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J. D. Robb – Calculated in Death and Thankless in Death 2-in-1 Collection (In Death Series)

Two novels by #1 New York Times bestselling author J. D. Robb

Calculated in Death
On Manhattan’s Upper East Side, a woman lies dead at the bottom of a brownstone’s basement steps, stripped of all her valuables. Most cops might call it a mugging gone wrong, but Lieutenant Eve Dallas knows better.

A well-off accountant and a beloved wife and mother, Marta Dickenson doesn’t seem the type to be on anyone’s hit list. But when Eve and her partner, Peabody, find blood inside the brownstone, she knows Marta’s murder is the work of a killer who’s trained, yet not professional or smart enough to remove all the evidence. Eve learns that on the day of her murder Marta was assigned to work on three audits, and begins to suspect that she was killed to cover up fraudulent activity. Eve is good at catching criminals, not crunching numbers, but luckily, she has her billionaire husband, Roarke, to figure out which companies in Marta’s files aren’t on the up-and-up.

When someone steals the files from Marta’s office, Eve must immerse herself in Roarke’s world of big business to figure out who’s cruel and callous enough to hire a hit on an innocent woman. And as the killer’s violent streak starts to escalate, Eve knows she has to draw him out, even if it means using herself as bait….

Thankless in Death
The year 2060 is drawing to a close, and Thanksgiving is just around the corner. It’s a time for loved ones to come together. But sometimes the deepest hatreds seethe within the closest relationships, and blood flows faster than water….

For Lieutenant Eve Dallas of the NYPSD, the job is a useful reminder of what she has to be grateful for this season. Hosting Roarke’s big Irish family for the holiday may be challenging, but it’s a joyful improvement on her own dark childhood. Other couples aren’t as lucky as Eve and Roarke.

The Reinholds, for example, are lying on the floor of their Downing Street apartment, stabbed and bludgeoned almost beyond recognition. Those who knew them are stunned―and even more heartbroken by the overwhelming evidence that they were murdered by their own son. Twenty-six-year-old Jerry hadn’t exactly made a good impression on all the bosses who fired him or the girlfriend who dumped him―but they didn’t think he was capable of this. Turns out Jerry is not only capable of brutality but taking a liking to it. With the money he’s stolen from his parents, and a long list of grievances, he intends to finally make his mark on the world.

Eve and her team already know the who, how, and why of this murder. What they need to pinpoint is where Jerry’s going to strike next.

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J. D. Robb – Celebrity in Death and Delusion in Death 2-in-1 Collection: Celebrity in Death, Delusion in Death (In Death Series)

Two novels by #1 New York Times bestselling author J. D. Robb

Celebrity in Death
Her career in homicide has taken her into the darkest depths of New York City’s underground―and sometimes Lieutenant Eve Dallas feels more comfortable in those kinds of places than in the high-rise, high-society world of her billionaire husband, Roarke.

But while she’s no party girl, she’s managing to have a reasonably good time at the celebrity-packed bash celebrating the debut of The Icove Agenda. This time it’s Eve, not Roarke, who’s a guest of honor, since the film is based on one of her famous cases. Her partner, Peabody, is practically giddy over rubbing shoulders with Hollywood royalty. Eve, on the other hand, is more likely to roll her eyes than have stars in them. But she has to admit it’s a little spooky seeing the actress playing her, who looks almost like her long-lost twin.

Not as unsettling, though, as seeing K. T. Harris, the actress who plays Peabody―drowned in the lap pool on the roof of the director’s luxury building. Talented but rude, and widely disliked, K.T. had made an embarrassing scene during dinner. She clearly liked being the center of attention. Now she’s at the center of a crime scene―and Eve is more than ready to get out of her high heels and strap on her holster, to step into the role she was born to play: cop.

Delusion in Death
It was just another after-work happy-hour bar downtown, where business professionals unwound with a few drinks, complained about the boss, maybe hooked up with someone for the night. Until something went terribly wrong.

