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Eve Dallas and her husband Roarke attend a birthing class with Eve's good friend Mavis --- pregnant and ready to pop at any time --- and her cohab Leonardo. At dinner afterward, they are joined by single mom-to-be Tandy Willowby and enjoy an evening of good food, wine and fellowship. The two expectant women, all giggly and weepy, are a mystery to Eve, who finds babies and girlie stuff far out of her comfort zone. When the evening winds down, Dallas and Roarke see everyone safely home and then tuck themselves in for the night.
In the early hours of the morning, a dedicated accountant is found tortured and murdered. Shortly thereafter, the police discover her fiancé's body. It looks personal, but no one has a bad word to say about either of them. Their work doesn't appear to be sensitive, but when you're working with numbers, it's often hard to tell. If anyone can make heads or tails of it, Dallas can. She puts her best team to work on it. And, as is often the case, she relies on Roarke for the tasks she cannot handle by legal means.
When another body turns up, Dallas shifts into high gear, alarmed that even more corpses may be found and worried that she missed something that could have saved at least one life. She is running on adrenaline, a lot of strong coffee and very little sleep. But just as she is near physical and mental exhaustion, Tandy disappears, and it is feared that she has been abducted. Mavis, in a state close to panic, extracts a promise from Dallas that she will find Tandy --- personally. No assigning it to one of the troops; she insists on Eve personally.
The race against time on both cases takes a heavy toll on Lt. Dallas. And she has the impending birth to look forward to, having pledged her support to Mavis, and that fills her with a dread she never faces in her police work. Fortunately, she has Roarke to keep her sane.
"Problem?" he asked her.
"Our home is full of people, one of who could go off like a bomb of emotionally charged hormones at any moment. You're doing drone work for me on two cases, one of which started with a huge personal insult to you. I dragged you to Brooklyn on a Sunday, then dumped you into another crime scene and left you in charge of a hysterical witness. There's probably more in there, but those are the high points."
While it may not be a favorite in the series, BORN IN DEATH reads easily. The investigation is well handled, the dialogue is witty and clever, and the plot is driven nicely to a tidy wrap-up. Besides, Mavis has a baby, and who can resist babies? Perhaps not even Lt. Dallas.
--- Reviewed by Kate Ayers
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