Book 8), Conspiracy in Death (In Death

Generally, I love the "in death" series, because of Eve and Roarke. I liked this book, but I thought it was so sad when Eve was suspended from duty and had to turn her weapon and badge. But she did not give up. She is a strong woman and I love strong women, because they show real women that they can be just as strong, yet vulnerable.

I love all of jd robbs in death books...not big on cap's....hope you don't mind..I fell in love with these books about 5 to 6 years ago. I want to be eve when i grow up bigtime...and if i ever get the chance to meet anyone that looks like roarke or even just see someone that resembles him, i will be a happy soul!!!! The books are great i'm in the process of collecting the series in hardback...if you're a sci-fi fan and like a lil' drama, a lil' action( sometimes alotta action), a kick-ass chick kickin' ass, a hot mo-fo backin up the kick-ass chick and likin' it, as well as romance, friendships takin' off, and just down rite funny situations, i suggest you give this series a try...do start from the beginning tho...Naked In Death!!!

I really enjoy all of Robb's "In Death" books. I have already zipped through about 20 of them and plan to continue on until I have, with regret, completed the series. I have not been disappointed in any one of them, even the shorter novels.

story line are very entertaining and plots are intriguing, will continue to try and purchase the complete collection one book at a time. just need about 7 or 8 earlier books to keep my collection up to date

JD Robb does it again!! I love that this book takes Eve back to Chicago...the last place she remembers being with her father. We get to see her struggle with what life would be without her badge and that Roarke is by her side no matter what.

Okay, so I enjoy a sex scene as much as anyone but two, maybe three within a book should do it!! This is WAY beyond that and totally unnecessary to the plot or anything else..... this book has brought our dear author out of the realm of Detective story to — close to porn..

A bitter winter that bodes no good for the vulnerable people of the streets when a cunning killer plays god with their medical gift. Dallas and Roarke are fighting danger on two fronts. The passion and emotion crackles and sizzles in this latest In Death installment.

Conspiracy in Death is the eighth book in a series that works best read consecutively, but could be read standalone in a pinch.

After the New Year's, its back to the grind and Eve gets called out in the early morning hours on a murder that is nothing like routine. Someone has used precision surgical techniques to remove the heart from a homeless man. Eve gets distracted when a patrol officer gets belligerent and vows she'll be sorry. When the case leads her into the highest echelons of the medical profession and the lowliest clinics, to wondering at the politic pressure and cops turning a blind eye, Eve smells conspiracy and this time it is targeting not just her life, but her living as a cop.
Roarke, Peabody, Feeney, McNab, Mavis, and a few new players stand with her, but will it be enough?

As I have worked my way steadily through the series, I've liked all and thrilled over some books. This is one that I thrilled to read once it got rolling. There is nothing like a tough, yet secretly vulnerable heroine like Lt. Eve Dallas facing her worst fears while being up against a villain who has a great deal of backing to pull me in and have me avidly devouring each page.
I've always enjoyed the dynamics between Eve and Roarke, but in this one, their 'rightness' as a couple was never more apparent when he was delivering tender then passionate, and, the best... tough love to his wife to keep her going when she hit her lowest.
The murder mystery is not particularly difficult to work out, but that didn't matter since the spotlight was more on how Eve would beat back personal demons and powerful interference to wrest the victory.

All in all, this was definitely one of- if not the best- of the series so far for me. Those who enjoy gritty, futuristic romantic suspense are the target group for this series.

Conspiracy in Death

In Death series #9

J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts)

Berkley Books, Apr 1999

363 pages, ebook, paperback, audiobook

Sci-fi thriller romance cozy

✮✮✮✮⭒

I purchased this book as part of a 5 book series from BN.com for nook at a sale price. This is my honest review for which I receive no compensation of any kind.

The cover is scary and depicts parts of the story very well, as you will see once you have read it if you do. The story is a really good one and carries a lesson to be remembered. When medicine starts working miracles, doctors must remember that they are not God. They do not have the power over man to make the decision as to who lives and who dies, whose life has value and whose life does not. The characters are well done as they continue to develop. We meet two more who will become regulars eventually. Well, actually, we meet three. One we have seen in a previous book I think. Oops. The pace is fast as all In Death books are and the tension is nerve-wracking as always. It’s been so long that I can’t remember all the aspects of these books and can’t remember who did some of these. This was one of those, and it drove me crazy trying to figure it out!

And here begins the reveal…

The quote at the beginning of each book is always so appropo, but this one I really like the wording.

“Let us hob-and-nob with Death.” Tennyson

I make a point of going back at the end of each book to read the quotes that the author had chosen and usually find then terribly appropriate. This one with its short wording was right on.

Someone is removing the internal organs from street people and they aren’t asking permission. The first one Dallas gets involved with is Snooks, a homeless guy who makes paper flowers and is liked by everyone who knows him. The two uniformed cops that found him are Officer Ellen Bowers and Officer Troy Trueheart from the 062 Precinct. Bowers isn’t much help and isn’t very friendly, to the point of being obstructive almost. Dallas didn’t like her and sent her off to get coffee and Bowers didn’t like that. In the meantime, Officer Trueheart offered up some helpful information that leads to more information on the case and eventually leads to Troy Trueheart becoming a part of the team. We will see a lot more of him in the future.