At first it was just a friction in the air. The noise intensified. The crowd seemed oppressive. Some sharp words were exchanged, some pushing and shoving. Then the madness descended. And after twelve minutes of chaos and violence, eighty people lay dead.

Eve Dallas is trying to sort out the inexplicable events. Surviving witnesses talk about seeing things―monsters and swarms of bees. They describe sudden, overwhelming feelings of fear and rage and paranoia. When forensics makes its report, the mass delusions make more sense: it appears the bar patrons were exposed to a cocktail of chemicals and illegal drugs that could drive people into temporary insanity―if not kill them outright. But that doesn’t explain who would unleash such horror―or why. Eve’s husband, Roarke, happens to own the bar, yet he’s convinced the attack wasn’t directed at him. It’s bigger than that.

And if Eve can’t figure it out fast, it could happen again, anytime, anywhere. Because it’s airborne….

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J. D. Robb In Death Collection 5: Origin in Death, Memory in Death, Born in Death, Innocent in Death, Creation in Death (In Death Series)

Origin in Death: New York Police Lieutenant Eve Dallas enters the Wilfred B. Icove Center for Reconstructive and Cosmetic Surgery on a case. A hugely popular vid star has been beaten to a bloody pulp. Before they can leave the building, another case falls into their hands. Dr. Wilfred B. Icove himself has been found dead in his office. Known as “Dr. Perfect,” the saintly Icove devoted his life to his family and his work. His record is too clean for Dallas. As Dallas follows her darkest instincts into the Icoves’ pasts, what she discovers are men driven to create perfection – playing fast and loose with the laws of nature, the limits of science, and the morals of humanity. Memory in Death: Eve Dallas is one tough cop. But when Trudy Lombard shows up, it’s all Eve can do to hold it together. She’s plunged back into the days when she was a traumatized girl – trapped in foster care with the twisted woman who now sits in front of her. Trudy claims she just wanted to see how Eve was doing, but Eve’s husband, Roarke, suspects otherwise. Just a few days later, Trudy’s found on the floor of her hotel room, a mess of bruises and blood. Eve is determined to solve the case, if only for the sake of Trudy’s bereaved son. Unfortunately, Eve is not the only one to have suffered at this woman’s hands, and she and Roarke will follow a circuitous, dangerous path to find out who turned this victimizer into a victim. Born in Death: Technology has advanced in 2060 New York City, but childbirth has been the same since the beginning of time. And despite the brutal double homicide on Lieutenant Eve Dallas’s caseload, she has to be there for her pregnant friend Mavis. But Mavis needs an even bigger favor now. Tandy Willowby, one of the moms-to-be in her class, has gone missing. Mavis wants no one but Eve on the case – and Eve can’t say no. She’ll have to track Tandy down while tracing the deals and double-crosses hidden in the files of some of the city’s richest and most secretive citizens. But as he mines for the crucial data that will break the case wide open, Eve faces an all-too-real danger in the flesh-and-blood world. Innocent in Death: The death of history teacher Craig Foster devastated his young wife, who’d sent him off to work that morning with a lovingly packed lunch. Lieutenant Eve Dallas, of course, is more hardened to murder cases. It’s Eve’s job to get a feel for all the potential suspects, and find out why someone would have done this to a man who seemed so inoffensive. Now Magdelana Percell – there’s someone Eve can picture as a murder victim. Possibly at Eve’s own hands. The slinky blonde – an old flame of her billionaire husband, Roarke – has turned up in New York, and she’s anything but innocent. Unfortunately, Roarke seems blind to Magdelana’s manipulation, but not to her shapely figure and flirtatious ways. Eve knows all too well that innocence can be a façade. Keeping that in mind may help her solve this case at last. But it may also tear apart her marriage. Creation in Death: Eve has seen this crime scene before: carved into the victim’s torso is the exact time it took her to die. And on the third finger of her left hand has been placed a silver ring. Eve is catapulted back to a case nine years earlier, to a man tagged “The Groom” whom Eve couldn’t stop before he disappeared. Now The Groom seems to have come back to where he started. With the Groom’s monstrous return, Eve is determined to finish him once and for all. Familiar with his methods, she knows that he has already grabbed his next victim. But his sights are set on the biggest challenge of his illustrious career. Time is running out on another woman’s life…and for Eve.

