Into the Shadows

by Shirley Wells

Forensic psychologist Jill Kennedy leaves her high-powered job and moves to a sleepy village and is called on to solve the murder of the vicar's wife. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0750528435
• ISBN13: 9780750528436
• Release Date: March 2008
• Publisher: Magna Large Print Books
• Length: 350 Pages
• Weight: 1.74 lbs.

Customer Reviews

First in the series...

Into the Shadows is the first book in a new series written by Shirley Wells. This book introduces forensic psychologist Jill Kennedy and DCI Max Trentham. It is set in the Lancashire Pennines. Rodney Hill was wrongly accused of a series of murders of prostitutes perpetrated by "Valentine". Jill Kennedy was the profiler that led the police, in the form of DCI Trentham, also her significant other, to arrest Mr. Hill, who hanged himself in police custody. Then another murder was committed. Jill, having lost her confidence in her profiling skills, retires to the village of Kelton Bridge to write self-help books and play with her cats. Her relationship with Max Trentham, who is taken off the Valentinie case, is at an end because he slept with another woman. They don't see each other for a while. Jill attends a village party and is introduced to many of her new neighbors, among them Alice Trueman, the vicar's wife. The next thing she knows, Alice has been stabbed, Alice's son, Michael, is found with the murder weapon in his hands, and Jill begins to think that this quiet village may not be exactly as it seems. Max is assigned Alice's murder case and he stops by Jill's cottage. Also, Jill starts receiving notes on her doormat that remind her of Valentine. Is he still around and could he even be in this small village? I liked the characters in this book. There were some unexpected qualities about Jill Kennedy, her love of betting on the ponies, for one, and her love of Max's two sons and his mother-in-law that pleased me. Max himself was not as easy to get to know, but I think that in future books, his character will be revealed a little more fully. I liked the fact that there was give and take in the two main characters' relationship and that the author didn't send them right back into their previous relationship right away. More than that I won't say, but there were some quirky village individuals that I hope I see again. All in all, a good read.

Forensic Psychologist

Into the Shadows (2007) introduces Jill Kennedy, a forensic psychologist who has left her job and London to write a book in the village of Kelton Bridge, Lancashire, England. Jill's profile helped the police arrest Rodney Hill for a series of murders, but the murders continued after his suicide in jail. Jill is determined to have nothing more to do with the case, but Max Trentham, a detective chief inspector and her ex-lover, is sent to Kelton when the local vicar's wife is murdered. Max tells Jill the police need her, and Jill begins to suspect that the serial killer, called Valentine from his habit of carving hearts into the skin of his victims, is stalking her. Once she rejoins the police, Jill suspects that Valentine may live somewhere in the rural community she now lives in. Though Jill ignores some obvious clues to the identity of the killer, the closed set of suspects allows the suspense to build. [...].