2008: #1 – Innocent in Death (J.D. Robb)

Book #1 in 2008 was Innocent in Death, the 24th book in J.D. Robb’s In Death series.  The back of the book reads:

The phenomenal series set in a future New York City continues, as Lieutenant Eve Dallas hunts for the killer of a seemingly ordinary history teacher-and uncovers some extraordinary surprises.

You’d think this series would start to get stale after 24 books, but I think this is one of the best ones yet. There’s a bit of a crisis in Eve and Roarke’s world that gives depth to both characters, and the mystery in this one is solid.

Now, about the audio production (I listened to this one). This is the first In Death series book I’ve listened to, and it took me a while to adjust to the (female) reader. It was like the only way she could differentiate between characters was to give them each an accent. Roarke was heavily Irish. The first victim’s wife is French. Peabody sounds like Clarice from The Silence of the Lambs (which really bothered me). Thick New York and New Jersey accents were everywhere. And, most distressing of all, Mavis’s friend Trina (the hairdresser) sounded like Marge’s sisters on The Simpsons. It was all a little distracting at times.

Page count: 400 | Approximate word count: 107,364

2007 – Acceptable Risk (Robin Cook)
2006 – Conspiracy in Death (J.D. Robb)
2005 – The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)