Framed in Death (In Death, #61) by J.D. Robb Format: eARC
Source: supplied by publisher via Edelweiss
Formats available: hardcover, large print, paperback, ebook, audiobook
Genres: futuristic, mystery, romantic suspense, suspense, thriller
Series: In Death #61
Pages: 368
Published by St. Martin's Press on September 2, 2025
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Bookshop.org, Better World Books
Goodreads
Death imitates art in the brand-new crime thriller starring homicide cop Eve Dallas from the #1 New York Times-bestselling author J.D. Robb.
Manhattan is filled with galleries and deep-pocketed collectors who can make an artist's career with a wave of a hand. But one man toils in obscurity, his brilliance unrecognized while lesser talents bask in the glory he believes should be his. Come tomorrow, he vows, the city will be buzzing about his work.
Indeed, before dawn, Lt. Eve Dallas is speeding toward the home of the two gallery owners whose doorway has been turned into a horrifying crime scene overnight. A lifeless young woman has been elaborately costumed and precisely posed to resemble the model of a long-ago Dutch master, and Dallas plunges into her investigation.
My Review:
There are, as there often are in this series, two things going on. The ‘A Plot’ tends to be the case that Dallas ends up working on, while the ‘B Plot’ is generally wrapped up in whatever is going on with the extended fam.
And that’s the way this OMG 61st entry in the series seems like it was intended to be, as we start by witnessing the first murder – and get thoroughly creeped out being inside the killer’s entitled, egotistical, head.
But in spite of his sociopathy and his narcissism, the serial killer that the media dubs ‘The Artist’ just isn’t all that. Yes, he’s deadly, but he’s also kind of stupid – or high on his own supply of entitlement and privilege. Once Dallas has her sights set on him, he’s not that hard to catch.
So the ‘B Plot’ in this story is the one that takes center stage – or is at least a whole lot more fun AND interesting to follow. For the past several books the story has been following the progress on the new house that Dallas’ oldest and dearest friend, singer Mavis Firestone, along with her designer hubby Leonardo and their daughter Bella, are building together with Dallas’ police partner Delia Peabody and her domestic partner, NYPSD e-geek Ian McNab. Now that the house is completed, and both couples have officially moved in, the background of this book is all about the ginormous, extended, multi-day housewarming event that’s been scheduled.
As long as Dallas gets the case wrapped – which of course she does. That the money and influence the murderer’s family brings to bear THINKS it can get in the way of justice just makes the inevitable resolution that much sweeter and more cathartic.
While the party, and the gathering of the clan and the fam, makes for a perfect – if just a bit understated – happy ending for this latest book in the series.
Escape Rating B: Some entries in the marvelous and marvelously long-running In Death series kick ass and take names on all aspects of the story – as was very much true with the previous entry in the series, Bonded in Death.
Very much on my other hand, sometimes the latest book in the series is merely a chance to catch up with Dallas and Roarke and their ever-increasing found family while oh, by the way, there’s a murder case. Framed in Death is one of the latter entries in the series.
Which does not, by any means, mean that it was bad, and it certainly doesn’t mean that I didn’t have a great reading time visiting with my ‘book friends’ at the NYPSD – because I absolutely did.
But it does mean that this is a book for fans and not an entry point in the series. This was still a single-sitting read for me and I was more than happy to take a trip back – or is that forward? – into Dallas and Roarke’s futuristic world.
IMHO, the problem with this entry in the series is that it a) didn’t tell us anything new about anyone, which is very much in comparison to the reveal of Summerset’s past in Bonded in Death, and b) the story had a terrible case of ‘villain fail’.
J.H. Ebersole just wasn’t all that interesting. Or diabolical. Or even, to be honest, all that smart. He was just an over-privileged and over-entitled white man who didn’t get told “NO” often enough as a child. His rich and powerful “Mommy”, and he still calls her that as an adult, indulged every single one of his wants and tantrums, to the point where he believes he’s entitled to commit murder in furtherance of his art.
Which is honestly mediocre at best.
Dallas and her colleagues only need three days to find and arrest him. Unfortunately, that also means he’s murdered three people in cold blood, but he’s just so used to getting his own way that he didn’t even bother to cover his tracks.
Which is where the real villain, the “Mommy” who made him who and what he is, shows up to ‘rescue’ her baby boy. She was a LOT more interesting as the villain, but we didn’t get enough of her to make the case more interesting. In the end, they both come off as over-privileged whiners.
Not that I didn’t love the righteous takedown at the end.
But the story as a whole was much more about the long drawn out housewarming for Mavis’ and Leonardo’s and Bella’s and Peabody’s and McNab’s new house. Which was lovely and they’ve all earned it but it wasn’t quite enough to sustain the story for anyone who wasn’t already invested in the series.
Which I am, so I had a great time. But this isn’t a great entry in the series. Howsomever, if you’re a fan, it’s a hell of a lot of fun.
And that means I’ll be back in February when Stolen in Death comes out. I already have an ARC and I’m itching to get into it!
