Abandoned in Death by J.D. Robb

Flipping between past and present, the latest of the "In Death" series starts with a young mother at the end of her tether and then her now-grown-up-son who just wants to replace her. And he's doing so by kidnapping women who look similar to her. When these women fail to live up to his expectations though, he kills the "bad mommy."

Eve is brought into the story when the first body is found at a playground not far from Mavis and Leonardo (and Peabody and MacNab's) new house. They are still going full bore on renovations and the proximity shakes Dallas. There seems to be no sign that any of her friends will be affected but she doesn't want to take that chance. 

I don't remember another book in this series doing a similar thing with the past and the present overlapping in the same book (especially while rotating through third person narration with both Eve and one of the victims) but, then again, after fifty-three books, I definitely don't remember them all. It's not a favorite plot device of mine but I appreciated Robb trying something new and it worked for this particular book, especially give who the killer ended up being. 

Four stars
Follows Forgotten in Death

Followed by Desperation in Death
This book comes out February 8, 2022
ARC kindly provided by Macmillan and Edelweiss
Opinions are my own

Reread as hard copy from the library August 2023