LIEUTENANT Eve Dallas is a complex and fascinating heroine. Married to the enigmatic billionaire Rourke, she works as a homicide detective in New York City in 2059.

In Conspiracy In Death, she is lured into a cat-and-mouse game with the killer, and when a homeless person is found dead - with a laser-perfect hole where his heart should be - Dallas is led into a case which puts her career at risk and threatens her very sense of self.

In Holiday In Death, Eve must come to terms with a family Christmas, while searching for a ritualistic serial killer who poses as Santa Claus.

Both novels can be read as a one-off but, for maximum enjoyment, should be read as part of an excellent series, which develops major and minor characters by instalments, giving them depth and setting the futuristic scene wonderfully.

With more than 250 million copies of her books in print, and 102 of them New York Times Bestsellers, Nora Roberts has hit a winning formula, which, despite being a series of more than 20 books, never becomes boring.

However, in Remember When, the situation is given a twist. With two stories in one, the first half of the book starts in the present, with Elaine O'Hara's past about to catch up with her in the form of her father, a charming con-man and some diamonds he may have stolen, placing her life in danger and putting her in the path of an attractive stranger, Max Gannon.

The second half takes us to 2059 with Eve Dallas investigating the crime, which has put another generation in danger and has far reaching consequences.

The idea is fascinating and I loved reading about characters 55 years later. Well written and never boring, these novels boast some wonderful futuristic touches.

Updated: 10:12 Wednesday, August 25, 2004