Bowers is a troublemaker and has it in for Dallas. They were apparently at the police academy together, where Dallas was something of a wonder woman and superstar. Whereas Bowers barely made it through. Dallas has always been a cop through and through and squared away in uniform before she made detective, whereas Bowers’ uniform is shabby and needs cleaning and repairs. Slovenly is the word that comes to mind actually. Bowers is a complaint filer and she doesn’t disappoint IAB. She files several complaints against Dallas with references going back to their time at the academy when Dallas supposedly used sexual favors to get through. Her claims are wild and not taken seriously by IAB officer Don Webster, another one who will appear throughout future books. He and Dallas have worked together in the past and they are on good terms until he’s the one investigating her. Then she’s not happy with him at all. Nor is she happy with this smudge on her record or the fact that they eventually take her badge and weapon. She just can’t believe they believe any of this of her! It’s not that they believe it, but that they can’t disprove it! The opposition is just that good! Things are eventually disproved, Bowers is killed by a droid and Dallas reclaims her treasured badge and weapon, the loss of which had brought her to her knees. Her whole image of herself is wrapped up in that badge. For them to take that from her was devastating to her. Roarke got her through it. Dr. Mira came as soon as she heard. Dallas pulls herself together and returns to work.

She meets one other person in this case that she will acquire. Dr. Louise Dimatto works at the free clinic because she cares so much. She helps Dallas figure some of the medical things out and finds the records that are hidden in the computers of the clinic. This international group of top surgeons used her little free clinic for the poor and homeless as the front for their dirty work. And all the top surgeons were involved. Some of them more than others and some more willingly than others. Only one was actually killing street people. But he didn’t see them as people. They were just disposable sources. Certain organs with regenerative tissue were harvested. If they could regenerate organs they could eventually regenerate people. They would need to limit the world population because of limited natural resources so it would have to be a selective population. But that’s okay, they would decide who would be part of that population. Now, maybe you are getting a glimpse why the quote is so perfect.

Highly recommended.

Conspiracy in Death was super great! This time Eve is faced with a homeless man whose heart has been taken. But it doesn't look like a cult sacrifice. Everything is too neat and perfect, but there's also no way that his worn out organ would be worth anything on the black market. Eve isn't willing to just let it go though, and finds other cases where organs had been carefully removed from less than healthy patients. Clearly, she's got a very skilled doctor on her hands, but why?

Other than this medical mystery, Conspiracy in Death also contains Eve's worst nightmare: losing her badge. It's obvious given the circumstances and what we know about Eve that she's being set up. Eve knows it and her department knows it, but they have to follow procedure. Eve knows all about following procedure when your head and heart are telling you something else. All of this was very interesting to me and let us see yet another side to our headstrong cop.

Conspiracy in Death was another awesome installment in this series. The mystery was engaging and I didn't solve it this time. Too many factors! I loved seeing Eve fight for her badge, and also felt awful for what she had to go through in order to get it back. There's just a lot of great stuff going on in here, and it's certainly going to affect how Eve handles herself in future books.

Well what is there to say about book #8 in what is now a 41 book series? Obviously it is a pretty good book. Out of the first 8 book I would have to say this was my favorite thus far. To delve into most of the reasons behind that I would give up a lot of plot points which I do not like to do so I will not!

If case for some reason this is the first book you have seen or heard about in the series I like to give a brief overview of the book. I like to describe these books as two parts detective story, one part sci-fi/futuristic, and one part romance novel. Now as a red blooded man I like reading about sex as much as the next guy but in all honesty I think the sex gets in the way in this series a little bit. However, in this particular book the sex scenes are not quite as prevalent which for me works better in the context of these novels. That is one of the reasons why I liked this book better than the others so far. But as I said the sex only gets in the way a little in general and in my opinion not at all in this book.

So if you like your detectives female, your settings in the future, and to read about the main character getting some this is a great series for you!

As always, I love the In Death series! I actually felt like this one wasn't quite as good as the previous books. I always enjoy them, but I didn't think this one had quite as many twists and turns and I actually wasn't hooked into the plot as much as I usually am.

I did like how not only did we have our serial killer case, but also an internal police issue that Eve has to deal with. We see Eve grow as a person little by little as she has to control her temper with the wildly inapporopriate Officer Bowers and maintain her cool when the complaint reports start filing in. Eve can't take her usual tough approach and barrel through this sensitive issue, so it was interesting to see her emotions in check and how that whole situation played out.

I wasn't too interested in the rogue surgeon plot for some reason. Just didn't really catch me, and for some reason it felt like too many characters I didn't know and wasn't really interested in. Regardless, it was an interesting finish and I still really enjoyed the whole novel!

It didn't come up too much in the book but I'm not a fan of Peabody and Charles being together. Maybe that's why there wasn't much detail in this book, but I'm kind of hoping that ends soon. Just seems a little bizarre to me!

I am enjoying this series. I have switched to listening to the CD's as the reader does an excellent job and stays within the parameters that click true to my brain. Some, like the Lee Child's Jack Reacher series, have a reader whose voice just doesn't fit the one in my own head, but this one does. I like Eve Dallas. She has overcome a lot and she is a no non sense, dedicated, smart cop.
She and her uber rich husband both started out in terrible circumstances and each has compensated in their own way. For Eve, it's attaching her identity and worth to her badge, since she really doesn't remember her entire childhood enough to know her name; just enough of it to know maybe she doesn't want to remember. The stories center around crimes and follow Eve as she solves them. In this case it starts out with a derelict whose heart has surgically been removed. As Eve investigates she finds more and more evidence that there is a conspiracy that involves people pretty high up, including a senator. In the process, those behind it manage to arrange things in such a way as to make her a suspect in another cops murder and her badge is taken while there is an investigation. Each book has been a good read, this one has topped the others, however.
I like the other characters in this series as well and the relationship between her and her hubby is not schmaltzy but there is no doubt they love each other and are devoted to each other. Robb keeps him just this side of manly behavior without over-doing it. The same with the love scenes - sprinkled in but not overdone. I also like the relationship between her and her husbands life long butler - they enjoy antagonizing each other but under the hate there is respect and maybe even a little caring - way under.
This series takes place in the future but it is not a really what you could call science fiction in the general sense.

