J D Robb is a pen name for Nora Roberts, best known for writing romance novels.   The Eve Dallas books do contain romance, but the themes are murder, suspense, revenge, tragedy, growth, and justice.

The In Death series follows homicide detective Lieutenant Eve Dallas as she works the crime scene to catch her criminal.  Unlike most murder mysteries, these are set around 25 -30 years in the future.

The series follows Eve’s personal growth as she attempts to fit friendship, loyalty, and love into her understanding of the world.   As the series progresses, you see the growth of a tight-knit group of friends and colleagues, somewhat to the bafflement of Eve.

The romance between Eve and Roarke, a charming street kid and ex-thief from Ireland, and now gazillionaire, shines a light balancing the dark underside of the criminal world.  Seeing the frustration on discovering a building where a crime scene has occurred is in a building owned by her husband, Roarke.

Both Eve, Roarke, and Summerset, the butler, have very traumatic pasts that are exposed and, in part, excised.   This side of the books can be exceedingly difficult to read, but push through that as they aid in the understanding of why Eve and Roarke act the way they do.  How Eve got her name and why Roarke only has one name, like an actor.

I love the futuristic setting.  Learning about banned weapons and finding out the steps taken in tracking down the criminal.  Understanding the reasons why they did it.

The cases are complex.  While Eve may have a gut feeling who the murderer is, she needs to gather the evidence to build a solid case.  The books take us step by step through the police procedural process as this is gathered.

While each book is an individual crime case, I recommend reading the series from book 1 to get the nuance behind some of the comments and see the growth of all the characters.    Learn about Eve’s fear of cows, which is a recurring joke in the books.

Fun, murder, passion, these books tick the box for me.  The themes can be emotionally hard, and I have certainly cried in places and laughed in others.  The recurring joke in the books is Eve’s fear of cows, whom she calls murder cows.