On August 7, H&H asked Which Romance Billionaire Dominates the Competition?  and the overwhelming response was J.D. Robb's Roarke (no first name—it's part of his mystique) from her In Death series.  Although I was not one of the people who posted a response to that question, Roarke was, without a doubt, the first billionaire to sprang to mind. And I'm here to tell you why.

First, some background:  The In Death series began in 1995 with Naked in Death, in which it is 2058 and we are introduced to Eve Dallas, New York City Police Lieutenant, whom we will get to know very well, and Roarke, New York City billionaire, whom Eve will get to know very well. This month,  Delusion in Death, the 35th book in the series, was released. This doesn't count the nine novellas included in anthologies. As you might have noticed, we still wait anxiously for the next in the series.

So, here we go.  The top ten reasons Roarke is the man:

[Roarke or bust!...]

J.D. Robb
Delusion in Death (In Death #35)
Penguin Group / Sept. 11, 2012 / $27.95 print, $14.99 digital

It was just another after-work happy-hour bar downtown, where business professionals unwound with a few drinks...until something went terribly wrong. And after twelve minutes of chaos and violence, eighty people lay dead.

Lieutenant Eve Dallas is trying to sort out the inexplicable events. Surviving witnesses talk about seeing things—monsters and swarms of bees. They describe sudden, overwhelming feelings of fear and rage and paranoia. When forensics gives its report, the mass delusions make more sense: It appears the bar patrons were exposed to a cocktail of chemicals and illegal drugs that could drive anyone to temporary insanity—if not kill them outright.

But that doesn’t explain who would unleash such horror—or why. And if Eve can’t figure it out fast, it could happen again, anytime, anywhere. Because it’s airborne.

As J.D. Robb (a/k/a Nora Roberts) presents us with Lt. Eve Dallas’s 35th case, you would think by now we would have had enough of Dallas, Roarke, Peabody, McNab, Feeney and the rest of the crew, but even after 35 books and 9 novellas, she can still bring new, fresh ideas and a terrifying story with a frightening twist.

[Just can't get enough...]

We are back with Part 2 of our H&H bloggers “List” choices—the list is the fictionalized version of characters you would love to see nekkid if you could, where not even your spouse or partner could say you can’t have them. Because hey, they’re on your “allowed to do it with” list!

(If you missed Natasha, Synde, Victoria, and Evangeline’s choices, see The List, part 1.)

Brie

Michael (Meljean Brook’s Guardian series):

He’s an angel and has black wings. Is that enough? No? Good because he isn’t really an angel. But he’s intense, brooding and mysterious. He can heal people, teleport and change his appearance, so if I ever get tired of him I can ask him to morph into Michael Fassbender (I’d have him watch Shame first so he gets all the details right).

[Someone’s priorities are clearly in order...]

I look forward to a new In Death novel from J.D. Robb twice a year. Early on I felt the same about her holiday offerings (“Midnight in Death,” “Interlude in Death”), but if I had the chance to talk to her, I’d say this:

“Nora, somehow you keep Eve, Roarke, and all the gang fresh, but please, stop the November short stories already.”

If I were feeling particularly impertinent, I’d ask what I really want to know:

“Nora, do you participate in those November anthologies with some of your close—and lesser known—author friends as kind of a Christmas gift to them because you know your In Death readers will buy the book and and they can hang off your coat tails?”

Here’s why I’d ask: I think she’s phoning it in with most of those short stories, at least most of the recent ones, and in comparison with her full-length In Death offerings. It begs the question: Why bother with a ho-hum short story with an otherwise already full writing schedule?

[Sometimes less is more...]

J.D. Robb
Celebrity in Death (In Death #34)
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, $27.95/digital $14.99, Feb. 21, 2012

Lieutenant Eve Dallas is no party girl, but she’s managing to have a reasonably good time at the celebrity-packed bash celebrating The Icove Agenda, a film based on one of her famous cases. It’s a little spooky seeing the actress playing her, who looks almost like her long-lost twin. Not as unsettling, though, as seeing the actress who plays Peabody—drowned in the lap pool on the roof of the director’s luxury building. Talented but rude, and widely disliked, K. T. Harris had made an embarrassing scene during dinner. Now she’s at the center of a crime scene—and Eve is more than ready to get out of her high heels and strap on her holster, to step into the role she was born to play: cop.

It’s disconcerting to watch your life played out before your eyes—while Lt. Eve Dallas stands on the set of The Icove Agenda, she’s overwhelmed by the feeling of déjà vu standing outside of herself and seeming to watch her own cloned copy and that of her partner, Det. Delia Peabody, reenact their murder investigation of a year ago.

[All of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again...]

Authors writing series books is now the norm in romance; but what makes a series great, and what makes readers decide not to follow the series through to its end?

The draw of any series is the characters. Reading a series that involves the same main characters requires character growth. It’s also important to see the addition of new sub-characters who will add to the overall series. If a series features a new hero and heroine in each book, I want to meet them in a prior book. I’m not much for blind dates; I want to get to know them before I invest my time. I want to get excited and anticipate their stories.

