I read Portrait in Death many moons ago so it was great to revisit it. This is one of the sharper installments in the series, IMHO. Eve and Roarke tracking down a serial killer who ends up murdering someone who ends up being close to another person in the series was I think a good choice. I remember my shock at what happened and the fallout from it. It was great to see this brought up again in later parts of the series and I liked that Robb didn’t forget about it. I thought that everyone in this one, Peabody, McNabb, etc. did great. I also didn’t know who the killer was and it was a nice surprise in the end.
“Portrait in Death” finds Eve Dallas matching wits with a serial killer. He is focused on getting the perfect shot and she’s focused on stopping him.
As I said above, the reason why I think this is so many long time readers favorite book was that someone who is close to another character gets murdered. It had repercussions for all of our faves in this one. You also don’t see Roarke at this best, but you do see Eve at her best. This book is what leads Roarke to finding out about his past and it’s heartbreaking. There are some ugly marriage moments, but it’s still wrapped up quite well in the end. Also we get Summerset hurt in this one and Eve trying to deal with Roarke feeling some upheaval over that.
I honestly thought the flow of this one works though we move back and forth between New York and Ireland. The overall plot doesn’t suffer while Roarke deals with realizing everything he has been told is a lie.
The ending was well done and I honestly forgot all about it until this re-read. So it was nice to revisit such a high point in the series.