Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi

*Beware of possible Spoilers*

It’s bad when you have to investigate a murder of a fallen police officer, but when it’s someone you know it’s even worse, and add to that being the love of one of your best friend’s lives it’s almost unbearable.  That is exactly what Eve Dallas has to face in Promises in Death, when she arrives on scene to find that fellow police officer, Amaryllis Coltraine, has been murdered with her own weapon.  Eve has to scramble to tell her good friend, and chief medical examiner, Li  Morris, before he finds out by other means.  It pains her to have to break his heart in such a way and the only thing she can offer him is to find those responsible and bring them to justice.

Upon further investigation Eve discovers that the murder is connected to her and Roarke’s past, when it comes to light that Detective Coltraine used to be involved with Max Ricker’s son, Alex.  Is this a case of like father, like son?  Or has one of the evils in both Roarke and Eve’s past found a way to orchestrate these events even while incarcerated in a maximum security prison off-planet?  It’s up to Eve to get those answers and more and to help Morris get the closure he needs and come to terms with his grief.

My heart ached for Morris from the moment I read the synopsis of this book and realized who the murder victim was.  I adore Morris and was devastated for him.  I expected this to be a really emotional volume in the In Death franchise, which I always enjoy emotional books more than all the others.  But surprisingly this one wasn’t the tear-jerker that I expected.  Maybe because there wasn’t as much interaction with Morris in this book, I would have liked to have gotten a few chapters from his point of view.

I do enjoy the books that tie into the characters from the previous installments of the series, and this one did do that.  We have ties to the evil Max Ricker who worked with both Eve and Roarke’s fathers in the past.  And, there is even a mention of Father Lopez from Salvation in Death.

I thought the murder investigation was an interesting one down to the person who was responsible.  Although I did figure out who actually killed Coltraine, pretty early in the book.  Maybe that’s why I didn’t like it as much?  I just found there weren’t any on-the-edge-of-your-seat pulse-pounding suspense scenes that I was hoping for.  This book just ended up being OK for me.  I liked it, but it wasn’t nearly as good as I was hoping for.