One of my favorite series is the J.D. Robb In Death series, which encompasses all the different genre that I love: romance, police drama and science fiction. The main characters in this series are Homicide Detective Lt. Eve Dallas, and her husband, the rich and gorgeous Roarke. The growing cast of subcharacters include her partner Peabody, Peabody’s detective boyfriend, McNab, and Dallas former partner, Capt. Feeney. With over 30 books in the series to date, we have spent a lot of time in the world of Eve Dallas and company. During that time we have seen the growth of Eve Dallas from an efficient police detective, a lone wolf, who was uncomfortable with the affections of her new husband to a loving wife and thoughtful friend. If the thought of 30 books seem too daunting for you, know that each book is its own investigation and they can be enjoyed individually.

[Carry on...]

If the love of your life were to be taken from you, what would you keep, save, or do to have a piece of them with you…always?

We sappy ladies keep all kinds of things from the great loves of our lives; it’s just what we do. I have love letters, photos, and movie stubs from my early years with the hubby. And believe it or not, guys can be nostalgic too. My man keeps a photo of me in his wallet, one taken from high school, our first year together. His knee-jerking romantic side sweeps me off my feet and leaves me utterly speechless (and it takes a lot to shut me up).

Fiction allows us to remember those heady feelings of first love, new love, and everlasting love. There are moments while reading a great love story where I just have to sit back, press the book against my chest, and exhale a weighty sigh.

[Take a moment and then dive back in...]

Can romance survive the Page 99 Test?

I first encountered the Page 99 Test in one of those airline mags on a flight where I'd forgotten to bring enough reading material (I know!), and my literary Spidey senses starting tingling.

Lance Jones, Joanna Wiebe, and Steven Luke describe their idea thus: “Rather than judge a book by its cover, turn to page 99 and start reading…. Then answer two questions: Would you turn the page? And, how likely would you be to buy the book based on what you just read?”

[Would you click the link to read more...?]

Can great characters save a bad or flawed plot? A flawed or bad plot is like fleeing a blind date and then getting a flat tire on the way home on the side of a deserted road. But when you finally see the red lights on top of the tow truck, like a beacon in the night, you feel the stirrings of hope. That’s how I feel when I’m in the middle of a book with a plot that seems all kinds of wrong. I begin hanging my hopes on the characters, hoping I will like them enough to keep reading. So—can they? And which ones do it best?

Of course, there are those beloved characters I can’t get enough of. So whether the plot is great, lukewarm, or exceedingly bad, I’ll continue reading the book.  For these special characters the author could pretty much do anything. They could have the character drive to NY and tap-dance naked in the middle of Times Square during a snowstorm at the height of rush hour after being told they need to get a dozen eggs at the corner store, and I’d forgive the non sequitur in the plot. That is, if I love the character(s) enough.

[Must be some characters . . .]

Great crime fighting duos are timeless. Batman & Robin, Starsky & Hutch, Holmes & Watson, and the list goes on. But they’re not very romantic. Not to me anyway. So, who are the couples who detect by day and well, a-hem, you know what by night . . .

My all time favorite caped crusading couple is David and Maddy from the TV series Moonlighting. Here you have Maddy, former model turned private eye, and David, a schlep of a man down on his luck and needing a job. Their disdain for one another eventually turns into something more. Major ha-cha-cha.

More recently we have Castle and Beckett from the TV series Castle. Castle is a James Patterson-esque novelist and Beckett a hard nosed detective. The opposites attract formula works really well here. One is rich, one middle class, and both are pretty hot.

[And then there's Eve and Roarke . . .]

Cheryl,

You asked about secondary characters in your last letter; I think the depth of the secondary characters is one of the things that has allowed J. D. Robb to continue this series as long as she has (30 and counting, plus the novellas) without sacrificing the pace or losing our interest.  Each of the continuing characters she has introduced has continued to grow throughout the series.  My favorite?  Well, who doesn't love Mavis?  But I think I'm going to opt for Charles Monroe, the Professional Companion who calls Eve “Lieutenant Sugar.”   He has evolved from a potential suspect in Naked in Death to a close friend of the family, despite the fact that his profession squicks Eve out.  I love that he has fallen in love with another secondary character (I'm not saying who, in case there's someone out there who hasn't yet read this series several times) and I love how this relationship changes him during the course of the series.

[Secondary doesn't mean less than . . .]

Dear Cheryl,

When you sent me Naked in Death and told me to read it, I was stunned.  We had both been reading solely historical romance for years and eschewed anything that was remotely like a contemporary. What were you thinking sending me J.D. Robb, who I knew full well was just Nora Roberts under another name?  You assured me that it wasn't contemporary.  Well, yes, I suppose not.  It was set in 2050.  Not exactly contemporary, but hardly historical.  I thought you had taken leave of your senses.  But you rarely steer me wrong when it comes to books, so I thought I'd give it a try and then tell you that I wasn't interested. 

I gritted my teeth and read it.  Actually, I gritted my teeth and started to read it.  After about a chapter and a half, I stopped gritting and started devouring.  J. D. Robb had created some of the most immediately compelling characters I had ever read.  It was impossible for me not to be drawn in by Eve Dallas in all her strength and all her flaws.  Although she was not entirely likeable, she was entirely irresistable and her story was entirely addictive.  I flashed through that book and then read it again more slowly.  What the heck was I doing?  I don't like novels with graphic descriptions of crime, I didn't like romantic suspense set in the present (yes, yes, I know it's 2050; it still feels pretty contemporary).  And yet, I was hooked on Eve Dallas.

M

[How will Cheryl reply? . . . ]