PROMISES IN DEATH/Mysteries in Paradise

Aigh-eee, running late again this afternoon. I got a call from our tax people who said they were missing a couple documents so after walking Tug I found them and ran them over, and then did a couple errands in the downtown area.

Reading PROMISES IN DEATH by JD Robb, a not-so-secret-anymore pen name for Nora Roberts. This is the 29th of 29 (if you don't count the novellas) featuring Eve Dallas, a homicide lieutenant in futuristic New York City. I love love love this series. Here's a description of PROMISES:

Amarylis Coltraine may have recently transferred to the New York City police force from Atlanta, but she’s been a cop long enough to know how to defend herself against an assailant. When she’s taken down just steps away from her apartment, killed with her own weapon, for Eve the victim isn’t just “one of us.”Dallas’s friend Chief Medical Examiner Morris and Coltraine had started a serious relationship, and from all accounts the two were headed for a happy future together. But someone has put an end to all that. The truth will need to be uncovered one layer at a time, starting with the box that arrives at Cop Central addressed to Eve containing Coltraine’s guns, badge, and a note from her killer: “You can have them back. Maybe someday soon, I’ll be sending yours to somebody else.” But Eve Dallas doesn’t take too kindly to personal threats, and she is going to break this case, whatever it takes. And that’s a promise.

It has 352 pages and just released this week. Here's the Prologue:

She was dead the minute she answered the 'link. She didn't question the caller or the urgency of the request. In fact, pleasure andexcitement rushed through her as she put aside her plans for an earlynight. Her movements both graceful and efficient, she dressed quickly,gathering what she needed.

She strode through her pretty apartment, ordering the lights to dim, and remembered to switch to sleep the little droid kitten her lover had given her as a companion. She’d named it Sachmo. It mewed, blinked its bright green eyes and curled into a ball. Shegave its sleek white fur an affectionate stroke.

“Be back soon,” she murmured, making a promise she couldn’t know would be broken.

She glanced around the apartment as she opened the door, smiled at the bouquet of red roses in full and dramatic bloom on the table near the street window. And thought of Li.

She locked her door for the last time. Following ingrained habit, she took the stairs. She was a slim, athletically built woman with eyes of deep blue. Her blond hair swung past her shoulders, a parted curtain for a lovely face. She was thirty-three, happy in her life, flirting around the soft edges of love with a man who gave her kittens and roses.

She thought of New York, this life, this man as a new chapter, one she was content to walk through, page by page, and discover. She tucked that away to turn her mind to where she needed to go, what she needed to do. Less than ten minutes after the call, she jogged down the second flight of steps, turned for the next.

She had an instant to register the movement when her killer stepped out. Another for surprise when she recognized the face. But not enough, not quite enough to speak before the stunner struck her midbody and took her down.

She came to with a shocking jolt, a burn of skin and blood. A rush from dark to light. The stunner blast had left her body numb, useless, even as her mind flashed clear. Inside the paralyzed shell, she struggled,she strained. She looked up into the eyes of her killer. Into the eyes of a friend.

“Why?” The question was weak, but had to be asked. There had to be an answer. There was always an answer. She had the answer when she died, in the basement five floors below her pretty apartment where roses bloomed red and a kitten purred in sleep.

Though the series has many books, they're all worth the fun read, but definitely read them in order. Highly recommended. The author's website can be found at http://www.noraroberts.com/. Her next one comes out in November called KINDRED IN DEATH.

Today's Blog/Website of the day is Mysteries in Paradise found at http://paradise-mysteries.blogspot.com/. I've known Kerrie from Australia from 4MA for many years and this one great blog.

Steve woke me up at 4 this morning because he HAD to tell me about his weird dream. Oy. So then when the alarm goes off, we're both struggling to wake up. The temp is dropping rapidly out there; we're supposed to be getting snow soon and last all night. Glad I'm not going out in it.
Unlike Steve, because it's his shooting night. Ha ha! Not much on tv, actually, with American Idol (yuck) bumping off Lie to Me for the evening. If I remember, I should tune in to PBS to watch Ballroom Dancing. Otherwise, it's a night for soup and sandwich and a lovely book. Mmmm, cosy.

Much love,
PK the Bookeemonster