J.D. Robb Origins in Death

Origins in Death

J.D. Robb

Putnam, Jul 2005, $24.95, 352 pp.

ISBN: 039915289X

In 2059 New York City someone murders reconstructive and cosmetic surgeon, Dr. Wilfred Icove. The victim was found in his office with one stab wound to his heart and no other evidence of a struggle.

NYPD Detective Eve Dallas leads the investigation into the murder of "Dr. Perfect" with pressure to find the killer from residents and the media because the victim was a kindhearted family man who gave so much to the city. Besides no apparent struggle as the crime scene is so clean one could eat off the floor, the security disks display a woman leisurely entering and later leaving the building, who apparently was Icove's final appointment of the day. Eve investigates the patients, staff and family, but finds Icove lived a sterilized life without one slight blemish. The case turns bizarre when Wilfred's son dies in the same manner. In both cases they seem to have trusted their killer. Frustrated the great detective believes that a hidden dark secret shared by the compassionate dead duo is the motive, but even with her beloved Roarke, the wealthiest man in the universe, helping her dig for information, Eve finds an imperfect case going nowhere as the ORIGINS OF DEATH remain elusive.

The twenty-first "In Death" science fiction police procedural is a fabulous entry in the wonderful series as Eve even with her Ace in the hole Roarke finds her investigation into the homicides of the sanitized clean father and son making no progress. This makes for a fine investigative tale that displays that even Roarke has limitations. Eve is at her best sleuthing on the mean streets of futuristic Manhattan seeking the ORIGINS OF DEATH of two seemingly outstanding conscientious citizens.

Harriet Klausner