Indulgence in Death, by J. D. Robb

I don't know what it would be like to read your first J. D. Robb mystery.  But I'm pretty sure you can't start with the 20umpteenth one.  Robb no longer spends too much time describing how the world of 2052 differs from today, which was a fun part of the stories, and she expects a level of pre-knowledge of the characters and set up.  She's playing a bit with the formula -- only one sex scene instead of the anticipated two, in which she described what was going on the characters' heads rather than their heaving bits. Something of a relief. There often seems to be an inspiration -- here it was the game "Clue" crossed with a bit of Leopold and Loeb.  She's an easy read, in a time when focus is hard to come by.