This book was written in 1999 with a storyline that was placed 60 years into the future, January 2059, to be exact. It is a time when the advances in technology, especially in the areas of communication, computer services, interplanetary travel, anatomically correct android assistants, and human health, are taken for granted.

It is the area of human health and longevity that is the focus of this 8th book in the series. Average lifespan is now 120 years due to the fact that most diseases, such as cancer, can be cured and organ transplants are cheap and quick due to the wide availability of artificial units. Basically, as the author states in one section of dialogue, the only natural killer of a human being is another human being.

And when streetwalkers and licensed companions start showing up dead with organs very professionally and neatly removed surgically, Eve Dallas is faced with a real conundrum. Not just WHO is committing the murders but WHY the organ harvesting is happening becomes the issue since artificial organs have been cheaply available for decades. And it is that WHY that nearly costs Eve her life and does cost her the badge she so fundamentally requires.

The story is expertly told just as one would expect from J D Robb / Nora Roberts. Nothing comes easy as to the identity of the conspirators for both Eve and the reader. And Eve's struggle to defend her actions and to have her suspension rescinded is a struggle for her own self-worth that is brutally expressed by the author.

However, lest you think that the book is a miserable crying out from start to finish, the repartee between Eve and Roarke is truly hilarious most of the time. The building of the snowman and the ensuing snowball fight in Chapter 11 will certainly bring a smile. And the conflict staged by Roarke against Eve's self-pity in Chapter 15 is a psychological masterpiece.

This is probably my favorite "In Death" book, and I have read them all (expect the newest one - rereading before I read it). Unlike some of the others, I felt she actually invested real time in thinking through her plot and developing her characters here, rather than just going off of a formula for how each character acts/thinks, as she seems to in some of the other books. Beyond that, the story was more interesting than some of her other In Death books, both the crime behind it and Eve's personal problems in the novel.

That being said, this book does suffer from many of the same problems as the others in the series; in this particular case it's pretty obvious early on who the killers are, and the side plot regarding Eve's problems only partially makes up for that. Likewise, despite the fact that she does seem to put more effort in to not sticking to a formula regarding how her characters act and think, they are still a bit predictable - while this is much better than in some of the other novels, it is not entirely absent. The sex scenes, as always, are repetitive and boring - at this point I honestly skip over them.

As with all of these novels, you're not going to find highbrow literature here - these novels are strictly "guilty pleasures" or what I call "throw-aways" (although I myself have read them more than once now, but they're my favorite guilty pleasure). I give this one 5 stars only in relation to the rest of the series in that it minimizes some of the flaws of the series. I enjoy the mysteries and I like and identify with many of the characters, so I continue reading. If you enjoy "easy" mysteries and characters that you can watch grow and change over time, this series is for you. If you want something intellectually stimulating, it probably isn't. Good summer beach or vacation read, in my opinion.

The murders in this book had an unusual theme, surgically removing organs from people who are thought of as those who society leaves behind. Eve gets kicked off the case because of a fellow officer with a grudge, and it was hard seeing her without her cop status, like she has no other identity. I loved how all her friends and loved ones rallied around her (even Summerset!).

Two new supporting characters, Dr. Louise and Officer Trueheart, were great additions and I hope they pop up again in the future.

What can I say about this book that I haven't already said a million times before? I'm in the midst of re-reading the series, and I really didn't want to re-read this one. Not because it's bad, but because it's so emotionally intense. But I'm a bit anal, so skipping it wasn't an option. To blunt the impact, I started out reading a chapter at a time, then switching to another book for a while. That lasted until about 1/3 of the way through the book, then I couldn't put it down.

For those who haven't read the series, or who haven't re-read them often enough to be able to identify them from the titles, Conspiracy in Death has homicide lieutenant Eve Dallas investigating murders that involve the precise surgical removal of diseased organs. She collides with a disgruntled "problem child" cop who's intent on making Eve's life miserable. When that cop is brutally murdered, Eve's a suspect, and as such, has to turn in her badge.

Particularly on a re-read, I cringed at Eve's every interaction with Bowers, the disgruntled cop. Eve was her usual abrasive self, made moreso by both Bowers's complaints and the roadblocks being thrown up by the local medical community, who don't want to believe one of their own could be responsible. But while part of me is screaming at Eve to try to defuse the situation, another part is cheering, because her actions are utterly true to her character, and she couldn't behave any differently and still be the same character. She's since (in later books) grown and changed to the point where she'd have reacted differently, I think, but at this point in the series, it's who she was.

The loss of her badge, to someone whose entire identity has been wrapped up in it, is very well done, as are the effects of her slowly-widening circle of people she cares about and who care about her, and that's the core of the story--how she's broken down, and builds herself back up with a little help from her husband Roarke and her friends. For that, I forgive the idea that a cop at a murder scene can tell at a glance that a heart or liver is missing from a body.

Other memorable bits include the introductions of officer Troy Trueheart and Dr. Louise Dimatto, and Internal Affairs lieutenant Don Webster, and Eve's reaction to discovering that Roarke had opened bank accounts for her when they married.

Conspiracy in Death is the 9th story (8th full-length book--there was a novella just before this one) in the series, and while you could no doubt enjoy the mystery without having read the previous books, I strongly suggest reading the series in order, to get the full impact. Unlike some mystery series with static detectives, the characters in the In Death series grow and change throughout the series, and you'll miss that by skipping around.

