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"Eve Dallas deals with a homicide-and the holiday season-in the latest from the #1 New York Times bestselling author. Personal trainer Trey Ziegler was in peak physical condition. If you didn't count the kitchen knife in his well-toned chest. Lieutenant Eve Dallas soon discovers a lineup of women who'd been loved and left by the narcissistic gym rat. While Dallas sorts through the list of Ziegler's enemies, she's also dealing with her Christmas shopping list-plus the guest list for her and her billionaire husband's upcoming holiday bash. Feeling less than festive, Dallas tries to put aside her distaste for the victim and solve the mystery of his death. There are just a few investigating days left before Christmas, and as New Year's 2061 approaches, this homicide cop is resolved to stop a cold-blooded killer"--… (more)
User reviews
While I highly recommend the book for the
The more Eve learns about the murdered Trey
As the list of suspects narrow and Christmas gets closer, Eve is determined to get things done before the holidays. I love Eve's relationships with her friends. She is still getting used to the idea of having friends, of letting people into her life. I love how well she knows them and how she manages to get each one the perfect Christmas gift despite waiting until the last minute to get them.
I also love Eve's relationship with Roarke. Neither one of them takes the relationship they have for granted. Both are willing to work to keep it. I love the way that they continue to surprise and delight each other.
This is a marvelous series. I read it because I love Eve and Roarke. The mysteries are a side issue for me. This one had an intriguing one that kept me guessing up until the end. I can't wait to see what comes next.
All in all, I feel this book was much better that the last two or three – and hope the next one follows in its path.
Dallas has to solve the murder of a scumbag. Now, this should be interesting – a fair portion of murdered characters seem to have earned their abrupt endings. I enjoy a really bad bad-guy. But Festive founders - nothing happens. No plot twists, no curious side trails. No
Dallas figures out who the villain is – that’s what her job is, right? But the rest of the story is missing: the human interest, and the bigger picture. This plot plodded. And disappointed. I expect bigger mysteries for Dallas – bigger villains, bigger consequences. After all, this is the detective who almost slid off the Statue of Liberty, who solved an off-world murder, and unraveled the Icove case. The worst danger Dallas encounters in Festive is forty minutes of Christmas shopping.
What else went wrong? Boring suspects –with one exception, all the suspect characters are from the same social class, one small circle. There is almost no distinction among characters because values, attitudes and mores are all the same.
And I’d lay all the blame on the worthlessness of the victim. It’s hard to work up a head of steam over a nasty SOB. It may be Dallas’s job, to stand for the scumbag, but it doesn’t make for a great book, when there is so little detecting to do, so few leads to follow, such a paucity of red herrings.
What do I know for certain? The next Eve Dallas book will be better. I look forward
First, Eve and all the characters have grown a lot since the series began. Eve is more comfortable in her personal life than ever
Not only was there continuing character development, but the case was also one of the best I've read. What happens when Eve has to investigate the murder of someone who was a revolting human being? She stands for the dead, so she gives it all she has of course. But, the victim being despicable added a new layer to the investigation - where Eve found herself sympathizing with possible suspects and hoping it wasn't a particular person she interviewed. It was eye-opening. Plus, we had the usual interactions with Mira, Morris and her gang at cop central.
Overall, this was another great read that left me eager for more. Highly recommended.
The holiday theme, a counterpoint to the viciousness of the crime, allows for a bit of humor as Eve attacks the gift-giving and holiday-decorating . . . and finds herself making a deal with Summerset.
The story is true to the characters readers have come to know and love; as Eve relentlessly investigates, the requisite twists ultimately expose the murderer. Fans of the series won’t be disappointed.
Highly recommended.
And I'm a fan of this show. I enjoy the characters and their interactions and the Mistletoe temporary tattoo Eve ends up with during a party, and Peabody's reaction to the coat (and the general reaction to the gifts) and Eve overcoming her allergy to shopping for just a short time and all of this wrapped in a murder mystery of a guy no-one really misses because he was pure scum.
As they research the death they discover how much of a scum he is, but still he's been murdered and they have to investigate and some of the other people he deals with aren't much better than him, but Eve is driven to investigate and to find the truth and the twists and turns kept me reading (I did suspect but there are plenty of red herrings thrown to taste). Things do wrap up quite quickly at the end but overall I had fun reading.
If you have enjoyed this series this isn't a bad example, readable as a standalone but the character motivations make more sense if you've read the series.
Eve’s investigation finds many people who had a huge dislike of the man who was a personal trainer at Buff Bodies, so finding the killer will not be easy. As much as Eve comes to dislike him through what she learns through her investigation, she still feels she owes it to him to find his killer.
This In Death offering begins with Christmas season 2060. What woman doesn’t await the first appearance of Rourke? It’s page 43, Ladies! As this is a Christmas edition of the series, it included a lot of prep time to the party being hosted by Rourke and Eve. While it was all fun to read, it did draw away from the investigation and main story line. Through interviews, Eve had determined that Trey was probably using a form of drug on unsuspecting women to obtain sexual favors. She felt the need to either browbeat or bribe the lab’s Chief Tech Dick Berenski (Dickhead) to confirm. Roarke recommends she bring him his Christmas gift, unblended scotch (bribe) in a Christmas bag. As she’s ready to leave:
‘Where’s the hooch – for Dickhead?’
‘Fourth-floor gift room.’
She stared at him for ten silent seconds. ‘We have a gift room?’
The whole story flowed well together. The primary characters, as always, are wonderfully included — each for their own unique offering to the investigation. The author has taken care with Eve’s evolution, so to speak, from the beginning of the series to now. She’s still very tough in her job and I suspect she always will be, but her personal relationship with Rourke is warm and loving. For my taste, there were a few too many ‘f’ bombs. Rating: 4 out of 5.
As Eve and her partner detective Peabody run the background checks on their victim they
I don't think that this book is a read alone or "welcome to the series" book. The biggest scene of the book is one that you really need to build up to through reading the overall plot of the series. That being said, the characters are richly developed as always and there's a good amount of humor and thrill in the story.
The more Eve learns about the murdered Trey
As the list of suspects narrow and Christmas gets closer, Eve is determined to get things done before the holidays. I love Eve's relationships with her friends. She is still getting used to the idea of having friends, of letting people into her life. I love how well she knows them and how she manages to get each one the perfect Christmas gift despite waiting until the last minute to get them.
I also love Eve's relationship with Roarke. Neither one of them takes the relationship they have for granted. Both are willing to work to keep it. I love the way that they continue to surprise and delight each other.
This is a marvelous series. I read it because I love Eve and Roarke. The mysteries are a side issue for me. This one had an intriguing one that kept me guessing up until the end. I can't wait to see what comes next.
3 Stars
Eve and company investigate the murder of a personal trainer with a mean streak. The question arises as to who didn't want the jerk dead.
A solid installment although to be perfectly honest, the victim is such a nasty piece of work that it is difficult to summon up much
The Christmas shopping/party scenes are cute and add a festive air to the book.