Calculated in Death by J.D. Robb

Title:  Calculated in Death

Publisher:  Penguin Group (USA)

Pages:  400

Genre:  Futuristic Mystery and Crime

Setting:  New York City in the year 2060

Where did you get it?  I downloaded it for the Nook app.

Why did you read it? This is one of my favorite series and I read them all.

From the publisher: 

On Manhattan's Upper East Side a woman lies dead at the bottom of the stairs, stripped of all her valuables. Most cops might call it a mugging gone wrong, but Lieutenant Eve Dallas knows better.

A well-off accountant and a beloved wife and mother, Marta Dickenson doesn’t seem the type to be on anyone's hit list. But when Eve and her partner, Peabody, find blood inside the building, the lieutenant knows Marta's murder was the work of a killer who's trained, but not professional or smart enough to remove all the evidence.

But when someone steals the files out of Marta's office, Eve must immerse herself in her billionaire husband Roarke's world of big business to figure out who's cruel and callous enough to hire a hit on an innocent woman. And as the killer's violent streak begins to escalate, Eve knows she has to draw him out, even if it means using herself as bait. . . .

What did you think? The Good:  In Death books are always good for giving the reader a good and complicated crime to solve. Not all of the books are a whodunit but this one was. I was guessing who the killer(s) was clear up until the reveal. Then again, I never figure that out in books, TV, or movies for that matter.  Robb is good at giving the reader more than just a crime story to read. She weaves the character's personalities and relationships with each other throughout the story.

The Bad:  I didn't like the ending. Why can't Robb let us celebrate a party or holiday or birthday with the characters of the story instead of writing, writing, writing about the event throughout and then ending the book before the event? Grrr! This is a serious pet peeve of mine about this series and this author. Honestly, I Googled, "Does Nora Roberts use a ghost writer" after reading this book because it just wasn't up to par. I felt like the parts that were the "isms" of the characters, i.e. character quirks and traditions of this series and the people in it, were put into the story for form. This is the 36th installment of the series and I suppose after that many books, it becomes mindless routine. I wish I could have loved this installment more.

 

Oh. And from what I could find, J.D. Robb a.k.a. Nora Roberts does write all of the In Death books. Of course, she has enough money and clout she could probably keep it a secret if she did use a ghost writer. I like to think she doesn't.