Robb, J D
Entry updated 13 May 2024. Tagged: Author.
Pseudonym of US author Eleanor Marie Robertson (1950- ), better known from around 1980 under her working name Nora Roberts; under that signature alone – though the Robb titles are themselves bestsellers – she may be the most popular novelist in America, with sales of more than eight million copies a year, around half a billion in all by 2023. Some of Nora Roberts's approximately 225 books are paranormal romances, and a few are Timeslip tales, all being told with a wit and bravura not normally associated with the romance genre. The Chronicles of the One series beginning with Year One (2017) begins with a virus-caused worldwide Pandemic (see also Disaster), but moves rapidly into darkish fantasy, with Magic and Monsters, and a rapid transition to an ornate Ruined Earth ambience. Remember When (2003) as by Nora Roberts and J D Robb – with the second half issued as Big Jack (2010) as by Robb alone, but as a seemingly standalone contribution to the Eve Dallas sequence, without acknowledgement of its earlier publication – is a romantic mystery which remains unresolved for many years, the revelatory climax only occurring in the Near Future. Inheritance (2023), which initiates the Lost Bride trilogy, is a Gothic romance featuring a haunted house.
Robertson is in fact of interest as an sf writer almost solely under her J D Robb name, which she has used exclusively to date for the Eve Dallas sequence of noirish, Near Future police procedurals set in a grungy but intense New York, beginning with Naked in Death (1995) and continuing at a rate of at least two titles a year, gradually and inconspicuously becoming more clearly set in a realized future, beginning in 2058 and moving into the 2060s. With around sixty volumes of the sequence in print, at least forty of them being successive New York Times bestsellers, "J D Robb" may be the world's most popular living sf writer in terms of sales. The individual titles vary widely, though with a constant focus on personal relationships. In a world only marginally affected by Climate Change or the kind of political turmoil many of its readers may in fact be glad not to encounter, Technology has advanced: non-sentient but highly adaptive "Droids" are common, taking either Android or Robot shape (this being one of Robbs's sharp calls, distinguishing her from many sf writers who assume self-consciousness must accompany sophisticated responsiveness); fusion power is mentioned as a working Power Source; Cloning is illegal but happens; Dallas drives a car capable of flight, uses Blasters when needed, and in later volumes occasionally wears Mecha-like body armour indistinguishable to the eye from a fashionable leather coat; life-extension procedures (see Medicine) have vastly increased the number of active centenarians, and cancer has been eradicated; Virtual Reality goggles recreate crime scenes; women seem finally to have gained unchallenged equality (see Feminism; Women in SF); prostitution is legal (see Sex); off-planet Prisons and Space Habitats are routinely mentioned, with the Solar System seemingly undergoing colonization, and (undescribed) Faster Than Light technology making interstellar travel almost routine. For a series whose first instalments are thirty years older than the most recent volumes, which continue to appear at what has become an almost invariable rate of two per year, Robb has maintained a surprising degree of control over background verisimilitude.
In some instalments, this sf irradiation is indeed purely background, and none of the tales yet move significantly from what may be called juridical sf to hardened sf; romance tropes continue to dominate, though in this series the Sex is sometimes more violent and imaginative than usual. Immortal in Death (1996) involves an anti-ageing Drug that drives users to Suicide; Rapture in Death (1996) introduces Dallas to a deadly Virtual Reality environment; the Statue of Liberty avoids destruction in Loyalty in Death (1999), though narrowly; "Interlude in Death" (in Out of this World, anth 2001, ed anon) is set in a Space Habitat; Purity in Death (2002) involves a viral plague spread from Computers to humans; Origin in Death (2005) contains an elaborate presentation of criminal Cloning, with cloned children raised in a Keep where they are exploited. The reverse of the dust jacket for Connections in Death (2019) contains a map showing the locations of all previous forty-nine book-length cases, almost always in Manhattan. After many volumes, the sequence remains inventive. [JC]
Eleanor Marie Robertson
born Silver Spring, Maryland: 10 October 1950
works (selected)
works as by J D Robb
series
Eve Dallas
We do not distinguish below between novels presented as "Nora Roberts writing as J D Robb" and novels simply as by J D Robb; the former usage seems restricted to the late 1990s and early 2000s. Some transitional titles, like Survivor in Death (2005), show the full iteration on the cover but J D Robb alone on the title page.
