Character Growth Keeps the Books Running

You gotta admire writers who keep a series going, but one that's 47 books long and still popular? J. D. Robb [aka Nora Roberts] does just that with her Eve Dallas novels. I'm late to the game, but I've just read Secrets in Death. Granted murder mysteries get a kick in the action from the unending ways and reasons to killing someone. The personal development of the sleuth doesn't have to carry the novel, just give it some momentum. A personal crisis can take a couple of books to resolve, but the crime is always solved in one...unless the villain escapes. I doubt many villains get away from Dallas.

Secrets in Death is the first Eve Dallas book I've read. I've read other Nora Roberts novels from time to time, mostly her paranormal ones. Don't know why I bought this one so late in the series, but I did along with another super popular writer of many, many books and series. Started both books at the same time, a couple chapters each. Dallas is the one I kept reading, to the point I stayed up late to "read one more chapter"...and the chapters are on the long side. Sometimes, I read two more chapters.

The mystery was intriguing. An obnoxious gossip columnist is killed in a bar under unusal circumstances. [Yeah, a cliche, but Robb/Roberts adds some interesting twists.] Who the murder victim was was as convoluted as who the killer turned out to be. Watching Dallas march through the procedural caught my interest and kept it. The mystery part provided enough entertainment to make the book worth while.

What makes the book, though, are the characters. As each clue is discovered, Dallas interacts with the suspects and the investigators. Each one is rounded out, some with more detail than others, but none of them are cardboard cut-outs. I'm almost tempted to go back to see how the major characters were developed, but I won't. I'm too lazy.

I've seen many mentions of "Robert's futuristic detective" series. On that note, I think Robb/Roberts falls flat. Serious science fiction readers wouldn't give her world building much of a pass. Everything is too generic, too vague to make the world feel different from our own time. "Airboots" and other "mod" terms just don't cut it.

Many of the reviews of the book complain that Secrets in Death isn't Robb/Robert's best book in the series. But it was more than good enough to amuse me at the end of the day. You can read a sample and other opinions at

Amazon       Barnes & Nobel       kobo/Rakuten

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Other Interesting Reading

Writer? Reader? Both? Found an interesting blog at The Swivet about writers shouldn't write in alone: Writing in a Vacuum: Why Community is Essential to Writers. Basically, it says writers should build networks. It got me thinking that readers should too. Only they're called book groups, meeting once a month to discuss a book over coffee. The blog is old, but the ideas are still good.

Interested in good writing? This list of the best writing blogs is making the rounds. I've seen several links to it, so I thought I'd share it. I really enjoy the Absolute Write blog, and if your're serious about writing, you should check their forums.

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 My Writing Rut

Editing. Editing. And, Editing Some More.

[On the Run]

Maybe Someday I'll Get Around to Writing Something New.

In the meantime, I'm working on the blurb for On the Run:

Orphaned teen travels across the country to discover her mother's secrets, unaware she's pursued by a demon seeking to destroy her.

Pillar Beccon can't remember ever belonging anywhere, especially not in the Freemage commune where she grew up. She's a null, a person without magic, the lowest of the low in Andor. When she gets the chance to learn more about her mother's family, she jumps at the chance.

The teen draws the attention of Grylerrque, a commander from The Demon Wars secretly surviving in Andor, who recognizes what Pillar is and seeks to feed her life force to her clutch. She sends her minions to capture her. Pillar escapes when Thelma Tankin, her mother's cousin rescues her, but the teen soon learns she was pulled out of the frying pan into the fire.

On the Run tells the story of Pillar's journey to find a place to call her own. The book continues the chronicles of Andor where a the mundane world clashes with one of magic and demons from another plane of existence. If you love paranormal stories of discovery and mayhem, this is the story for you.