2019 #AtoZChallenge – My Literary BFF Eve Dallas

MY LITERARY BFF

EVE DALLAS

Throughout the month of April, you can catch up on my posts for this year’s challenge as well as all my alphabet offerings from previous years on my Blogging from A to Z page HERE.

When I read a great novel or a series of novels, sometimes I wish I could step into the book and join the world experienced by the characters. I just know that if I were there, I’d feel at home and contribute positively to the plot. I think it is those characters that keep me returning to works by the same author and even read those same novels over and over again.  For this year’s challenge, I plan to visit those characters we all know and love.  Those characters that we want to step off the page because we know that if they did, we’d be best friends forever.  Today, please meet Eve Dallas.

The series of novels by J.D. Robb,”In Death”

I have been a long time fan of the author, Nora Roberts.  I think I’ve read everything she has written and there are hundreds.  Among her novels is a series that she writes under a different name, J.D. Robb.  These novels all have a common theme in the titles, “In Death”.  For example Naked Death published is 1995 and roughly two novels a year through Vendetta in Death schedule for release in September of this year.  Yes, the titles sound repetitive but oh what a cast of chacters the authors gives us.  In this futuristic series, police lieutenant Eve Dallas and her tycoon husband, Roarke head a group of interconnected people that I would love to call my friends. The series is set in mid-21st century New York City and, occasionally, off-Earth. The books are primarily police procedurals with a focus on the romantic relationship between Eve and her husband.  The appeal of these novels doesn’t stop with Eve and her husband.  The rest of the continuing characters such as Officer Peabody and Captain Ryan Feeney have you knowing that if you are found dead in the world that is mid twenty-first century New York City, the homecide division of the NYPSD won’t rest until your murderer is brought to justice.  Oh and your murder will be bizaar.

Here is her backstory. Source:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Death_characters#Eve_Dallas

Eve Dallas is the main character of the In Death novels. Eve was found in an alley in Dallas, Texas. She was estimated to be eight years old. She had a broken arm, was covered in old blood, and had no memory. Unable to remember anything at all, her social worker named her and put Eve into a foster home, the beginning of Eve’s life in the system. After reaching the age of majority, she has a big desire to move to New York City where she hopes to become a police officer. The dates of all her promotions are not specific, but it is mentioned that she became a detective, second grade in early 2051, and eventually, by the start of the series, is lieutenant in the Homicide squad.

Throughout the series, her memories return, mostly through a series of nightmares, revealing a history of incestual rape and patricide with her father, Richard Troy. It is revealed that he was raising her to prostitute her to child molesters. Her mother, Stella, was a prostitute and a drug addict and was occasionally beaten and raped by Troy, but hated her daughter. Eve finds out more about Stella in book 34, New York to Dallas.

It was implied that since Eve had lost her memory, she had forgotten her name, as well, but it is eventually revealed in Reunion in Death that the reason Eve cannot remember her name is because her parents never gave her one. The fact that no one in Dallas could track down her ID indicates one of two things: that either Homeland Security interfered and deleted her data, or that her parents never had her registered in the first place. For all intents and purposes, Eve did not exist in any records before she was eight years old.

After her relationship and subsequent marriage to Roarke, Eve is a much happier and, to some extent, calmer person; she is more willing to work with and depend on other people. They celebrate their one-year anniversary in Reunion in Death, in July 2059. Eve’s relationship with Roarke is central to the series and her character. Eve’s official residence is 222 Central Park West, New York, N.Y., with Roarke.

Interested in the other characters, here is a good place to start https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Death_characters.  Interested in the list of novels with short descriptions of each?  There are lots of different cites such as Goodreads but the following is the first that came up when I Googled. https://www.fictiondb.com/author/jd-robb~naked-in-death~30936~b.htm

Here is a short video about the series