The In Death Series by Nora Robert writing as JD Robb

I know book reviews are supposed to be about a single book... But it would be next to impossible to write about just one of these books and I wanted to tell you about them.  I may have told you, I REALLY like Nora Roberts books.  I've read a bunch, listened to some, inflicted them on my Mom and brother and reread/listened to my favorites.  I was listening to Remember When a book by Nora Roberts and Nora Roberts writing as JD Robb when I met Dallas...

Remember When starts in present day with Lane and Max.  Lane owns an antique store named- you guessed it- "Remember When" in small town USA.  She lives the small town life-owns a house, has a dog named Henry and is best friends with the sheriff's wife.  But Lane has a secret; she is the daughter of ex-con and Con-Man turned jewel thief, Big Jack.  Max is in town to find the diamonds for the insurance company. 

After Max and Lane's story we jump forward 50 or so years to 2059 New York where Lane and Max's granddaughter has written a book about Big Jack, the diamond Heist and the missing diamonds.  Samantha arrives home from her book tour to find her best friend murdered in her bedroom.  She calls the police and Lieutenant Eve Dallas and her aide Delia Peabody come to investigate. 

As soon as I finished listening to Remember When I did an Internet search for Dallas and found a whole series of books.  Starting with Naked in Death.  I have to tell you, I've been a little obsessed with this series; I've read/listened to the books at least 3 times (except for the most recent.)  In Naked in Death, we meet Dallas (of course,) her friend Mavis, the super-hot billionaire Roark and Dallas' former partner Feeney as well as some secondary characters that show up again later.  

Dallas is stubborn, suspicious and independent.  Because of her childhood, she is driven and very ignorant about popular culture.  She is hard and vulnerable at the same time... lots of contradictions.  She's also amazing, intuitive and really good at her job.

There is language and sex and violence all throughout the series, I would absolutely consider it rated R. The audios are performed by Susan Erickson who does an excellent job with the cast of voices.  The books are well written and imaginative, there are some really fun gadgets in the future-like vending machines that tell to the contents of the snack and tell you to have a nice day and AutoChefs which I think of as a combo freezer, pantry and microwave they store and prepare food and hot beverages.  If you pay close attention, you can spot differences in the writing styles and language used throughout the series-which leads me to believe the claim that Roberts used a ghost writer for the series... and seriously, how could she possibly produce so many books if she didn't?  

BTW I have no idea where I read the claim about the ghost writer and if she does it doesn't bother me one bit because it's all about the story.

Where did I get it/them? the library's downloadable site, Kentucky Libraries Unbound. You can find them at your local library and book stores everywhere-these are really popular books-there are over 40 of them now.

Who would I give it to? Anyone over the age of 18... They have everything-suspense, mystery, romance, science fiction and humor.  My brother the 41-year-old divorced guy likes them, we listen to them on the way to work.  Mom has been listening to them too.  I find it very uncomfortable listening to the sex scenes with them in the car with me-just so you know.  My sister and her Mother-in-law read them also.

And if you want to know more-like the order in which to read them... check out the Wikipedia page and the In Death Wiki.  If you decide to read them or have read them, let me know what you think.