It all begins with a harmless vagrant found one morning with his heart cut out--surgically, with great precision and skill. When Eve finds out the vagrant not only isn't the first victim, but is one of many, she picks up the pace and soon finds herself the target of a handful of attacks. A troubled policewoman with a grudge wants Eve's badge and will stop at nothing to have it. A powerful senator wants the case closed. A deadly military droid threatens Eve and her family. And when Eve loses her badge, her carefully held-together toughness threatens to crumble as she's dropped into the fragmented, brutal memories of her childhood.

The bad guys are smart, but there are a few things they didn't count on, however. Eve won't give up, badge or no badge, and Roarke's resources give her a lot to draw on. And her replacement, Feeney, is every bit as dogged an opponent as she is, particularly with Peabody and McNab racing to help him.

If you aren't as much into Eve's personal story as you are the detective side of things, this won't be your favorite book of the series. If you want to see more bits and pieces of her childhood brought out, however, this is definitely the right book for that. As usual it stretches belief to have Roarke always tied up in the financials and to have some part of the case or cases be personal to Eve (in this case the uniform with a long-time grudge), but hey, the formula works, so it's hard to complain. The idea of a bad guy with a god complex and a fatal flaw of arrogance is a little overused, but again, it suits Roberts's formula well and is used appropriately.

As usual, I should note that these books are for adults only (explicit and highly athletic sex included).

This is one of my favorite series because it blends two of the genres I like most, fantasy / sci-fi and mystery. Nevertheless, I have found that in a couple of cases I feel that one of the books in the series is missing something. In this one the storyline was not particularly interesting to me, and I think that J.D. Robb did not progress as far as she could with the development of the different characters.

Lieutenant Eve Dallas is summoned to a very unusual scene: a homeless man was murdered and his heart was removed with surgical precision. The killers, because the medical examiner determines it has to be more than one, used high quality tools and have to be experts in the surgical field. This creates a real problem for Eve, because it is hard to figure out a motive. Man-made organs are fully perfected and even though rich people prefer human organs, these have to be in prime condition and, needless to say, the ones from the victim weren't.

Besides having to deal with finding the killers, Eve is faced with an uncooperative and outright confrontational female officer that will take part of Eve's energy away from the case and drive her close to desperation and doom. Also, when her investigation leads her to the Drake Center of Medicine, Eve realizes that she is very close to two of the members of the board: Dr. Charlotte Mira, her psychologist, and Roarke, her billionaire husband.

J.D. Robb has a very special way of presenting what I interpret as her vision of a better future through some of the features of the world in which the series develops in the year 2059. For example, firearms are banned, there are licensed companions who can carry their business in privacy without getting in trouble with the law, and the Drake Center is named after the man who discovered the anticancer vaccine.

As I mentioned, this is not one of the best books in the series, and it made me feel as if Robb was in some kind of schedule to release another novel for a certain date and had to go with the first idea that came to her mind. Maybe my slight disappointment is partly my fault, because I have been expecting five-star books in every time I start an Eve Dallas' mystery. This one falls a little short of the mark; but there is no way around it, those who have been following the series have to read it and hope that the next novel will get better.

J.D. Robb's "Conspiracy in Death" is brilliant. The writing is first rate, and the story is skilfully rendered and emotionally charged. This book absorbed me completely, right from the start, and I cried and laughed along with the characters.
Lieutenant Eve Dallas of the NYPSD, the hard-boiled and emotionally troubled heroine, will win readers' hearts with her determination and compassion. Her husband Roarke, the dashing billionaire, is every woman's dream come true. The relationship between husband and wife has developed and grown throughout the series, and it has been an incredibly rewarding experience for me to get to know them. Eve and Roarke have an unlimited passion and tenderness for each other that will warm readers' hearts.
In this eighth instalment, a killer is hunting New York's most helpless in the cold January of 2059, as a sidewalk sleeper is found dead with a perfect fist-sized hole where his heart once was. Lieutenant Dallas is determined to stand for the dead, no matter who they were, and she knows that she's looking for a killer with a cold and calculating mind and sophisticated medical training. However, a bitter and unbalanced fellow officer with a grudge is getting in Eve's way, and is starting to cause serious trouble for her. As Eve pursues her investigation, she suddenly finds her job on the line. Now Eve is caught between a fight for her career and a fight to catch a killer and bring him to justice!
This novel mixes elements of mystery, romance, science-fiction, and police procedure (among others) seamlessly. Robb has created a compelling and action-packed tale that will keep you turning pages well into the night. The characters' triumphs and losses are palpable and the mystery is well thought out and exciting. I most definitely recommend this book, so buy it today!

Someone is killing the homeless of New York, in the year 2058, and removing their body parts! As Lieutenant Eve Dallas unravels the mystery behind who is killing them and why (affectionately known as the "sidewalk sleeper murders"), she is forced to face an adversary who will stop at nothing, including framing her for murder, to get her thrown off the case. Torn between a love for the job, a pursuit for the truth, and fighting to keep the one thing that she REALLY loves, besides Roarke, her badge, Eve is stripped of everything, and for the first time in the series, we see Eve really vulnerable and hurting (even too sad to spare with Summerset, who we all know she has a love/hate relationship with). With her true friends support, Eve continues her journey in discovering the truth, no matter what the consequences. And we all learn how really important her careeer and badge are.

If you love the "in death" series, you will love this book as well. You even get an opportunity to see Dr. Mira, Feeney, McNab, Peabody, Baxter, Webster (old lover of Eve's), and Commander Whitney. And I finally find out how Trueheart and Dr. Louise's characters are introduced into the "in death" series. [I must admit that I have not read the series in order, so finding out these things is always helpful]. I highly recommend this book.

