Taunting the Dead (Ds Allie Shenton, #1)

by Mel Sherratt

How far would you go to protect the ones you love? And how much further would you go to betray them?

Nine out of ten murders are committed by someone the victim knows. So when Steph Ryder has her head bashed in within earshot of her family and friends, D.S. Allie Shenton begins her investigation close to home.

Soon the lies, backtracking, and secrets multiply as each of the suspects tries to cover up their actions on that fateful night. Before long, Allie homes in on Steph’s ambitious and powerful husband, Terry. Convinced he’s hiding something, she interviews him again and again—only to find that she is falling, despite herself, for his smooth charms.

As the trail grows hotter, along with Allie’s feelings, the web of deceit pulls tighter and more bodies begin to pile up. Allie must race against time to uncover the shocking truth before she becomes the killer’s next victim.

The first book in the DS Allie Shenton series, Taunting the Dead is a dark, gritty, sexually charged thriller that will leave you gasping for breath.

• ISBN10: 1477817573
• ISBN13: 9781477817575
• Publish Date: 3 December 2013
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 15 December 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Thomas & Mercer
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[Leah]

I’ve really been getting in to crime thrillers lately, and trying out lots of new authors I wouldn’t usually try, but I find that I’m actually enjoying finding new authors to read. It’s opening up a whole new reading world for me, which is a good thing (except for my bank balance, obvs). One such new author is Mel Sherratt, a very, very successful crime author if the reviews are to be believed, and someone who started out self-publishing before being picked up by Amazon.

Taunting The Dead is Sherratt’s first “Allie Shenton” novel and it’s quite the novel to wrap your head around – there are literally loads of characters to keep track of, and at times, I did forget who certain people were. It all centers on the Ryder family. Terry and Steph Ryder are purportedly a happily married couple, but both keep secrets from each other; Terry has some dodgy dealings, and, Steph winds up dead. The question is who killed her, and there are A LOT OF SUSPECTS, folks. A LOT. In fact I was never quite sure who had done it.

I quite enjoyed Taunting The Dead. It’s a very long book, which means it does begin to lack in the middle, especially as it takes until the middle of the book for Steph to wind up dead (well, she’s dead in the Prologue, but then it spools backwards so we get the build up to her death) and then the second half focuses on who did it. I had rather mixed feelings about Allie Shenton, out lead character. I liked her, sure, but I never understood the whole attraction thing between herself and Terry. It was icky. She suspected him of doing bad things, he was under investigation of doing bad things, and yet there she was, flirting with him and thinking about him etc. Honestly, it was unprofessional. To be brought in to Terry’s mind games made me lose a bit of respect for her; she should have known better, and should have reacted better, too. Apart from that, it was a very entertaining read. I’ve never read a book with so many baddies before, and it was mildly amusing to see them all doing their gangsta thang. ;)

I’m very curious to see where the series goes. I have the next book Follow The Leader to read, and I’m very interested to learn more about Allie’s sister and her attack. The end of Taunting The Dead definitely teased that there’s a lot more to come from that end, so we will have to see.