Immortal in Death (In Death #3)

Immortal In Death is the third book in the popular In Death series by American author, J.D. Robb. Hot on the heels of catching the murder case of her confidential informant, Carson Johannsen, Eve Dallas finds herself investigating another violent killing. Famous model Pandora was beaten to death in the atelier of fashion designer, Leonardo, who just happens to be creating Eve's wedding dress, and who has recently taken up with Eve's friend, Mavis Freestone.

A public altercation between Pandora and Mavis earlier in the evening, then a blood-soaked Mavis, regaining consciousness at the murder scene, her prints and blood at the scene and more: it's not looking good for Eve's best friend. Eve has to arrest Mavis, and she is charged with murder, but Roark offers his top-class legal team and pays bail. Eve is absolutely convinced that Mavis is innocent and, despite a clear conflict of interest, leads the investigation: her boss has total confidence in her impartiality.

With the very able Officer Peabody assisting her, Eve questions witnesses to the altercation, any of whom could have motive for murder. But then, a link between her two cases is revealed: a dangerous new illegal substance, possibly from an off-planet source, with anti-aging and energising properties, increasing sex drive but also causing violent mood swings and lack of control, a dangerous drug that is fatal with prolonged use.

Further investigation sends Eve looking for a missing dancer whose body, when found, shows traces of the drug. When the news of these three similar deaths, for two of which Mavis has strong alibis, doesn't convince the Prosecuting Attorney to drop the case, Eve goes to her friendly Channel 75 journalist, Nadine Furst to give it a push.

And in the background, Eve's wedding to Roark looms, for which distractions like hair, skin, makeup, flowers and dress fittings keep her from proving Mavis innocent by proving someone else guilty, while Peabody is succumbing to the charms of Illegals Lieutenant, Jake T Casto.

Roark gets to see his Lieutenant in action, and even assists with a bit of lock-picking. The third book of this series is cleverly plotted and Robb's characters already have plenty of appeal, and there's an exciting climax leading to the final reveal.

It's an interesting exercise to read, almost thirty years after it was written, a novel set, at time of writing, over sixty years into the future: some of the technology has clearly been surpassed, but Robb did predict, in 1996, police wearing bodycam and s version of bitcoin. Rapture in Death is eagerly anticipated.