“The whole point of love is that it has no reason. It just is.” - Reunion in Death[1]
Plot Summary[]
At exactly 7:30 p.m., Walter Pettibone arrived home to over a hundred friends and family shouting, “surprise!” It was his birthday. Although he had known about the planned event for weeks, the real surprise was yet to come. At 8:45 p.m., a woman with emerald eyes and red hair handed him a glass of champagne. One sip of birthday bubbly, and he was dead.
The woman’s name is Julie Dockport. No one at the party knew who she was. But Detective Eve Dallas remembers her all too well. Eve was personally responsible for her incarceration nearly ten years ago. And now, let out on good behavior, she still has nothing but bad intentions. It appears she wants to meet Dallas again - in a reunion neither will forget...
--Penguin Group
Walter C. Pettibone is murdered at his surprise birthday party while shocked friends and family look on in horror. Meanwhile, Julie Dockport congratulates herself on a job well done and proceeds to alter her image for the next stop on her agenda. This sets the scene for a chilling reunion with a cold ruthless killer from Lt. Eve Dallas’s past, leading her down a path she must revisit, toward a horrifying past she would rather not remember.
Map[]
Please reference the Reunion in Death Map for locations or approximate locations of sites listed here.
Spoiler warning! This article contains plot details about an upcoming episode. |
Timeline[]
Story Date: July 4-12, 2059[2]
Day 1 – July 4, 2059[]
Chapter 1[]
- Eve and Roarke have just returned from a 2 week vacation (one week in Mexico and one week on a private island).
- Eve and Peabody dig up a cold case: Marsha Stibbs, a young wife who was murdered while her husband Boyd was out of town. They go to the Stibbs’ apartment to interview Boyd Stibbs.
Chapter 2[]
- Eve and Peabody also interview the new Mrs. Stibbs, Maureen.
- Eve gives Peabody the Stibbs case (Peabody’s first solo case).
- Eve and Peabody return to Cop Central only to find absolute chaos and mayhem. The smell of baked goods lingers in the air. It’s Peabody’s Free-Ager parents, Sam and Phoebe Peabody.
- Later that evening Eve reminisces with Roarke over the first case Feeney gave her: Thomas Carter. Blown to bits in his sedan; mistaken identity.
- The Peabodys have dinner at Eve and Roarke’s house during which Eve gets the call from dispatch regarding Pettibone’s murder. Eve, Peabody, and Ian McNab go to the scene of the crime.
Chapter 3[]
- Walter Pettibone was killed by a glass of champagne that was laced with a shot of cyanide. The glass was personally delivered by a red-headed waitress who conveniently disappears before the police arrive.
- Eve and Roarke go over the Pettibone case and Eve finds that the killer is someone from her past, Julianna Dunne.
Day 2 – July 5, 2059[]
Chapter 4[]
- Eve does her morning workout and goes for a swim, where Phoebe surprises a very naked Eve and gives her a gift: a statue of the goddess, a family heirloom.
- Eve has her morning briefing in her home office where Peabody sees the statue and gets all teary. She then tells Eve that her mother has accepted her as part of the family.
Chapter 5[]
- Eve informs her team that the killer is Julianna Dunne.
- Later, Peabody tells Eve her theory on the Stibbs case and Eve gives her the go-ahead to work the case
- Eve and Peabody interview Pettibone’s ex-wife, Shelly Pettibone, but don't think she had anything to do with his murder.
Chapter 6[]
- Eve reports to Whitney to update him on both cases and learns that the Pettibones were close friends of the Whitneys
Day 3 – July 6, 2059[]
Chapter 7[]
- Eve and Feeney head to Chicago to talk to people who may have had contact with Julianna Dunne at Dockport Rehabilitation Center, the correctional facility where Eve helped put her.
- After Dockport, on her way home, Eve stops by Dr. Mira’s house where she meets Mr. Mira for the first time.
Chapter 8[]
- Dr. Mira confirms Eve’s belief that Roarke is Julianna’s main target.
- Eve returns home to find Mavis Freestone and Leonardo ready to party at the Down and Dirty Club. Sam, who is an empath, finds Eve upstairs and wants to help get rid of her headache. He accidentally “sees” Eve’s childhood and is appalled and angry with himself for intruding. Eve loses her temper and gets half drunk at the D&D while ignoring Sam.