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J. D. Robb In Death Collection 3: Judgment in Death, Betrayal in Death, Seduction in Death, Reunion in Death, Purity in Death (In Death Series)

Judgment in Death
In an uptown strip joint, a cop is found bludgeoned to death. The weapon’s a baseball bat. The motive’s a mystery. It’s a case of serious overkill that pushes Eve Dallas straight into overdrive. Her investigation uncovers a private club that’s more than a hot spot. Purgatory’s a last chance for atonement where everyone is judged. Where your most intimate fate depends on your most intimate sins. And where one cop’s hidden secrets are about to plunge innocent souls into vice-ridden damnation…

Betrayal in Death
At the luxurious Roarke Palace Hotel, a maid walks into suite 4602 for the nightly turndown—and steps into her worst nightmare. A killer leaves her dead, strangled by a thin silver wire. He’s Sly Yost, a virtuoso of music and murder. A hit man for the elite. Lieutenant Eve Dallas knows him well. But in this twisted case, knowing the killer doesn’t help solve the crime. Because there’s someone else involved. Someone with a more personal motive. And Eve must face a terrifying possibility—that the real target may, in fact, be her husband Roarke…

Seduction in Death
Dante had been courting his victim in cyberspace for weeks before meeting her in person. A few sips of wine and a few hours later, she was dead. The murder weapon: a rare, usually undetectable date-rape drug with a street value of a quarter million dollars. Detective Eve Dallas is playing and replaying the clues in her mind. The candlelight, the music, the rose petals strewn across the bed—a seduction meant for his benefit, not hers. He hadn’t intended to kill her. But now that he has, he is left with only two choices: to either hole up in fear and guilt or start hunting again…

Reunion in Death
At exactly 7:30 p.m., Walter Pettibone arrived home to over a hundred friends and family shouting, “surprise!” It was his birthday. Although he had known about the planned event for weeks, the real surprise was yet to come. At 8:45 p.m., a woman with emerald eyes and red hair handed him a glass of champagne. One sip of birthday bubbly, and he was dead. The woman’s name is Julie Dockport. No one at the party knew who she was. But Detective Eve Dallas remembers her all too well. Eve was personally responsible for her incarceration nearly ten years ago. And now, let out on good behavior, she still has nothing but bad intentions. It appears she wants to meet Dallas again—in a reunion neither will forget…

Purity in Death
Louie Cogburn had spent three days holed up in his apartment, staring at his computer screen. His pounding headache was unbearable—like spikes drilling into his brain. And it was getting worse. Finally, when someone knocked at his door, Louie picked up a baseball bat, opened the door, and started swinging…. The first cop on the scene fired his stunner twice and Louie died instantly. Detective Eve Dallas has taken over the investigation, but there’s nothing to explain the man’s sudden rage or death. The only clue is a bizarre message left on his computer screen: Absolute Purity Achieved. And when a second man dies under nearly identical circumstances, Dallas starts racking her brain for answers and for courage to face the impossible…that this might be a computer virus able to spread from machine to man…

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J. D. Robb In Death Collection 2: Vengeance in Death, Holiday in Death, Conspiracy in Death, Loyalty in Death, Witness in Death (In Death Series)

Vengeance in Death
He is an expert with the latest technology…a madman with the mind of a genius and the heart of a killer. He quietly stalks his prey. Then he haunts the police with cryptic riddles about the crimes he is about to commit—always solved moments too late to save the victims’ lives. Police lieutenant Eve Dallas found the first victim butchered in his own home. The second lost his life in a vacant luxury apartment. The two men had little in common. Both suffered unspeakable torture before their deaths. And both had ties to an ugly secret of ten years past—a secret shared by none other than Eve’s new husband, Roarke.

