This is the 42nd In Death book but, in the internal chronology, only about three years have passed since Eve and Roarke first met. Eve (and Roarke) have made massive changes since the first book. Because Eve is the viewpoint character, we see her changes more closely. In this episode, Eve is called in when her friend Dr. Mira's husband is struck from behind in a house he inherited from his grandparents. He had come their to, very reluctantly, confront his cousin who inherited half the house and was determined to sell it despite the promises they made to their grandfather to keep it in the family.

Dennis Mira's cousin Edward is missing. This doesn't seem like Eve's kind of case since she is a murder cop but Dr. Mira is a friend and Eve has quite a crush on Dennis Mira who is a thoroughly nice man. When investigating Edward, she quickly learns how different he was from his cousin. They are quickly led to a number of women that Edward, very much married, had seduced in just the past year which leads Eve to think about marriage and fidelity. She knows she would not look the other way if Roarke chose to stray.

The case quickly turns to murder when Edward is found hanging from the chandelier in the foyer of his grandparents' house. He was beaten and tortured before his death. Because of the nature of the torture, focus turns to the crime being a result of some sexual relationship gone wrong which helps Eve's focus.

I will say that the identities of the murderers were known pretty early in the story and the focus shifted on finding them before they could kill their next target. What made this story particularly interesting to me was that Eve had much more sympathy for the murderers than she had for the victims. However, her job was to stand for the victims no matter how unlikable or how unpleasant they were while they were alive. Also, the nature of the crimes committed by these men brought back memories of her own abused childhood. It was good to see the support network that she has built over the past three years. There's Roarke, of course, but there is also Dr. Mira and her partner Peabody who know her story.

The nature of the case provides unique stress to Eve but so does Roarke's plan to redo her home office. He had created a duplicate of the apartment she lived in before they met and now he feels that it is time for a change. Eve was caught by surprise by the idea and it takes a while before she figures out why. This creates some tension between Eve and Roarke for a time.

I loved this story and this opportunity to catch up on the lives of characters who are so real to me that I wouldn't be at all surprised to meet them on the street some day. ( )