- Later that night, Eve tells Roarke that she thinks he is Julianna’s real target. She also decides to go to Dallas to speak with Julianna’s stepfather and to confront some personal demons.
Day 4 – July 7, 2059[]
Chapter 9[]
- Early morning:
- 06:45 Julianna Dunne (posing as clerical temp Janet Drake) again enters the building in uptown Manhattan that contains the law offices of Mouton, Carlston, and Fitch.
- 06:53 Henry Mouton enters the building.
- 07:15 Julianna kills Henry Mouton with cyanide in his coffee.
- 07:18 Julianna leaves the building.
- Eve examines Henry Mouton’s body and talks to Olivia Fitch, one of Henry’s partners and his second wife. Julianna Dunne’s fingerprints are found all over the break room and she is captured on a security tape entering and leaving the building.
- Eve assembles her team in a conference room and establishes the timeline of when and how the murder occurred and discusses Julianna’s focus on Roarke.
Chapter 10[]
- The computer establishes that there is a 51.8% chance that Roarke is Julianna’s next target. Eve muses upon Julianna’s new pattern of posing as an employee, versus her old one of society butterfly, and thinks about her preferred method of murder - poison. She decides to track down where the cyanide came from but before that, she calls Charles Monroe to schedule a conjugal visit for Maria Sanchez at Dockport.
- Eve and Peabody hunt down Mook in VR Hell, a V.R. bondage club, to get info on a cyanide supplier who may be supplying Julianna Dunne.
Chapter 11[]
- Eve meets with Nadine Furst for a one-on-one meeting. Eve wants more media coverage on Julianna so she’ll find it harder to “blend in,” especially since there’s a better than fifty percent chance that she is targeting Roarke.
- An outraged Julianna sees Eve’s broadcast interview with Nadine, and vows to bring down Eve and her husband.
- Roarke, seeing the same broadcast, muses on Eve’s intelligent tactic of trying to focus Dunne’s rage onto her instead of Roarke - a tactic he disagrees with. He thinks about how Eve has changed his life for the better.
- Eve drives home, and walks in to see Peabody’s parents locked in a passionate embrace. Phoebe leaves Sam and Eve so they can talk. Sam tells Eve that he admires her despite (or because of) the glimpse of her childhood that he saw: “When I look at you I see strength and courage and purpose beyond anything I’ve ever known. I see my daughter’s friend, a woman I trust with my child’s life.” An embarrassed and pleased Eve asks Sam if anybody manages to stay mad at him; he replies that “Phoebe manages it for short spaces of time,” and they resolve the uneasiness that lay between them.
- Eve catches Summerset using her NYPSD shirt as a rag and they fight over it.
- Eve continues to work in her home office and narrows in on possible suppliers of the cyanide.
- Dr. Dimatto calls Eve with the name of a doctor with a shady past, one Dr. Eli Young.
- Eve decides to go pay him a visit and Roarke insists on accompanying her as he owns the apartment building.
- They arrive to find the doctor dead. He has been dead for two days.
Day 5 – July 8, 2059[]
Chapter 12[]
- Eve is freaked out by the sprawling ranches and empty spaces of Texas while en route to meet Jake T. Parker, Julianna’s stepfather.
- Jake admits to being enticed by Julianna, but also states that she was not a virgin at the time. They also meet Julianna’s first boyfriend, Chuck Springer, who admitted that Julianna chased him. After he broke off their relationship, she became vindictive. She went as far as to send him a dead rat (poisoned) on Valentine’s Day that year.
Chapter 13[]
- Eve and Roarke go to Dallas. She asks Roarke to drive around and finally recognizes the area.
- They go to the Traveler’s Inn, which was 3 miles from the alley where Eve was found.
- They ask for room 911. Eve recalls her horrible childhood and faces her demons. She also realizes that her parents never gave her a name.
Chapter 14[]
- Later, they return home and she leaves for Central, to lock herself in her office and sit and brood.
- She leaves for Mira’s office. She discusses the case and her recollections from Dallas and her anxieties over how it’s affecting Roarke.
- She leaves at end of shift and Peabody gets a lift with Eve to meet her parents, who are staying at Roarke’s.
- Outside Central, they are ambushed by Julianna’s cleverly set up team, a homeless man and a young boy. Though Eve chases her, she is thwarted by the boy who crashes into her and sends her flying.
