concealed in death

concealed in death
in death #38
j.d. robb
suspense/fiction/mystery
putnam adult
published 2014

Leading the demolition of a long-empty New York building that once housed a makeshift shelter for troubled teenagers, Lieutenant Eve Dallas's husband uncovers two skeletons wrapped in plastic.  And by the time Eve's done with the crime scene, there are twelve murders to be solved.  The victims are all young girls.  A tattooed tough girl who dealt in illegal drugs.  The runaway daughter of a pair of well-to-do doctors.  They all had their stories.  And they all lost their chance for a better life.  Then Eve discovers a connection between the victims and someone she knows.  And she grows even more determined to reveal the secrets of the place that was called The Sanctuary - and the evil concealed in one human heart.

What becomes interesting to me at this point, almost 40 books into the series, is the progression of Eve as a character.  She's mellowed out some and has found herself quite a wide circle of people she can call friends and count on.  There is always a connection and always, there are bits of regular characters that are revealed more and more.

Strangely enough, the one character I don't think we get to know enough about is Peabody.  Except for a couple of books where she was quite the focus (though in reference to the crime, not her personal life) we don't really get to be in her head very much.  And while the books do mainly stay in Eve's head, we have had occasion to be inside Roarke or Peabody's before.  So Peabody remains somewhat of a mystery to me, as well as Summerset.  Boy would I love to get more of his story.

And even more interesting was that other side characters were hardly heard from in this book.  Mira maybe as much as usual, but I'm not sure that McNabb or Feeney even had a line.

The story moved on quickly, especially because you have a sense in the beginning who the murderer is.  Obviously, there must be something else going on, but we're pretty sure we know what happened.  The clues are pretty obvious and the suspect pool rather shallow.  But like all the books before there is very rarely a dull moment and a quick, satisfying read in the end.