- Naked in Death (New York: Berkley Books, 1995) [Eve Dallas: pb/]
- Glory in Death (New York: Berkley Books, 1995) [Eve Dallas: pb/]
- In Death: The First Cases (New York: Berkley Books, 2009) [omni of the above two: Eve Dallas: pb/]
- Immortal in Death (New York: Berkley Books, 1996) [Eve Dallas: pb/]
- Rapture in Death (New York: Berkley Books, 1996) [Eve Dallas: pb/]
- Ceremony in Death (New York: Berkley Books, 1997) [Eve Dallas: pb/]
- Vengeance in Death (New York: Berkley Books, 1997) [Eve Dallas: pb/]
- Holiday in Death (New York: Berkley Books, 1998) [Eve Dallas: pb/]
- Midnight in Death (New York: Berkley Books, 1998) [Eve Dallas: pb/]
- Conspiracy in Death (New York: Berkley Books, 1999) [Eve Dallas: pb/]
- Loyalty in Death (New York: Berkley Books, 1999) [Eve Dallas: pb/]
- Witness in Death (New York: Berkley Books, 2000) [Eve Dallas: pb/Tony Greco]
- Judgement in Death (New York: Berkley Books, 2000) [Eve Dallas: pb/Tony Greco]
- Betrayal in Death (New York: Berkley Books, 2001) [Eve Dallas: pb/Tony Greco]
- Seduction in Death (New York: Berkley Books, 2001) [Eve Dallas: pb/]
- Reunion in Death (New York: Berkley Books, 2002) [Eve Dallas: pb/]
- Purity in Death (New York: Berkley Books, 2002) [Eve Dallas: pb/]
- Portrait in Death (New York: Berkley Books, 2003) [Eve Dallas: pb/]
- Imitation in Death (New York: Berkley Books, 2003) [Eve Dallas: pb/]
- Remember When (New York: Putnam, 2003) as with Nora Roberts [first half as by Roberts; second half as by Robb: Eve Dallas: hb/]
- Big Jack (New York: Berkley Books, 2010) as by Robb alone [second half only of the above: Eve Dallas: pb/]
- Divided in Death (New York: Putnam, 2004) [Eve Dallas: hb/Richard Hasselberger]
- Visions in Death (New York: Putnam, 2004) [Eve Dallas: hb/Richard Hasselberger]
- Survivor in Death (New York: Penguin Books/Putnam, 2005) [Eve Dallas: hb/George Cornell]
- Origin in Death (London: Piatkus, 2005) [Eve Dallas: hb/]
- Midnight in Death (New York: Berkley Books, 2005) [novella: chap: Eve Dallas: pb/]
- Three in Death: Midnight in Death; Interlude in Death; Haunted in Death (New York: Berkley Books, 2008) [exp as coll of the above: vt: Eve Dallas: pb/George Cornell]
- Midnight in Death and Interlude in Death (London: Piatkus, 2013) [coll: cut vt of the above: containing the two named novellas only: Eve Dallas: pb/]
- Three in Death: Midnight in Death; Interlude in Death; Haunted in Death (New York: Berkley Books, 2008) [exp as coll of the above: vt: Eve Dallas: pb/George Cornell]
- Memory in Death (New York: Penguin Books/Putnam, 2006) [Eve Dallas: hb/]
- Born in Death (London: Piatkus, 2006) [Eve Dallas: hb/]
- Innocent in Death (New York: Penguin Books/Putnam, 2007) [Eve Dallas: hb/George Cornell]
- Creation in Death (New York: Penguin Books/Putnam, 2007) [Eve Dallas: hb/George Cornell]
- Strangers in Death (New York: Penguin Books/Putnam, 2008) [Eve Dallas: hb/George Cornell]
- Salvation in Death (New York: Penguin Books/Putnam, 2008) [Eve Dallas: hb/]
- Promises in Death (New York: Penguin Books/Putnam, 2009) [Eve Dallas: hb/]
- Kindred in Death (New York: Penguin Books/Putnam, 2009) [Eve Dallas: hb/George Cornell]
- Fantasy in Death (London: Piatkus, 2010) [Eve Dallas: hb/]
- Indulgence in Death (New York: Penguin Books/Putnam, 2010) [Eve Dallas: hb/]
- Treachery in Death (New York: Penguin Books/Putnam, 2011) [Eve Dallas: hb/George Cornell]
- New York to Dallas (New York: Penguin Books/Putnam, 2011) [Eve Dallas: hb/Richard Hasselberger]
- Time of Death (New York: Berkley Books, 2011) [coll: Eve Dallas: pb/]