Chapter 15[]
- Eve bangs her head and passes out. Roarke arrives, tagged by a scared Peabody.
- He promises Eve ice cream and holds her down for the MTs.
- She wakes up in a hospital screaming murder; Roarke secures her release by promising to have Louise look after her at home.
- Louise treats her wounds, and Sam helps alleviate her pains and aches.
Day 6 – July 9, 2059[]
- Eve takes stock of her injuries. It takes her seven seconds (one less than Roarke’s estimate) to realize how bad the bruising on her face is.
- Roarke and Louise watch her shower, Peabody comes into the bathroom, and Roarke rushes Peabody, McNab, and Feeney up to Eve’s office before they all come in.
- Louise demands Eve’s attendance at a fundraiser the following weekend as payment for her home visits. Eve thinks Roarke won’t be making any public appearances until Dunne is in a cage.
Chapter 16[]
- In her home office, at her team meet, she figures out that Julianna must have been watching her to be able to set up the ambush.
- They rush to the offices of Justine Daily, only to find that Julianna has gone, leaving a door blaster that Roarke defuses, a disc, and flowers with a get well card for Eve.
- They watch the disc, on which Julianna tries to justify herself. She says she and Dallas are like sisters. She also informs Eve of the whereabouts of her next victim in Denver, at the Mile High Hotel: one Spencer Campbell in Suite 4020.
- The suite had been booked by Juliet Darcy. Spencer had an appointment with her to advise her on investment options.
- Eve and Peabody go looking for public and private transport in and out of Denver.
- Meanwhile, Mira shows up at Roarke’s office. He agrees to meet her and they skirt around the visit to Dallas. Roarke makes it clear he doesn’t want to discuss it. Disappointed, Mira gets up to leave, when he bursts out, asking how his spilling his guts would help Eve? She convinces him to talk to her.
- He tells her how it felt to watch Eve relive her nightmare and be helpless to do anything.
- Mira tells him it is precisely because of this helplessness that he is as affected by the events in Dallas as Eve herself. Then she convinces him that his love has healed her and given her the strength to face her repressed memories. She also tells him Eve is emotionally secure and stronger because of him and his love.
- Roarke wants to go back in time and beat her father with his bare fists. Mira shocks him by agreeing that she too wishes for that, because she too loves Eve.
Chapter 17[]
- Eve tracks down the private shuttle used by Julianna. The pilot and the stewardess identify Julianna from photos.
- As Peabody and Eve have lunch at Rockefeller Plaza, Eve coaches Peabody through the best way to bring in Maureen Stibbs for interview, and also agrees to observe. Eve catches a pickpocket but no injuries.
- She talks to Detective Green of Denver Homicide, who agrees to hold up the paperwork for a few days so that the Feds are kept out a little longer.
- Eve runs possibilities for spa resorts where Julianna might go for a little R & R.
Chapter 18[]
- She observes Peabody’s interview and when Peabody seems to falter, she sends in Trueheart with a little note, which suggests Peabody implicate the husband and shatter her fantasies. Peabody gets her confidence back and breaks the woman down. She admits that after they had an argument, she pushed Marsha, who fell, cracking her head.
- Eve is trying to identify the spas in Europe where Julianna might go to, when Whitney calls her and her team in.
- She arrives to find Roarke there, along with Feeney and McNab. Whitney commends Peabody on closing her first case.
- Whitney tells her that he and the Chief are under pressure on the Julianna Dunne case, which seems to be stalled.
- Feeney jumps to her defense, saying it was Dallas who put her in a cage and because of some idiots she’s out again, and maybe Whitney and the Chief should remember that.
- While Eve is reluctant to admit that Roarke is a likely target, Whitney corners her and informs her that Roarke himself has offered to appear in public to flush Julianna out. They exchange words and Eve comes very close to insubordination.
- When Roarke tries to placate her, she turns on him. Whitney chides her for using his office to sort out her marriage problems, and she tells him that he made it the place for it when he ambushed her in front of her team, with the civilian’s cooperation. Whitney dismisses her.
- Eve storms off. Peabody turns on Roarke, stunning him with, “Don’t you think she took enough of a pounding yesterday?”
- Roarke follows Eve and drives them both somewhere to have it out. When Eve tells him that if someone had ambushed him in a similar way, he would have their head on a platter and their blood for sauce, he sees his mistake.
