Ceremony in Death (Paperback)

As usual J.D. Robb jumps into the action right away, with the death of Frank Wojinski, a cop that served as Feeney's trainer when Eve's friend and mentor joined the force. The death was ruled as a heart attack, but there are some unanswered questions, especially since the cop was young: sixty-two years old! One of the granddaughters of the deceased, Alice, surreptitiously asks Eve for a meeting claiming that Eve's life is in danger. Alice tells Eve that she believes a black witch called Selina is involved in her granddad's death.

Selina was seen shortly before Frank's death selling drugs to him, so now Eve is asked to investigate Frank's death and to determine whether he was a dirty cop or was just working undercover by his own volition. To make matters worse, traces of the drug Zeus were found in the body and Eve is asked to leave Feeney out of the investigation and in the dark. When Alice is run over by a car and then the body of one of the members of Selina's sect is left outside Eve's and Roarke's house, the action develops too close to home and Eve must do everything in her power to solve the case before it affects her life.

The story is fast-paced as we are used to, and Robb is efficient in presenting the characteristics of the world in which the characters live in 2058 without boring the regular readers. Those who have not ventured in the series before will have enough information to understand what is going on and what the relationships between the different characters are. The storylines connected to the main characters' lives keep moving forward. The relationship between Eve and Roarke is of course central to the story, but in some cases the amorous scenes between these two become a little repetitive. Certain elements of Eve's childhood keep showing up, and all the supporting characters, Mavis, Peabody, etc, are present and contribute to the overall quality and depth of the story. I hope J.D. Robb returns to her path by moving away from magic and staying with the futuristic series that I enjoy so much.

The attraction of the series is the mix of suspense and romance- all meshed into a great murder mystery. Its nice to continually follow the same main characters. Their complex and evolving relationship are what keep me reaching for the next book. Too often, storys concentrate on the courtship, but the Death series proves that marriage/committment are just as complelling, romantic and sexy. Eve and Roarke have a great partnership and chemistry that has been evident since their first meeting in book 1, Naked in Death.

While Ceremony in Death is the 5th book, those who haven't read the earlier novels won't get confused as each book is essentially self contained. But loyal readers are rewarded as familiar characters are brought back--like Mavis, Peabody, Fenney and the butler. But prior knowledge of the series isn't required- in fact, I read book 1 Naked in Death and then this one..and have read some of the others out of order.

Happy Reading!

Despite the gaps in my reading, each book reads very well. There's no confusion or disorientation because of the missing episodes.

As I said in my review of GLORY IN DEATH -- this is structured to become a television series using the long story-arc of the developing Relationship as the envelope and presenting a whole new mystery episode in each 1 hour drama.

If the futurology were worked into the mystery and relationship, IN DEATH would be as good as Babylon 5.

Up to CEREMONY IN DEATH, the futurology is almost entirely missing. Though this series appears to be set in the future, the story, the romance, the mystery and the solutions could just as easily happen today. There's no reason internal to the story for it to be set in the future.

For this 5th book in the series, this seems to me (a professional sf/f writer) to be a flaw, whereas for the 2nd book of the series the lack was a good teaser.

In CEREMONY IN DEATH, Robb/Roberts has taken the subject of ceremonial magic (another subject I know write about) and has treated it well and fairly, bringing out the massive and very important difference between Satanism and the Wiccan Religion.

Still, both Satanism and the Wiccan Religion are treated with the same short shrift given to the futurology. After you finish reading CEREMONY IN DEATH you have not learned anything useful about either Satanism or Witchcraft except that they're very different.

But here's the very fascinating thing about these novels -- even though I began reading them for my favorite things (futurology, galactic civilization, a touch of the occult), and it turned out these elements are barely there, I'm still looking forward to reading another one.

I think it's because I keep hoping we'll meet some real aliens -- a non-human detective that Eve Dallas would have a hard time making friends with, or an interstellar business situation Roarke would have to sprain his brain to understand and fight to get Eve to accept. But of course, that's what I write, not what J. D. Robb writes.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
ambrovzeor@aol.com