Promises in Death by J.D. Robb

Amaryllis Coltrane is a NYPD cop, a detective, who is having a romance with one of the Coroners, Li Morris. But when she gets a call late at night for a meet, she goes out and is killed on ths stairs in her own apartment building.

Eve Dallas is finally rested after a night of good food, good sex and a good night's sleep with her husband, Roarke. But when she gets the call to go to Amaryllis' dead body, it still takes her a few moments to realize where she knows the dead woman from. When she does, though, Eve is angry and sad for Li Morris, the coroner, because he and Amaryllis seem to have found true love for each other, and she dreads having to tell a man she considers her friend that the woman he loved is dead.

Eve also vows to track down the killer of one of NYPD's own, and she'll stop at nothing, not even investigating the members of Amaryllis's own squad, to do so. But even as she catches flack for going after Amaryllis's co-workers and captain, she is using Roarke and his ability with computers to look up Amaryllis's background, and what she finds stuns her, because Amaryllis once had a very close relationship with Alex Ricker, her old foe Max Ricker's son. A sexual relationship.

As Eve investigates the connections between Ricker and Amaryllis, she also has to deal with Li Morris's bereavement and her own hosting of the upcoming bachelorette party for her old friend Charles and his fianceé Louise Dimatto. In the end, it's the help of the women at the party, including her friend Mavis, that help Eve find the actual killer of Amaryllis and why this person might have done the awful deed. They also find the true person behind the death and why Amaryllis was targeted. But can Eve get the confession to nab the mastermind behind the whole thing?

I really enjoyed this book, which had a whole "Think you call kill a New York City Cop and get away with it? We will find you and nail your ass to the wall" kind of vibe. While we usually get Eve vowing to find a killer who had made someone dead, her feelings are intensified in this case because the victim was a fellow cop and the victim was a friend of someone Eve cares for as a friend.

Eve doesn't do personal stuff well, but to see her struggle to be there for Li Morris, to support him as a friend would, was just wonderful. No, Eve hates notifying people that their loved ones are dead, but she refuses to put this one off on another, and even ends up hugging/holding him at one point in the book, purely in sympathy, which was a wonderful growing of her character.

All the other usual suspects are back, of course, from Peabody to Trueheart, Nadine, Dr. Mira, McNab and Baxter, along with old foe Max Ricker and his son, Alex. And of course, social butterfly and Pop Star Mavis is here, along with her love, Leoanardo and their daughter Bella Eve, aka Belle. Each evokes a smile when they appear, except for the villains, of course. The story is gripping, even when frequently interrupted by parties (although the party is also interrupted by the case, making a very nice turnaround in the book).

J. D. Robb is wonderful writer (of course, she's Nora Roberts' pen name, so that's par for the course), and deftly weaves the strands of mystery, crime story, personal life and romance into a deft braid that will keep your complete attention while warming your heart and making it race. You'll want to pick up this whole series, and all the short stories as well. In fact, this series can become something of an obsession. But if so, it's a magnificent one. Highly recommended.