Chapter 19[]
- They go home and work on the security for the planned event at the Grand Regency Hotel, though Eve is also pursuing her spas.
- She narrows down the possibilities and pins Josephine Dorchester in an Italian spa.
Day 7 – July 10, 2059[]
Chapter 20[]
- They travel all night in Roarke’s jet and arrive in Italy. They cover the last lap in his Jet-copter and arrive as dawn breaks over the Alps, only to find that Dunne had escaped, alerted by the receptionist.
Chapter 21[]
- They prepare for the event. Eve warns Roarke not to drink anything at the venue. The rest of the day is spent going over the plans and the security again and again.
Day 8 – July 11, 2059[]
- Eve spends much of the day similarly, fine tuning the security and trying to anticipate events, until her screen goes blank.
- Roarke had shut off her system. He massages her neck, saying “Happy Anniversary.”
- She tells him she too remembers, but wanted to wait till the ugliness of Julianna was dealt with. He drags her to the holo room, where he has recreated the first night from their honeymoon in Paris. Then he gives her a St. Jude’s medal for protection and a pair of earrings worn by an Irish warrior princess.
- She gives him a painting of the moment just after they were married and before their first kiss as husband and wife.
Day 9 – July 12, 2059[]
Chapter 22[]
- They prepare carefully for the public event which has been well publicized by Roarke’s media wing. They both wear wires and carry authorized weapons. Eve persuades Roarke to accept a department-sanctioned stunner, rather than using one of his own.
- Though Eve tries to stay as close to Roarke as possible, Louise leads him away to talk to the mayor. Charles keeps Eve talking while she’s trying to keep Roarke in her line of sight. She tells Charles that she needs to talk to Roarke right away. As people move towards the dinner tables, she hears Feeney in her ear telling her he’s about 20 feet away, at her three o’clock.
- Julianna is approaching Roarke with a single flute of champagne when Eve spots her, and Julianna realizes she has been set up.
- She passes the flute to another man and rushes up the stairs. Eve rams into the man as she runs after Julianna, spilling the champagne on his suit.
- Julianna locks herself in a room. When Eve blasts the locks, there is an explosion. Eve loses her weapon and her ear piece is damaged.
- Eve rushes in and, fists flying, goes at Julianna. She orders the other cops to stay back, including Roarke. Still fighting, Eve and Julianna go through the terrace doors and fall onto the people glide two floors down. From there, Julianna jumps to the open air restaurant, and Eve follows.
- Julianna grabs a bottle of Merlot and smashes it, then comes after Eve with its ragged edge. Eve gives her two flying kicks dead in the face, sending Julianna smashing into one of the glass tables.
- Eve reads her her rights and cuffs her, turning her over to Peabody to be booked and held for questioning, then Roarke carts her off to a room to be looked over by Louise.
Character List[]
List of Main Characters Appearing in this Book[]
List of Secondary Characters Appearing in this Book[]
- David Baxter
- Ryan Feeney
- Mavis Freestone
- Nadine Furst
- Galahad
- Leonardo
- Ian McNab
- Charlotte Mira
- Delia Peabody
- Lawrence Summerset
- Troy Trueheart
- Jack Whitney
List of Recurring Characters Appearing or Mentioned in this Book[]
List of Minor Characters Appearing in this Book[]
- Angelina
- Signore Bartelli
- Frank Boyle
- Charlie
- Don Clump
- Julianna Dunne
- Elena
- Emmett Farmer
- Olivia Fitch
- Captain Giamanno
- Detective Green
- Lois Loop
- Lydia
- Mr. Markie
- Robert McLean
- Warden Miller
- Milton (audio version only)
- Mook
- Henry Mouton
- Jake T. Parker
- Phoebe Peabody
- Sam Peabody
- Bambi Pettibone
- Nadine Pettibone
- Shelly Pettibone
- Walter C. Pettibone
- Walter C. Pettibone IV
- Mason Riggs
- Detective Rowinsky
- Maria Sanchez
- Otto Shultz
- Sing-Yu
- Robert Spindler
- Chuck Springer
- Boyd Stibbs
- Maureen Stibbs
- Tracie Stibbs
- Peter Vance
- Sophia Vincenti
- Noel Walker
- Sherilyn Walker
- Michael Yardley
List of Peripheral Characters Appearing or Mentioned in this Book[]
- Ashley
- Bowler
- Spencer Campbell
- Thomas Carter
- Thomas K. Carter
- Justina D’Angelo
- Delricky
- Jann Drew
- Lucias Dunwood
- Finn
- Georgia Foster
- Gwen
- Joshua Hathaway
- Rena Hathaway
- Laurie
- Oscar Lovett
- Mandy
- Reverend Munch
- Paul O’Hara
- Pearson
- Davis P. Robinson
- Kara Dunne Parker Rowan
- Rusk
- Marsha Stibbs
- Eli Young
Deaths[]
Victim | Cause of Death | Weapon | Perpetrator |
---|---|---|---|
Marsha Stibbs (pre-book) | hit to the head | glass table | Maureen Brighton |
Julianna's 3 husbands (pre-book) | poisoned | cyanide | Julianna Dunne |
Walter C. Pettibone | |||
Henry Mouton | |||
Eli Young | |||
Spencer Campbell |
Trivia[]
- Eve and Roarke celebrated their 1st wedding anniversary.
