I felt the ending of Creation in Death was very much in Eve’s character, and something that she may have doubts about later. She has always stood for justice, and by having Roarke fix the problem, justice was served. SPOILERS:

It would have been different if Eve had “bypassed” the system to kill someone. That would be a total departure for her, and I can never see it happening. However, in this case, Eve bypassed a self-termination order. Forcing someone to live (assuming that the Groom doesn’t manage to hang himself with his bed-sheets) isn’t against the spirit of justice.

I love all of the In Death series. In fact, I ended up reading Nora Roberts as a temporary “fix” to my J. D. Robb addition. Now, I’m addicted to both authors.

Oh, just FYI. One of my favorites of Nora Roberts’ set is her vampire trilogy: Morrigan’s Cross, Dance of the Gods, and Valley of Silence. I’ve loved vampire fiction ever since Dark Shadows was on TV in the 60s. On the evening of my birthday, I was feeling a little sorry for myself, so I went to Barnes and Noble to see if I could find a new book. I practically danced in the aisle when I found a Nora Roberts vampire story. Two of my favorite things in one shot.

Speaking of NR and vampires, I laughed myself stupid over “Eternity in Death.” The contrast between it and the vampire trilogy was priceless.

Thanks so much for more books I can read to rags.

My pov may be a bit different having read most of the series straight through without breaks… until Born ID. (sigh) I was not disturbed by Eve’s decision. It seemed fitting as I reflected on something Mira said back near the beginning about watching Eve grow as a person.
First, she had Mavis and Feeney, but kept them at arm’s length. Then Roarke came into her life, followed by Peabody, McNabb, Mira herself, Nadine, etc., and she is no longer a one-dimensional personality. She cannot afford to remain rigid in the black and white world she created. Human interaction forces her to see the shades of gray and deal with them.
I love the relationship between E&R, but it’s all of her relationships that keep me coming back. Watching Eve grow and develop as a character is such fun.

As to the question about the mistake of having the dead (the knife in the throat and Roarke saying he wasn’t going to allow Eve to go through testing for something he did, I’d say makes it obvious he was dead) Morse standing trial in the next novel, I’d point out that if you listen to the audiobook version of Survivor in Death you’ll realise that originally she misnamed the couple that had lost their daughter in Naked in Death as Katherine and Justin (the aunt and uncle of the victim), rather than Richard and Elizabeth, but it has been fixed in subsequent print editions as it’s correct in the paperback I own. I’m not sure if the Morse typo was ever fixed or not, I haven’t sought out different editions of this one to check as I did with Survivor, this was simply a minor mistake that I wrote off as par for the course. Ultimately when you are writing a series as involved and as prolific as the in Death series, it’s hard to keep every single detail in order. I’ve only ever written single titles myself, but even then I have had to come up with detailed time lines down to the exact day and time something happened, as well as virtual family trees to try to avoid this problem even within just the one book, and still I have found inconsistancies upon further review. Unfortunately, it’s going to happen no matter how fabulous the author might be. You hope that the editor, friend, critique partner, or whoever you have read through it catches it, but that doesn’t always happen.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and actually the conflict with Feeney and the decision she makes in the end ring completely true with me, especially since I have a grandfather that’s just been diagnosed with Alzheimers and so I can completely relate to watching someone that’s realising that he’s not Superman after all, dealing with the fact that sometimes you have to rely on those that you raised and let go of a bit of the independence. It’s not precisely the same, but it’s hard to let go of youth and vigor and realise that sometimes you can’t do it all and you can’t have the answers for it all. Losing some control, and passing on the baton, especially when you feel like a failure, quite simply stinks, and it does not make for a happy or even at times rational person.

The only problem I had with this book was that like a few other reviewers, I found the method of murder a bit too close to that of a previous killer that Eve had faced. But when I suspended that element the rest of the book was actually quite refreshing. After the intense emotional heft of Innocent in Death, it was a nice surprise to have this focus on the investigation and allow Roarke to truly appreciate perhaps for the first time, exactly what it is that she does day to day. A great breather in their relationship.

One other note, after nearly dying twice in the line of duty, I don’t think Trueheart is the green rookie that everyone still wants to see him as. Just because it hasn’t made him jaded doesn’t mean that it’s left him naive. A nice, kindhearted guy doesn’t equate with a lacking or again, naive one. It just means that he’s even stronger as a person than most of us are because no matter what he’s faced, he’s still kept his core character and didn’t allow it to negatively affect him as a person. It would be nice to see that portrayed sometime soon. I think he’s a heck of a lot smarter, tougher, and deeper than we’ve had a chance to see yet, and I think he would surprise us all with just how intimately he understands things like how precious life is and how important his job is, not to mention how unshakable that backbone of his is if given the opportunity. Some of the sweetest people I’ve known have also been the strongest. Just my humble opinion though.

I can see how Eve will struggle, once she’s cool off a bit, over having Roarke not just cross a line but obliterate it–for far too long law and justice have been almost the same thing to her. But her relationship with Roarke has allowed her to grow and discover more shades of gray than she saw before.