J.D. Robb’s ‘Promises in Death’ delivers

  New York's top murder cop Eve Dallas never really warmed to Det. Amaryllis Coltraine.
But when the young detective from Georgia is slain with her own weapon just steps away from her apartment, Dallas is plunged into a case that sends her spiraling into the past for answers that point to her worst-case suspect — another cop.
  But before Dallas launches her quest for Coltraine's killer, she has to break the news to friend and colleague Chief Medical Examiner Li Morris, whose relationship with Coltraine had all the hallmarks of happily ever after. It's through Morris' pain and suffering that Eve finally sees the specter husband Roarke lives with every day she goes to work. Roarke may be one of the most powerful men of his time, but he struggles with knowing that he can't always protect the woman whose identity is as rooted in her job as it is in him.
  And the job becomes something that will test Dallas' friendship with Morris as she uncovers the gray areas of Coltraine's life that may offer the motive for why she was killed. Coltraine transferred to New York from Atlanta, where her relationship with the son of an imprisoned crime mogul put her in the cross hairs of Internal Affairs. The revelations force Eve and Roarke to confront their own ties to lifer convict Max Ricker, who just may be the one who engineered Coltraine's death. But how?
  J.D. Robb's "Promises in Death," the 28th full-length installment of the futuristic "In Death" series, explodes with danger, drama and the kind of emotion generated by a well-developed story featuring a well-loved cast of characters. If the story seems rushed at all, it's because readers are reluctant to face the months of waiting that begin when the last page is turned. In a genre where uneven writing and rehashed plots can leach the pleasure from a series, Robb never disappoints.