- Ritual in Death and Missing in Death (London: Piatkus, 2013) [coll: cut vt of the above: containing the two named novellas only: Eve Dallas: pb/]
- Celebrity in Death (New York: Penguin Books/Putnam, 2012) [Eve Dallas: hb/]
- Delusion in Death (New York: Penguin Books/Putnam, 2012) [Eve Dallas: hb/]
- Calculated in Death (New York: Penguin Books/Putnam, 2013) [Eve Dallas: hb/]
- Chaos in Death and Possession in Death (London: Piatkus, 2013) [coll: Eve Dallas: pb/]
- Thankless in Death (New York: Penguin Books/Putnam, 2013) [Eve Dallas: hb/]
- Concealed in Death (New York: Penguin Books/Putnam, 2014) [Eve Dallas: hb/George Cornell]
- Festive in Death (New York: Penguin Books/Putnam, 2014) [Eve Dallas: hb/George Cornell]
- Obsession in Death (New York: Penguin Books/Putnam, 2015) [Eve Dallas: hb/George Cornell]
- Devoted in Death (New York: Penguin Books/Putnam, 2015) [Eve Dallas: hb/]
- Brotherhood in Death (New York: Berkley Books, 2016) [Eve Dallas: hb/George Cornell]
- Apprentice in Death (New York: Penguin Books/Berkley Books, 2016) [Eve Dallas: hb/Anthony Ramondo]
- Echoes in Death (New York: St Martin's Press, 2017) [Eve Dallas: hb/]
- Secrets in Death (New York: St Martin's Press, 2017) [Eve Dallas: hb/]
- Dark in Death (New York: St Martin's Press, 2018) [Eve Dallas: hb/]
- Leverage in Death (New York: St Martin's Press, 2018) [Eve Dallas: hb/]
- Connections in Death (New York: St Martin's Press, 2019) [Eve Dallas: hb/Ervin Serrano]
- Vendetta in Death (New York: St Martin's Press, 2019) [Eve Dallas: hb/Ervin Serrano]
- Golden in Death (New York: St Martin's Press, 2020) [Eve Dallas: hb/]
- Shadows in Death (New York: St Martin's Press, 2020) [Eve Dallas: hb/]
- Faithless in Death (New York: St Martin's Press, 2021) [Eve Dallas: hb/]
- Forgotten in Death (New York: St Martin's Press, 2021) [Eve Dallas: hb/]
- Abandoned in Death (New York: St Martin's Press, 2022) [Eve Dallas: hb/]
- Desperation in Death (New York: St Martin's Press, 2022) [Eve Dallas: hb/]
- Encore in Death (New York: St Martin's Press, 2023) [Eve Dallas: hb/]
- Payback in Death (New York: St Martin's Press, 2023) [Eve Dallas: hb/]
- Random in Death (New York: St Martin's Press, 2024) [Eve Dallas: hb/]
- Passion in Death (New York: St Martin's Press, 2024) [Eve Dallas: hb/]
works as Nora Roberts (highly selected)
series
Time Again or The Hornblower Bros
- Time Was (Toronto, Ontario: Silhouette Intimate Moments, 1989) [Time Again or The Hornblower Bros: pb/]
- Times Change (Toronto, Ontario: Silhouette Intimate Moments, 1990) [Time Again or The Hornblower Bros: pb/]
- Time and Again (Toronto, Ontario: Silhouette Intimate Moments, 2001) [omni of the above two: Time Again or The Hornblower Bros: pb/]
Donovan Legacy
- Captivated (Toronto, Ontario: Silhouette Special Edition, 1992) [Donovan Legacy: pb/]
- Entranced (Toronto, Ontario: Silhouette Special Edition, 1992) [Donovan Legacy: pb/]
- Captivated & Entranced (Toronto, Ontario: Silhouette, 2008) [omni of the above two: Donovan Legacy: pb/]
- The Magic Circle (Toronto, Ontario: Harlequin/Silhouette, 2022) [omni: vt of the above: Donovan Legacy: pb/]
- Captivated & Entranced (Toronto, Ontario: Silhouette, 2008) [omni of the above two: Donovan Legacy: pb/]
- Charmed (Toronto, Ontario: Silhouette Special Edition, 1992) [Donovan Legacy: pb/]
- The Donovan Legacy (Toronto, Ontario: Harlequin, 1999) [omni of the above three: Donovan Legacy: pb/]
- Enchanted (Toronto, Ontario: Silhouette Special Edition, 1999) [Donovan Legacy: pb/]
- Charmed & Enchanted (Toronto, Ontario: Silhouette, 1999) [omni of the above two: Donovan Legacy: pb/]
- Cordina's Crown Jewel (Toronto, Ontario: Silhouette Special Edition, 1992) [Donovan Legacy: pb/]