- Roarke gave earrings that belonged to Gráinne Ní Mháille and a St. Jude’s medallion.
- Eve gave a painting of the two of them on their wedding right before they kissed as husband and wife for the first time.
- Eve went back to the place in Dallas and faced the horrible events of her childhood before she was found in the alley.
- Eve is persuaded by Roarke to get her ears pierced. This was actually mentioned in Betrayal in Death in the first chapter.
- We are introduced to Phoebe and Sam Peabody, Delia’s parents.
- Peabody closes her first solo case, a cold case, with Eve's help.
Memorable Quotations[]
“And when she strapped on her weapon harness, there was a set to her mouth — that wide and generous mouth — that told him Lieutenant Eve Dallas was back. And ready to kick some ass. ‘What is it about an armed woman that arouses me?’” - Roarke to Eve[3]
“Once she’d been a victim — helpless, used, and broken. Now, she was a warrior.” - Eve[3]
“Are you all under the illusion that death’s taken a fucking holiday?” - Eve to her bullpen[4]
“Gifts shouldn’t unnerve you. They’re just tokens, of appreciation or affection.” - Phoebe Peabody to Eve[5]
“‘I owe you Louise,’ he corrected, and everything in his face brightened on her name. ‘On the house for you, Lieutenant Sugar.’” - Charles Monroe to Eve when she tells him he doesn't owe her any favors[6]
“Payback’s a bitch, and I haven’t even started. I want what I’ve always wanted. To do what pleases me and to live very, very well. You took eight years, seven months, and eight days from me, Eve. I’m going to balance the scales. I can and I will, tossing the bodies of silly old men at your feet.” - Julianna Dunne in a recorded message to Eve[7]
Eve: “You could have told me I’m sitting here mostly naked.”
Roarke: “When a man stands back and watches two women fight, it’s with the cherished hope that clothes will be ripped off along the way.”[8]
Other Covers[]
UK edition cover | German 1st edition cover | German Book Club edition cover | French edition cover | Japanese edition cover | |
UK edition cover | German 1st edition cover | German Book Club edition cover | French edition cover | Japanese edition cover | Brilliance Audio edition cover |
YANNI[]
- Although Dennis Mira and Eve acted like this was the first time they’d met (Reunion in Death, Chapter 8), Mr. Mira accompanied Dr. Mira to the charity fashion show for the Drake Center in Conspiracy in Death[9], the opening night of Witness for the Prosecution at the New Globe Theater in Witness in Death[10], and the Interplanetary Law Enforcement and Security Conference at the Olympus Resort in Interlude in Death.[11]
- Audio Discrepancy:
Footnotes[]
- ↑ Reunion in Death, Chapter 11
- ↑ Eve and Roarke are celebrating their first wedding anniversary, so that makes it July 11th, 2059. It is the day before Julianna Dunne is arrested.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Reunion in Death, Chapter 1
- ↑ Reunion in Death, Chapter 2
- ↑ Reunion in Death, Chapter 4
- ↑ Reunion in Death, Chapter 10
- ↑ Reunion in Death, Chapter 16
- ↑ Reunion in Death, Chapter 22
- ↑ Conspiracy in Death, Chapter 9
- ↑ Witness in Death, Chapter 1
- ↑ Interlude in Death, Chapter 1
- ↑ Reunion in Death, Chapter 13