Character development provides Nora Roberts' incentive for writing 'In Death' series

The prolific Nora Roberts had already won fame as a writer of individual romantic suspense novels when she began, under a new name, a detective series set in New York City in the year 2058. Roberts' In Death series unites romantic suspense and futuristic science fiction elements within the framework of the traditional detective novel.

This series also reverses a pattern established by many other mystery series writers. These authors often gain initial fame for their series writing but then move toward spinoffs and standalones for a further creative outlet. Roberts chose to use the series format for that purpose.

Origin of the In Death series 

As Roberts explains in an interview that appears on her Penguin author page, the In Death series resulted both from her prodigious output and from her need to create fully developed characters. In 1995, having a large number of works already written and waiting to be published, she created a new persona to allow for additional output. She selected J.D. Robb as her pen name, combining the initials of the names of her sons, Jason and Dan, with a diminutive form of Roberts. 

Roberts started the series with a trilogy focusing on the relationship between Lieutenant Eve Dallas, New York Police and Security Department detective, and the handsome, mysterious billionaire Roarke, who appears as a murder suspect in the first title in the series, Naked in Death (1995). Roberts continued the story of Eve and Roarke's romance in the other two volumes of the trilogy, Glory in Death (1995) and Immortal in Death (1996).

Not only were Eve and Roarke immediately attracted to each other, but their creator became instantly attached to them as well. Books on Board quotes Roberts as saying, "For me, the emotional investment clicked during the first draft of the first book. I really fell for the characters, and hoped the readers would respond to them so I could keep writing the series."

On another level, Roberts saw the mystery series format as an opportunity to develop Eve, Roarke and the secondary characters who populate the series more fully than she had done with other characters in her previous standalones and sets. In the Penguin interview, Roberts explains:

Each book resolves the particular crime or mystery that drives it, but the character development – the growth and changes – and the tone of the relationships go more slowly. I enjoy that tremendously.

Since its 1995 beginning, Roberts has added approximately two titles per year to the In Death series. Fantasy in Death was her first 2010 release, with Indulgence in Death and the novella "Possession in Death" expected in November.

Carol Thomas originally published this article on Suite101 on April 19, 2009 under the title:"J.D. Robb's In Death Series: Character Development Provides Incentive for Writing Mystery Series". She has updated it and added links to her Examiner.com articles.