I am enjoying this series. I have switched to listening to the CD's as the reader does an excellent job and stays within the parameters that click true to my brain. Some, like the Lee Child's Jack Reacher series, have a reader whose voice just doesn't fit the one in my own head, but this one does. I like Eve Dallas. She has overcome a lot and she is a no non sense, dedicated, smart cop.
She and her uber rich husband both started out in terrible circumstances and each has compensated in their own way. For Eve, it's attaching her identity and worth to her badge, since she really doesn't remember her entire childhood enough to know her name; just enough of it to know maybe she doesn't want to remember. The stories center around crimes and follow Eve as she solves them. In this case it starts out with a derelict whose heart has surgically been removed. As Eve investigates she finds more and more evidence that there is a conspiracy that involves people pretty high up, including a senator. In the process, those behind it manage to arrange things in such a way as to make her a suspect in another cops murder and her badge is taken while there is an investigation. Each book has been a good read, this one has topped the others, however.
I like the other characters in this series as well and the relationship between her and her hubby is not schmaltzy but there is no doubt they love each other and are devoted to each other. Robb keeps him just this side of manly behavior without over-doing it. The same with the love scenes - sprinkled in but not overdone. I also like the relationship between her and her husbands life long butler - they enjoy antagonizing each other but under the hate there is respect and maybe even a little caring - way under.
This series takes place in the future but it is not a really what you could call science fiction in the general sense.

This book was written in 1999 with a storyline that was placed 60 years into the future, January 2059, to be exact. It is a time when the advances in technology, especially in the areas of communication, computer services, interplanetary travel, anatomically correct android assistants, and human health, are taken for granted.

It is the area of human health and longevity that is the focus of this 8th book in the series. Average lifespan is now 120 years due to the fact that most diseases, such as cancer, can be cured and organ transplants are cheap and quick due to the wide availability of artificial units. Basically, as the author states in one section of dialogue, the only natural killer of a human being is another human being.

And when streetwalkers and licensed companions start showing up dead with organs very professionally and neatly removed surgically, Eve Dallas is faced with a real conundrum. Not just WHO is committing the murders but WHY the organ harvesting is happening becomes the issue since artificial organs have been cheaply available for decades. And it is that WHY that nearly costs Eve her life and does cost her the badge she so fundamentally requires.

The story is expertly told just as one would expect from J D Robb / Nora Roberts. Nothing comes easy as to the identity of the conspirators for both Eve and the reader. And Eve's struggle to defend her actions and to have her suspension rescinded is a struggle for her own self-worth that is brutally expressed by the author.

However, lest you think that the book is a miserable crying out from start to finish, the repartee between Eve and Roarke is truly hilarious most of the time. The building of the snowman and the ensuing snowball fight in Chapter 11 will certainly bring a smile. And the conflict staged by Roarke against Eve's self-pity in Chapter 15 is a psychological masterpiece.

This is probably my favorite "In Death" book, and I have read them all (expect the newest one - rereading before I read it). Unlike some of the others, I felt she actually invested real time in thinking through her plot and developing her characters here, rather than just going off of a formula for how each character acts/thinks, as she seems to in some of the other books. Beyond that, the story was more interesting than some of her other In Death books, both the crime behind it and Eve's personal problems in the novel.

That being said, this book does suffer from many of the same problems as the others in the series; in this particular case it's pretty obvious early on who the killers are, and the side plot regarding Eve's problems only partially makes up for that. Likewise, despite the fact that she does seem to put more effort in to not sticking to a formula regarding how her characters act and think, they are still a bit predictable - while this is much better than in some of the other novels, it is not entirely absent. The sex scenes, as always, are repetitive and boring - at this point I honestly skip over them.

As with all of these novels, you're not going to find highbrow literature here - these novels are strictly "guilty pleasures" or what I call "throw-aways" (although I myself have read them more than once now, but they're my favorite guilty pleasure). I give this one 5 stars only in relation to the rest of the series in that it minimizes some of the flaws of the series. I enjoy the mysteries and I like and identify with many of the characters, so I continue reading. If you enjoy "easy" mysteries and characters that you can watch grow and change over time, this series is for you. If you want something intellectually stimulating, it probably isn't. Good summer beach or vacation read, in my opinion.

The murders in this book had an unusual theme, surgically removing organs from people who are thought of as those who society leaves behind. Eve gets kicked off the case because of a fellow officer with a grudge, and it was hard seeing her without her cop status, like she has no other identity. I loved how all her friends and loved ones rallied around her (even Summerset!).

Two new supporting characters, Dr. Louise and Officer Trueheart, were great additions and I hope they pop up again in the future.

What can I say about this book that I haven't already said a million times before? I'm in the midst of re-reading the series, and I really didn't want to re-read this one. Not because it's bad, but because it's so emotionally intense. But I'm a bit anal, so skipping it wasn't an option. To blunt the impact, I started out reading a chapter at a time, then switching to another book for a while. That lasted until about 1/3 of the way through the book, then I couldn't put it down.

For those who haven't read the series, or who haven't re-read them often enough to be able to identify them from the titles, Conspiracy in Death has homicide lieutenant Eve Dallas investigating murders that involve the precise surgical removal of diseased organs. She collides with a disgruntled "problem child" cop who's intent on making Eve's life miserable. When that cop is brutally murdered, Eve's a suspect, and as such, has to turn in her badge.

Particularly on a re-read, I cringed at Eve's every interaction with Bowers, the disgruntled cop. Eve was her usual abrasive self, made moreso by both Bowers's complaints and the roadblocks being thrown up by the local medical community, who don't want to believe one of their own could be responsible. But while part of me is screaming at Eve to try to defuse the situation, another part is cheering, because her actions are utterly true to her character, and she couldn't behave any differently and still be the same character. She's since (in later books) grown and changed to the point where she'd have reacted differently, I think, but at this point in the series, it's who she was.

