Off the Bookshelf: FESTIVE IN DEATH, by JD Robb

I've been a really good girl -- productivity-wise. So when the latest paperback in the In Death Series was available, I didn't feel guilty -- too much anyway -- about indulging and buying a new book.

FESTIVE IN DEATH takes place at Christmas. Amid all the strain of preparing for Roarke's annual blow-out Christmas party, and navigating all the social obligations and niceties of gifting and holidays and decorations, Lt. Eve Dallas has to deal with the murder of a personal trainer.

Gee, hasn't everybody wanted to kill their personal trainer at one time or another? The thing is, this personal trainer deserves to die. He's a user. A blackmailer. A manipulator. An ego-maniac. And as Eve investigates all the people on his client list and then the secret list tied into the huge wads of cash found in his locker, she discovers he's also a rapist. The kind of rapist who convinces himself his victim wanted it. Yeah, he deserved to die. But the thing is, that kind of decision should be left to the courts, so that's where Eve Dallas comes in. Despite everything, she has to stand up for the dead.

I love the characters in the In Death series. The interactions. The relationships. And the process of tracking down the murderer and even understanding, a little bit, why ....