Shirley Wells – författare

Forensic psychologist, Jill Kennedy, has given up police work to enjoy a quiet life in the Lancashire village of Kelton Bridge, but when Martin Hayden, a seventeen-year-old schoolboy, is murdered, DCI Max Trentham, Jill''s ex-colleague and ex-lover, wants her back at work.As they hunt Martin''s killer, they discover that nothing is as it seems. For a start, it seems likely that Martin, not the innocent child his parents claim, wasn''t above a spot of blackmail. On top of that, Martin''s father isn''t the distraught parent one would expect, and his mother is determined to take her own secrets to the grave.When the killer strikes again, Jill and Max find themselves in a desperate race against time...

While forensic psychologist Jill Kennedy is interviewing Claire Lawrence, a woman imprisoned for murdering her own daughter, Jill''s colleague and sometime lover, DCI Max Trentham, is facing suspension for harassing local businessman, Thomas McQueen, the man Max believes is responsible for the murder, a year ago, of Muhammed Khalil.Then Bradley Johnson, a man who had recently moved from London to live at Kelton Manor in the quiet Lancashire village where Jill has made her home, is murdered. As Jill and Max hunt his killer, they find themselves drawn deeper into Johnson''s dark past. Local residents are always wary of newcomers to the village, but one in particular, Jack Taylor, a man who regularly walks his dog through the wood where Johnson''s body was found, seems especially determined to hinder the investigation.Then another name crops up, that of Max''s adversary Thomas McQueen. Can he really be as innocent as he claims? Praise for Shirley Wells:''A fantastic new novel... a thrilling whodunnit'' People''s Friend''Wonderful, individual and realistic characters'' Booklist''Always a treat'' Fiction Feast magazine''A deft combination of police procedural and psychological thriller'' Kirkus Reviews

When two young boys find a woman''s body in a quarry, Jill Kennedy and DCI Max Trentham experience a definite feeling of déjà vu.Five years earlier, four women were found murdered in exactly the same way. Weirdly, the bodies had each been discovered wrapped in a shroud - so the killer was soon dubbed ''The Undertaker''. Following Jill''s profiling the police tried to arrest a loner called Edward Marshall, but the man had fled and, after a high-speed car chase, lost control and went over a cliff. His car was found but his body never was.Now there are three possibilities: Marshall somehow survived that plunge into the sea; Marshall was innocent and the real killer is back - or a copycat is at work. It is up to Jill and Max to work out whether a terrible mistake was made by the police five years ago... or whether the original murderer had an apprentice waiting in the wings.