Blogging From A to Z Challenge: Dallas, Lieutenant Eve

Today's Blogging From A to Z Challenge entry is the letter D.

For Dallas, Lieutenant Eve.

In case you don't know, she is the main character in my favorite ever book series the In Death series by J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts). I got started reading the series when Nora Roberts' book The Villa was released in 2002. She was signing autographs at the local Barnes & Noble so my mom and I had to go. While we were in line, we started talking to another woman who was there and during the conversation she mentioned the In Death books. At first I was really skeptical. A futuristic romance about a by-the-book cop and a shady character? It sounded a bit stupid so I kinda blew the woman off. But a couple months later, on a midnight trip to Safeways I broke down and bought the first one. And I loved it. I've been hooked ever since. It took me a couple years, but I got my mom hooked as well.

So what are the top three reasons I love this series?

First, it's a series. I'm biased towards series. When I read, I can see the characters and hear the voices. So when I read a series, they go beyond just a character, they become a living part of me. It's hard to explain. I know there's some people out there nodding, agreeing with me and others wondering if I need to be committed. But really, a well-rounded character jumps off the page and becomes like family for me. This happens more with a series for me than with a single novel.

Second, Peabody. I love Peabody. She's not even around in the first couple books and when she does appear she's a lowly uniform cop who idolizes Eve. Over the course of the series, she becomes Eve's assistant, then after she becomes a detective, she's Eve's partner. She's smart, intuitive, sassy, and an amazing cop. She's not just Eve's partner, she's one of her very best friends. And in case you were wondering, in my head, Peabody is Queen Latifah. That just makes Peabody more awesome.

Third, Roarke. His amazingness just cannot be captured in a blog post. I love Roarke so much that if an Irish man with blue eyes and black hair ever calls me Darling, I'm sunk. I'm marrying him. (Hmmm, I wonder if this is why I love Tristan Macmanus on DWTS so much... he's got the perfect accent...)

I love Eve also. And many of the other characters. There's a large variety of personalities and professions. There's a character named Crack. Because that's the sound heads make when he hits them together. Seriously. That's in the books. I'm not even making that up. I could write a hundred blog posts about this book series, and not even scratch the surface. Just go read them.