the early hours of the morning.  A witness has discovered a body in a dumpster at a construction site.  It appears that Eve’s first task of the day will be to climb into a construction dumpster, look for evidence, and remove the lifeless body of a woman.  Eve takes her job very seriously and this woman now belongs to her – she’ll find justice for this victim – just as she finds justice for all of her victims.

Eve has hardly gotten the rest of her team to the scene when she is approached by a young woman who insists Eve come with her to another construction site just a couple of blocks away.  It seems Eve has yet another case because the construction crew has found two sets of remains.  These are not fresh bodies, but skeletal remains of a woman and child – or a woman and an unborn fetus. 

When, a few days later, Eve finds yet another body – this one dying just as Eve finds him – she has to wonder if there is any way these four deaths can be related.  Surely not, because the remains at the second construction site have been there for close to 40 years.  There are some tenuous threads between the construction sites, but not the people.  Well, supposedly not the people because there is no clue who the woman and child are.

As Eve, Peabody, Roarke and the rest of the crew work through the clues, we meet some of the most self-centered, narcissistic, malignant, weak-willed suspects you can imagine.  Weeding through them and figuring out who among them is a killer will put Eve and her crew to the test. 

I can highly recommend this book!  The writing is exceptional, the characters are outstanding, the mystery will test your skills, and the solutions will have you doing a standing ovation for Eve and the crew.  Have you ever raised a fist and shouted “YES!” in a crowded waiting room?  Well, you might be in danger of doing that as Eve and the crew begins to solve the cases and bring the culprit(s) to justice.  Oh! Yes!  It is good.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.