The loss of her badge, to someone whose entire identity has been wrapped up in it, is very well done, as are the effects of her slowly-widening circle of people she cares about and who care about her, and that's the core of the story--how she's broken down, and builds herself back up with a little help from her husband Roarke and her friends. For that, I forgive the idea that a cop at a murder scene can tell at a glance that a heart or liver is missing from a body.

Other memorable bits include the introductions of officer Troy Trueheart and Dr. Louise Dimatto, and Internal Affairs lieutenant Don Webster, and Eve's reaction to discovering that Roarke had opened bank accounts for her when they married.

Conspiracy in Death is the 9th story (8th full-length book--there was a novella just before this one) in the series, and while you could no doubt enjoy the mystery without having read the previous books, I strongly suggest reading the series in order, to get the full impact. Unlike some mystery series with static detectives, the characters in the In Death series grow and change throughout the series, and you'll miss that by skipping around.

It all begins with a harmless vagrant found one morning with his heart cut out--surgically, with great precision and skill. When Eve finds out the vagrant not only isn't the first victim, but is one of many, she picks up the pace and soon finds herself the target of a handful of attacks. A troubled policewoman with a grudge wants Eve's badge and will stop at nothing to have it. A powerful senator wants the case closed. A deadly military droid threatens Eve and her family. And when Eve loses her badge, her carefully held-together toughness threatens to crumble as she's dropped into the fragmented, brutal memories of her childhood.

The bad guys are smart, but there are a few things they didn't count on, however. Eve won't give up, badge or no badge, and Roarke's resources give her a lot to draw on. And her replacement, Feeney, is every bit as dogged an opponent as she is, particularly with Peabody and McNab racing to help him.

If you aren't as much into Eve's personal story as you are the detective side of things, this won't be your favorite book of the series. If you want to see more bits and pieces of her childhood brought out, however, this is definitely the right book for that. As usual it stretches belief to have Roarke always tied up in the financials and to have some part of the case or cases be personal to Eve (in this case the uniform with a long-time grudge), but hey, the formula works, so it's hard to complain. The idea of a bad guy with a god complex and a fatal flaw of arrogance is a little overused, but again, it suits Roberts's formula well and is used appropriately.

As usual, I should note that these books are for adults only (explicit and highly athletic sex included).

This is one of my favorite series because it blends two of the genres I like most, fantasy / sci-fi and mystery. Nevertheless, I have found that in a couple of cases I feel that one of the books in the series is missing something. In this one the storyline was not particularly interesting to me, and I think that J.D. Robb did not progress as far as she could with the development of the different characters.

Lieutenant Eve Dallas is summoned to a very unusual scene: a homeless man was murdered and his heart was removed with surgical precision. The killers, because the medical examiner determines it has to be more than one, used high quality tools and have to be experts in the surgical field. This creates a real problem for Eve, because it is hard to figure out a motive. Man-made organs are fully perfected and even though rich people prefer human organs, these have to be in prime condition and, needless to say, the ones from the victim weren't.

Besides having to deal with finding the killers, Eve is faced with an uncooperative and outright confrontational female officer that will take part of Eve's energy away from the case and drive her close to desperation and doom. Also, when her investigation leads her to the Drake Center of Medicine, Eve realizes that she is very close to two of the members of the board: Dr. Charlotte Mira, her psychologist, and Roarke, her billionaire husband.

J.D. Robb has a very special way of presenting what I interpret as her vision of a better future through some of the features of the world in which the series develops in the year 2059. For example, firearms are banned, there are licensed companions who can carry their business in privacy without getting in trouble with the law, and the Drake Center is named after the man who discovered the anticancer vaccine.

As I mentioned, this is not one of the best books in the series, and it made me feel as if Robb was in some kind of schedule to release another novel for a certain date and had to go with the first idea that came to her mind. Maybe my slight disappointment is partly my fault, because I have been expecting five-star books in every time I start an Eve Dallas' mystery. This one falls a little short of the mark; but there is no way around it, those who have been following the series have to read it and hope that the next novel will get better.

J.D. Robb's "Conspiracy in Death" is brilliant. The writing is first rate, and the story is skilfully rendered and emotionally charged. This book absorbed me completely, right from the start, and I cried and laughed along with the characters.
Lieutenant Eve Dallas of the NYPSD, the hard-boiled and emotionally troubled heroine, will win readers' hearts with her determination and compassion. Her husband Roarke, the dashing billionaire, is every woman's dream come true. The relationship between husband and wife has developed and grown throughout the series, and it has been an incredibly rewarding experience for me to get to know them. Eve and Roarke have an unlimited passion and tenderness for each other that will warm readers' hearts.
In this eighth instalment, a killer is hunting New York's most helpless in the cold January of 2059, as a sidewalk sleeper is found dead with a perfect fist-sized hole where his heart once was. Lieutenant Dallas is determined to stand for the dead, no matter who they were, and she knows that she's looking for a killer with a cold and calculating mind and sophisticated medical training. However, a bitter and unbalanced fellow officer with a grudge is getting in Eve's way, and is starting to cause serious trouble for her. As Eve pursues her investigation, she suddenly finds her job on the line. Now Eve is caught between a fight for her career and a fight to catch a killer and bring him to justice!
This novel mixes elements of mystery, romance, science-fiction, and police procedure (among others) seamlessly. Robb has created a compelling and action-packed tale that will keep you turning pages well into the night. The characters' triumphs and losses are palpable and the mystery is well thought out and exciting. I most definitely recommend this book, so buy it today!