Gallaghers of Ardmore
- Tears of the Moon (New York: Jove Books, 2000) [Gallaghers of Ardmore: pb/]
- Heart of the Sea (New York: Jove Books, 2000) [Gallaghers of Ardmore: hb/Tony Greco]
- Jewels of the Sun / Tears of the Moon / Heart of the Sea (New York: Science Fiction Book Club, 2002) [omni of the above two plus "Jewels of the Sun": Gallaghers of Ardmore: hb/]
Three Sisters Island
- Dance upon the Air (New York: Jove, 2001) [Three Sisters Island: pb/]
- Heaven and Earth (New York: Jove, 2002) [Three Sisters Island: pb/]
- Face the Fire (New York: Jove, 2002) [Three Sisters Island: pb/]
Sword of Truth
- Key of Light (New York: Jove, 2003) [Sword of Truth: pb/Rich Hasselberger]
- Key of Knowledge (New York: Jove, 2003) [Sword of Truth: pb/Rich Hasselberger]
- Key of Valor (New York: Jove, 2004) [Sword of Truth: pb/]
- The Key Trilogy (New York: Jove, 2004) [omni of the above three: Sword of Truth: pb/]
In the Garden
- Blue Dahlia (New York: Jove, 2004) [In the Garden: pb/]
- Black Rose (New York: Jove, 2005) [In the Garden: pb/]
- Red Lily (New York: Jove, 2005) [In the Garden: pb/]
Circle Trilogy
- Morrigan's Cross (New York: Jove, 2006) [Circle Trilogy: pb/]
- Dance of the Gods (New York: Jove, 2006) [Circle Trilogy: pb/Pyrographx]
- Valley of Silence (New York: Jove, 2006) [Circle Trilogy: pb/]
Sign of Seven
- Blood Brothers (New York: Jove, 2007) [Sign of Seven: pb/]
- The Hollow (New York: Jove, 2008) [Sign of Seven: pb/Rich Hasselberger]
- The Pagan Stone (New York: Jove, 2007) [Sign of Seven: pb/Raymond K Gebman]
Inn Boonsboro
- The Next Always (New York: Berkley Books, 2011) [Inn Boonsboro: pb/Claudio Marinesco]
- The Last Boyfriend (New York: Berkley Books, 2012) [Inn Boonsboro: pb/]
- The Perfect Hope (New York: Berkley Books, 2012) [Inn Boonsboro: pb/]
Cousins O'Dwyer
- Dark Witch (New York: Berkley, 2013) [Cousins O'Dwyer: pb/]
- Shadow Spell (New York: Berkley Books/Science Fiction Book Club, 2014) [Cousins O'Dwyer: hb/]
- Blood Magick (New York: Berkley, 2014) [Cousins O'Dwyer: pb/]
- Cousins O'Dwyer Trilogy (New York: Berkley, 2014) [omni of the above three: Cousins O'Dwyer: pb/]
Guardians Trilogy
- Stars of Fortune (Waterville, Maine: Thorndike Press, 2015) [Guardians Trilogy: hb/]
- Bay of Sighs (London: Piatkus Press, 2016) [Guardians Trilogy: hb/]
- Island of Glass (Waterville, Maine: Thorndike Press, 2016) [Guardians Trilogy: hb/]
Chronicles of the One
- Year One (New York: St Martin's Press, 2017) [Chronicles of the One: hb/]
- Of Blood and Bone (New York: St Martin's Press, 2018) [Chronicles of the One: hb/]
- The Rise of Magicks (New York: St Martin's Press, 2019) [Chronicles of the One: hb/]
The Dragon Heart Legacy
- The Awakening (New York: St Martin's Press, 2020) [The Dragon Heart Legacy: hb/]
- The Becoming (New York: St Martin's Press, 2021) [The Dragon Heart Legacy: hb/]
- The Choice (New York: St Martin's Press, 2022) [The Dragon Heart Legacy: hb/]
The Lost Bride
- Inheritance (New York: St Martin's Press, 2023) [The Lost Bride: hb/]
individual titles (highly selected)
- Second Nature (Toronto, Ontario: Silhouette Special Edition, 1986) [pb/]
- Carolina Moon (New York: G P Putnam's Sons, 2000) [hb/]
- Mind Over Matter (New York: Thorndike, 2000) [hb/]
- Midnight Bayou (New York: G P Putnam's Sons, 2001) [hb/]
- A Little Magic (New York: Berkley Books, 2002) [coll: pb/]
- Spellbound (New York: Jove, 2005) [novella: chap: pb/]
about the author
- Patrick L McGuire. "J D Robb: Somehow It Still Works" (January 2015 SF Commentary) [pp 17-29: mag/]
links
previous versions of this entry