Holiday in Death
No one likes to be alone during the holidays. For New York’s most posh dating service, Personally Yours, it is the season to bring lonely hearts together. But Lt. Eve Dallas, on the trail of a ritualistic serial killer, has made a disturbing discovery: all of the victims have been traced to Personally Yours. Eve soon enters an elite world of people searching for their one true love—and one killer searching for his next victim.

Conspiracy in Death
With the precision of a surgeon, a serial killer preys on the most vulnerable souls of the world’s city streets. The first victim: a sidewalk sleeper, found dead in New York City. No bruises, no signs of struggle. Just a laser-perfect, fist-sized hole where his heart had once been. Lieutenant Eve Dallas is assigned to investigate. But in the heat of a cat-and-mouse game with the killer, Dallas’s job is suddenly on the line. Now her hands are tied…between a struggle for justice – and a fight for her career…

Loyalty in Death
Eve Dallas Returns to Face Her Most Ingenious Foe—a “Secret Admirer” Who Taunts Her With Letters…And Kills Without Mercy

An unknown bomber is stalking New York City. He is sending Eve Dallas taunting letters promising to wreak mass terror and destruction among the “corrupt masses.” And when his cruel web of deceit and destruction threatens those she cares for most, Eve fights back. It’s her city…it’s her job…and it’s hitting too close to home. Now, in a race against a ticking clock, Eve must make the pieces fit—before the city falls.

Witness in Death
Opening night at New York’s New Globe Theater turns from stage scene to crime scene when the leading man is stabbed to death center stage. Now Eve Dallas has a high profile, celebrity homicide on her hands. Not only is she lead detective, she’s also a witness—and when the press discovers that her husband owns the theater, there’s more media spotlight than either can handle. The only way out is to move fast. Question everyone and everything…and in the meantime, try to tell the difference between the truth—and really good acting.

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J. D. Robb In Death Collection 1: Naked in Death, Glory in Death, Immortal in Death, Rapture in Death, Ceremony in Death (In Death Series)

Naked in Death
Eve Dallas is a New York police lieutenant hunting for a ruthless killer. In over ten years on the force, she’s seen it all—and knows that her survival depends on her instincts. And she’s going against every warning telling her not to get involved with Roarke, an Irish billionaire—and suspect in Eve’s murder investigation. But passion and seduction have rules of their own, and it’s up to Eve to take a chance in the arms of a man she knows nothing about—except the addictive hunger of needing his touch.

Glory in Death
In a time when technology can reveal the darkest of secrets, there’s only one place to hide a crime of passion—in the heart…. The first victim was found lying on a sidewalk in the rain. The second was murdered in her own apartment building. Police lieutenant Eve Dallas had no problem finding connections between the two crimes. Both victims were beautiful and highly successful women. Their glamorous lives and loves were the talk of the city. And their intimate relations with men of great power and wealth provided Eve with a long list of suspects—including her own lover, Roarke. As a woman, Eve was compelled to trust the man who shared her bed. But as a cop, it was her job to follow every lead…to investigate every scandalous rumor…to explore every secret passion, no matter how dark. Or how dangerous.

Immortal in Death
She was one of the most sought after women in the world. A top model who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted – even another woman’s man. And now she was dead, the victim of a brutal murder. Police lieutenant Eve Dallas put her professional life on the line to take the case when suspicion fell on her best friend, the other woman in the fatal love triangle. Beneath the façade of glamour, Eve found that the world of high fashion thrived on an all-consuming obsession for youth and fame. One that led from the runway to the dark underworld of New York City where drugs could be found to fulfill any desire—for a price…

Rapture in Death
They died with smiles on their faces. Three apparent suicides: a brilliant engineer, an infamous lawyer, and a controversial politician. Three strangers with nothing in common—and no obvious reasons for killing themselves. Police lieutenant Eve Dallas found the deaths suspicious. And her instincts paid off when autopsies revealed small burns on the brains of the victims. Was it a genetic abnormality or a high-tech method of murder? Eve’s investigation turned to the provocative world of virtual reality games—where the same techniques used to create joy and desire could also prompt the mind to become the weapon of its own destruction…