Someone is killing the homeless of New York, in the year 2058, and removing their body parts! As Lieutenant Eve Dallas unravels the mystery behind who is killing them and why (affectionately known as the "sidewalk sleeper murders"), she is forced to face an adversary who will stop at nothing, including framing her for murder, to get her thrown off the case. Torn between a love for the job, a pursuit for the truth, and fighting to keep the one thing that she REALLY loves, besides Roarke, her badge, Eve is stripped of everything, and for the first time in the series, we see Eve really vulnerable and hurting (even too sad to spare with Summerset, who we all know she has a love/hate relationship with). With her true friends support, Eve continues her journey in discovering the truth, no matter what the consequences. And we all learn how really important her careeer and badge are.

If you love the "in death" series, you will love this book as well. You even get an opportunity to see Dr. Mira, Feeney, McNab, Peabody, Baxter, Webster (old lover of Eve's), and Commander Whitney. And I finally find out how Trueheart and Dr. Louise's characters are introduced into the "in death" series. [I must admit that I have not read the series in order, so finding out these things is always helpful]. I highly recommend this book.

This is the first book in this series that I have read. I always have been a bit reluctant because I wasn't sure how I would like a mystery set in the future. I'm glad I finally took the plunge. Eve Dallas is an excellent lead character--a woman who doesn't take any stuff from anyone. While this is the first book I have read in the series, I can't think of a moment when I felt I was lost because I was missing something I would have learned by reading the earlier entries. Setting the book a half century in the future also was not a problem. I was really surprised by how little technology had progressed in fifty years. There was more sex than I was expecting, but I was glad to see a book where married people still show a great passion for one another. The plot was revolves around a series of murders where street people meet their deaths when key organs are removed, despite how unhealthy those organs were. The novel revolves around the question of who would remove diseased organs and for what purpose. There is much to enjoy here, and I will try to fit earlier entries into my reading log.

Every book just keeps getting better and better.  Once again I found myself not knowing who the bad guy was, which made the suspense and the story so much better. 

A few of the novels I’ve guessed right away, this time I had no clue.  It was great.  I love listening as the story unfolds never knowing what direction things are heading but never wanting to stop listening.  This is a series I love and I can’t wait to dive back in.  

Conspiracy in Death is the eight installment in J.D. Robb's very popular and entertaining mystery-romance In Death series. The adventures of Detective Lt. Eve Dallas of the NYPSD and her ridiculously rich and handsome, Irish billionaire husband Roarke continues to grow and this time the latest murder case to come across Eve's desk threatens not just Eve's life but also Eve's spirit and will.

The story starts off with winter still at its height and the body of a vagrant found with his heart missing. Even with just a cursory look at the murder, Eve realizes that the wounds and technique used to remove said heart would take surgical skills that the usual low-level criminal would not have. This gives her the necessary clue to follow which would lead her to the highest levels of the medical community. To complicate matters is the badgering and incomprehensible attitude and harrassment of a beat cop first at the scene who seem to have held a grudge against Eve's successes both as an officer of the law and in her personal life.

All these factors make Eve's job that much harder and things really threaten her will and spirit when those culpable of the murders manipulate things behind the scenes and make her a suspect in another murder. This new situation threatens to give her reputation as a police officer a black mark and that is something Eve cannot deal with. With the help of Roarke, Peabody, Feeney, McNabb and Mavis (even Summerset helps in his own particular way), Eve soon finds a way to work through all the distractions and gets back to pursuing those whose god-complexes made them think they're above the law.

Consipracy in Death is a great addition to the In Death series. It showed Eve at her lowest and most vulnerable. For once her tough exterior is softened with situations out of her control and she must accept help from Roarke and those close to her when in the past she would never do such a thing. This story made Eve more human instead of just the superwoman, kickass cop she seem to be most of the time. A great eight book in the series and I can't wait for the next.

I was wrong. Ok, I've admitted it. I always thought science fiction or futuristic type novels weren't my cup of tea. While reading Conspiracy in Death I realized I couldn't have been more wrong - I love this futuristic series!

A homeless man is murdered and the case is assigned to Eve Dallas, since it's not a random act of violence. This man, Snooks, died when his heart was surgically removed by what appeared to be a very skilled surgeon. When Dallas digs a bit further, she discovers that this crime is connected to another committed in New York City where an aged LC (licensed companion) died as the result of her liver being removed. After even more digging, Dallas discovers a case in Chicago and one abroad that were all similar.

These were not the result of black market organ sales since all of the victims were within a few months of dying. In order for Eve Dallas to find the murderer she had to figure out why these victims were chosen. The closer she got to that answer, the more nervous very influential politicians and doctors became.

When she got too close to the truth, the villain had to put a stop to her investigation. The best way to get Dallas off the case was to have her suspended from the police department. This was a simple procedure since there was a conflict between the patrol officer who discovered Snook's body and Dallas. When that patrolwoman was brutally murdered suspicion fell on Dallas. Stripped of her badge and weapon, the very items that have been the heart and sole of her during her adult life, she has to deal with not only the idea of not being a police detective, but also with trying to solve this crime having her hands tied.

The main plot was interesting but the villain was predictable and no surprise. There was excellent character development and as usual J.D. Robb (AKA Nora Roberts) draws the reader into the suspense to the point of not being able to put down the book. What makes this book above average and falling into the excellent range is the fantastic subplot of Eve Dallas being stripped of her identity as a policewoman and how she must deal with the various facets of that. At times, it was more intense and more exciting that the main plot.

This is definitely one to read, as all of the "In Death" series books have been. Start with the first book when reading because J.D. Robb always has a couple of instances where she reflects on previous happenings. Or you can start with the first book just because it's the beginning of an excellent adventure!

