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Kennedy & Trentham Books In Order

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Publication Order of Jill Kennedy and DCI Max Trentham Mystery Books

Into the Shadows (2007)Description / Buy at Amazon
A Darker Side (2008)Description / Buy at Amazon
Where Petals Fall (2009)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Broken Circle (2010)Description / Buy at Amazon
Shades of Evil (2012)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Final Echoes (2017)Description / Buy at Amazon

Born and raised in Cotswold, Southern England, Shirley Wells is an established author, with more than twenty books under her name. During her primary school years, the headmaster once wrote on Shirley’s report card, that Shirley was a promising student, who was going to dream her way through life. Several years down the line, Shirley Wells realized that it was not wrong to be a dreamer since many of her colleagues in fiction had managed to get away with it for quite some time. What followed next was Shirley Wells’s relocation to Orkney Island, in pursuit of her dream to become a published author. The twelve years that Shirley Wells spent on Orkney Island, resulted in a romantic fiction for one of the leading women’s magazines in the United Kingdom, and numerous short stories as well.

Currently, Shirley Wells resides in Lancashire England with her husband and a full list of deranged pets many of which feature in Well’s fiction narratives. The Pennies provide her with the necessary inspiration and setting for her mystery books. When Shirley is not writing, she likes to listen to music, read, eat chocolate or drink whiskey.

Kennedy and Trentham Book Series
Into the Shadow
Into the Shadow is a brilliantly contrived police procedural and English Village mystery. In Into the Shadow, author Shirley Williams introduces the readers to Jill Kennedy, a forensic pathologist, who has just relocated to Kenton Bridge. Jill Kennedy had to quit her full time job as a forensic analyst after one of the cases that she was working on went wrong. Based on Jill Kennedy’s findings, the court convicts a man for being a serial killer. While in prison, the man takes his life. Immediately after the death of the convicted man, a number of killings followed. Everyone in the small community, including Jill realized that the man who committed suicide while in prison was not the real serial killer. Before killing, his victim’s Valentine begins his ritual by carving into the victim’s flesh first before killing the victim. All the bodies found after the death of the man, had Valentine’s trademark.

The infidelity of her lover and the pressure of what she perceives as failure eventually drives Jill into a new career, as an author. Nonetheless, what Jill does not know is that both DCI Max and Valentine, the serial killer, have new plans for her. When someone brutally slain the vicar’s wife, Jill is not only drawn back into the investigation but also back into DCI Max’s life. Upon arrival, Jill is more than certain that she will wrap the investigation in no time, mainly because she believes that this was a one-time incident. Nonetheless, the inconsistencies in a suspect’s testimony, eventually take Jill back to the drawing board. Moreover, Jill starts to receive taunting notes and messages, about the mistake she made back in Kenton Bridge.

With that said, Into the Shadows is a superbly written murder mystery, which will take the readers on a rollercoaster ride. Max and Jill are extremely strong characters, who apart from being fallible are also quite likable. While the suspects and supporting cast, on the other hand, are quite memorable.

A Darker Side
When someone brutally kills a woman and her son, while two of the boys disappear without a trace, Jill Kennedy, the forensic pathologist that we met in the first installment returns to work with the charming, DCI Trentham. When we meet with Jill Kennedy once again, she is reinventing herself by authoring down self-help books. DCI Trentham, Kennedy’s former lover, and partner tries to convince Kennedy to come and work with him once again. Nonetheless, as expected, Jill does not return quickly or easily. It takes a little bit of coaxing and cajoling from Max to get Jill involved in the case. The main reason why Max is more than determined to bring Jill back is that he believes that they have what it takes to bring close the case. According to Martin Hayden’s parents and friends, Martin was a lovable boy who lived in a virtual seclusion on their farm with three other children. Many at times, appearances can be quite deceiving, and author Shirley Wells shows this. Martin was a loner, who had very few friends. Moreover, many at times, Martin’s father ignored him, while his brother, on the other hand, hated him.

While conducting their investigation, Max and Jill question everyone who had ties with Martin including his classmates and teachers. After a little bit of digging, the case eventually takes a sudden turn, when the local police find Martin’s mother dead, with multiple stab wounds. Apart from the fact that all the suspects have solid alibis, Max and Jill do not have any reliable leads. Max and Jill can only hope for something in the case, to break sooner, if they are to find the two boys alive and put the real killer behind bars. With that said, author Shirley Wells interlinks past secrets with the intense heat of the present and ultimately offers the readers a solid and thought-provoking read. By revealing that Martin and the two boys attended the same school, author Shirley Wells was able to kick the suspense, a notch higher. Apart from being a murder mystery, A Darker Side is also a passionate story, which deals with the relationship between friends and family, students and teachers.

Where Petals Fall
Where Petals Fall begins as two young boys stumble upon a dead body with a slashed throat, wrapped in a white sheet at the local quarry. More than five years ago, DCI Max and Jill managed to bring to an end, the reign of one of the most lethal serial killers in the history of the small community. Known as the undertaker, the serial killer would kill his victims by first slashing their throats and then watch them bleed out. Before DCI Max and Jill brought down the Undertaker, he had managed to claim the lives of four career women, who were childless. After examining the body found at the local quarry, Max and Jill can only help but wonder whether someone was trying to imitate the undertaker mainly because the body found this time around, had its throats slashed.

Eddie Marshall, the prime suspect in the investigation, passed away after an exhilarating police chase. However, the local police were not able to recover Eddie Marshall’s body. Apart from questioning Marshall’s guilt, Max and Jill begin to look at all possibilities, including an individual who may have access to the crimes committed by the undertaker, possibly within the force. With that said, author Shirley Wells presents the readers with a highly engaging police procedural novel filled with plenty of suspects to choose from.

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