Ceremony in Death
Conducting a top secret investigation into the death of a fellow police officer has Lieutenant Eve Dallas treading on dangerous ground. She must put professional ethics before personal loyalties. But when a dead body is placed outside her home, Eve takes the warning personally. With her husband, Roarke, watching her every move, Eve is drawn into the most dangerous case of her career. Every step she takes makes her question her own sense of right and wrong—and brings her closer to a confrontation with humanity’s most seductive form of evil…

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J. D. Robb In Death Collection 7: Fantasy in Death, Indulgence in Death, Treachery in Death (In Death Series)

Fantasy in death: Bart Minnock, founder of the computer gaming giant U-Play, enters his private room, and eagerly can’t wait to lose himself in an imaginary world, to take on the role of a sword-wielding warrior king, in his company’s latest top-secret project, Fantastical. The next morning, he is found in the same locked room, in a pool of blood, his head separated from his body. It is the most puzzling case Lieutenant Eve Dallas has ever faced, and it is not a game. . . . She is having as much trouble figuring out how Bart Minnock was murdered as determining who did the murdering. The victim’s girlfriend seems sincerely grief-stricken, and his quirky but brilliant partners at U-Play appear shocked as well. No one seems to have had a problem with the enthusiastic, high-spirited millionaire. Of course, success can attract jealousy, and gaming, like any business, has its fierce rivalries and dirty tricks — as Eve’s husband, Roarke, one of U-Play’s competitors, knows well. But Minnock was not naive, and he knew how to fight back in the real world as well as the virtual one. Eve and her team are about to enter the next level of police work, in a world where fantasy is the ultimate seduction — and the price of defeat is death. Indulgence in Death: When a murder disrupts the Irish vacation she is taking with her husband, Roarke, Eve realizes that no place is safe — not an Irish wood or the streets of the manic city she calls home. But nothing prepares her for what she discovers upon her return to the cop shop in New York City. . . . A driver for a top-of-the-line limousine service is found dead — shot through the neck with a crossbow. The car was booked by an executive at a venerable security company whose identity had been stolen. Days later, a stunning, high-priced escort is found killed at Coney Island, a bayonet stuck in her heart. And again, the trail leads to a CEO whose information has been hijacked. With a method established, but no motive to be found, Eve begins to fear that she has come across that most dangerous of criminals, a thrill killer, but one with a taste for the finer things in life — and death. Eve does not know where or when the next kill will be, or that her investigation will take her to the rarefied circle that Roarke travels in — and into the perverted heart of madness. . . . Treachery in Death: Eve Dallas and her partner, Peabody, are following up on a brutal, senseless crime — an elderly grocery owner killed by three stoned punks for nothing more than kicks and snacks. And for the first time, Peabody is primary detective on the case, which means she has to get used to a new level of authority and responsibility. Good thing she learned the ropes from a master like Eve. But after rounding up the perps, Peabody stumbles upon a much trickier situation. Determined to start working out as hard as she grills suspects, she chooses to do it at the old, rarely-used gym at Central. After a grueling workout, she squeezes into one of the narrow shower stalls, happy to have the place to herself. Just after she shuts the water off, the gym door clatters open — and while she cringes inside the stall, trying not to make a sound, Peabody overhears two fellow officers, Garnet and Oberman, arguing. References are made to delivering product, and a house in the islands, and someone named Keener who’s supposed to look like an OD. It doesn’t take long for a naked and vulnerable Peabody to realize that both officers are crooked — guilty not just of corruption but of murder as well. Fortunately, the two clear out of the locker room without realizing there was a witness. Eve Dallas may have trained Peabody well — but this is too dangerous for one person to take on alone. Now Peabody, Eve, and her husband, Roarke, must try to get the hard evidence they need to bring the dirty cops down — knowing all the while that the two have already killed to keep their secret, and are no doubt willing to do it again.