It's a New Year, 2059 in New York City, and it starts of with murder. Eve is called to the homicide of a homeless man, and finds his heart cut out with extremely precise surgical precision. Upon securing the scene she has a run in with a street officer, Bowers. As Bowers stirs up a firestorm of trouble for Eve, vagrants and prostitutes keep winding up dead, and missing organs. It's Eve's toughest battle yet. She is up against a serial killer, her job is on the line, and so is her life.
This has been the BEST book of the "In Death" series so far. Eve equates her badge with her life, and when her badge is in jeopardy, she feels everything is taken away from her. In this book, we are allowed deep inside Eve's mind and heart. The people she has come to care for step up and show how much they truly love her. Eve's struggle is heart breaking. Roarke's struggle as he watches his wife fight for everything she believes in is equally as wrenching. I was in tears for most of this book.
CONSPIRACY IN DEATH is a fabulous book. Out of 5 stars, I would give it 10! I dare you to read this one without a box of tissues nearby.
JBogue...
Specializing in paranormal romance and fiction.

I have been into the "in Death" series since its inception and have enjoyed reading all the books (some more than others). Conspiracy in Death is one of the best of the series. I felt that the last few books had been slowly backsliding, a writer too complacent in her writing, too caught up in all her other stories (under other psuedonames). With Consppiracy in Death, we are once again put back on the path of good writing and a good story.
Eve and Roarke are a dynamic couple, with a lot of support from great secondary characters. I suppose that would be my only criticism of this story, not enough time with all our "friends". Though I like having the story focus on Eve and Roarke (with some very steamy scenes) we have so many secondary characters who get put on the back burner that I wish weren't. One very important part of this story is that Eve's friends are there for her when she needs them, yet not too much time is actually spent with these characters. If you hadn't read her previous stories you would be completely lost. That is why I only gave this 4 stars and not five. She also introduces a new character (a rookie cop) who I liked, but never really saw again after the first few scenes. And Peabody...are we ever going to see her with someone (besides her current LC boyfriend)???

The killer has struck deep into the very soul of the citizens of 2059 New York. The brilliant surgical removal of the victim's heart terrorizes everyone. The police department assigns the investigation to Lieutenant Eve Dallas. Other individuals are murdered with an organ removed as if a professional medical practitioner performed the precise surgery, which is where Eve begins her inquiries.
Instead of progressing towards uncovering the identity of the culprit, Eve becomes the focus of an internal investigation. In her mind, Eve feels she has done nothing except irritate some individuals with connections in high places. As she tries to save her tottering career, Eve feels strongly that ethically she must continue to work towards stopping a serial killer.
J.D. Robb's futuristic police procedural series is one of the more highly regarded by sub-genre fans. Her latest entry, CONSPIRACY IN DEATH, is one of the better tales because the awesome author provides much insight into Eve's acrimonious past within one of the collections' better story lines. As usual, Eve's spouse Roarke adds much mystery, excitement, and romance to the book. However, this time, Ms. Robb uses Eve's past as part of a subplot that brilliantly blends into a terrific tale.

Harriet Klausner

In this series, each story is as interesting as the last. Eve and Roarke's relationship progressively develops but they still maintain their individuality which is quite humorous at times and never boring. What really made this story of conspiracy in the medical/political world of hotshots work for me is the supporting cast of characters - Roarke, Feeney, Peabody, McNabb, Louise, Mira, Mavis, Whitney, Tibble - they all work together to make Eve Dallas a believable and heartwarming heroine and achieve the effect of a fascinating supporting cast to the storyline. The mystery involved in this story is based on a shady character with superior surgical skills playing God with people's lives, including Eve's!

I particularly found Feeney's father figure role interesting and would love to see that developed further in future storylines.

Thank you, Nora, for the great stories; you never seem to run out of ideas. Keep up the great work! I am waiting for a movie (or TV series) to come out based on Eve Dallas and company.

I'm just blown away by this entire series. It's amazing the way J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts) cranks out a new novel in the series every six months and yet they remain consistently well written. This book is one of my favorites in the series.
In the course of investigating a homicide, Eve's career -- and therefore her entire sense of self -- is placed in jeopardy. Luckily, she's got Roarke. In this book, Eve's character becomes even more developed (you've got to admire her tenacity and her emerging soft side) and her relationship with Roarke is strengthened. Even the secondary characters are interesting and you're left wanting to learn more about them. Typically, Robb indulges her readers by slowly revealing glimpses into these "minor" characters in subsequent novels.
Even if you're not a Nora Roberts fan, you should give this series a chance. My husband would never read a novel by a romance author but I gave him "Naked in Death" (the first book in the series) and he's hooked. We're reading the books at the same time and can't read them quickly enough.

I'm reviewing this with the benefit of hindsight. Having read many books in the series since, I look at this one as a precursor to a later book, in which cop death is a very prominent aspect of the plot.

This book merely prepares Eve for what she must face later on. It seems to me that is the purpose of the IN DEATH series. To watch more than just the EVOLUTION of Eve. More, to watch her GROWTH. While she might not grow that much in this one, per se, the seeds are planeted... and you have an EXCELLENT story to enjoy. You're introduced to many more details about characters that are still quite young to readers.

I do agree that you have to read these stories in order, however. I inadvertently picked up a story out of order, not realizing it at the time, and didn't really follow it until I'd read the ones immediately before it. Going back, I realized that there's a reason this is a series. It must be read in sequence or you miss something.

How do you find a murderer who takes a persons heart? Begin by looking at their skills of removal, of course.

Eve is doing her best to determine who is killing the homeless and removing their vital organs, however, it's the skill with which they are removed that leaves her with the most questions. These people have been given anesthetic and are clamped as if this was a surgery, yet it's done in the filthiest of places and the 'patients' are left to die.

Upon arriving to her first crime scene Eve is met with another cop who detests her. Never has she felt such malice from a fellow officer. Why? What's worse the officer seems out to get her and causes so much trouble that Eve's very life - her badge - is on the line.