Eve and Roarke, Continued

I haven't read a lot lately, but I came home from Celebrate Romance with a huge pile of books, so hopefully I'll have more to post soon!

Innocent in Death by J.D. Robb
(2007, Suspense) 3/4/07
Grade: 3

Eve is back again, solving the murder of a friendly teacher who was poisoned for mysterious reasons. Was he as innocent as he seemed? And she also has to deal with the return of one of Roarke’s old flames, who is determined to cause trouble between Eve and Roarke.

Although the mystery was interesting (and a nice change from the conspiracy theories of the past few books), this wasn’t one of J.D. Robb’s best efforts. The “other woman” story didn’t work all that well - it made Eve seem petty and Roarke seem oblivious, although I liked the reactions of Eve’s friends (particularly Summerset!). As always, the book was enjoyable, tightly written and easy to read, but it just didn’t stand above the other books in the series.

Although I don't like most romantic suspense books, I enjoy the J.D. Robb books because they're really police procedurals - more like Law & Order or CSI than the typical "love on the run" romantic suspense book. Unlike many romance authors, Nora Roberts can write a tight procedural mystery. However, it's getting harder to come up with realistic stories about Eve and Roarke's relationship. The "other woman" story just didn't work for me, especially at this point in the series (maybe earlier on when their relationship was newer?). Unlike many online fans, I'm not eager for Eve and Roarke to become parents (I'd probably stop reading if that happened), but it must be a tricky problem for NR to find new obstacles for the couple in every book.