I did not know what to except when starting
this book and oh boy did I love it! I couldn’t put it down! This story is about
Rowan, and how her whole family died in weird circumstances and she is trying
to find out the truth about what really happened.
I knew this was book #2 in the series and I was
worried that I would be missing chunks of information, but I wasn’t lost at all.
There was some recap in this story to help me understand what had happened.
However, I do wish I would have read The Undertaker’s Daughter and The Secrets
We Bury beforehand, but I would still like to read them, even know I know what
happens. It was that good!
I also really love book series, so this is my
jam! I cannot wait to read the next one!
To really get me hooked on a series I really must
love the main characters, and I got to say I fell in love with Rowan and Billy
as the very beginning! I absolutely love how Rowan is a fighter and how Billy
is always there to protect her! I wanted more of their dynamic, but that’s
okay, there’s still the next one!
Another thing I really loved was how there was
multiple storylines, that way it always kept my interest up. There was a mix of
a current mystery to be solved, an old mystery about a serial killer and the
mystery of Rowan’s family.
There was some repeating in the story, and I still
have so many questions that were left unanswered, but that’s okay, I will find
out in the installment! Highly recommend!
Author Bio:
Debra Webb is the award winning, USA Today bestselling author of more than 130 novels, including reader favorites the Faces of Evil, the Colby Agency, and the Shades of Death series. With more than four million books sold in numerous languages and countries, Debra's love of storytelling goes back to her childhood on a farm in Alabama. Visit Debra at www.DebraWebb.com
or write to her at PO Box 176, Madison, AL 35758.
Book Summary:
In The Lies We Tell, book 2 in Debra Webb's The Undertaker's Daughter series, Dr. Rowan DuPont is waiting for a killer she has every intention of taking down but first she needs the truth her mother's involvement with him and with other killers. Chief of Police Billy Brannigan is determined to help her find that truth. But first they must dig through decades of secrets and lies. A double homicide gets in the way of their search and Rowan can't be certain the murderer isn't her former mentor Julian. When they discovered preserved faces and mounds of buried bones, Rowan understands that the truth is something more depraved than she imagined.
Publication
Date: September 17th, 2019
Publisher:
MIRA Books
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Excerpt
One
Franklin
County Jail, Winchester, Tennessee Thursday, October 24, 11:55 a.m.
Herman Carter looked old. So very old.
The past five
months in jail awaiting trial had taken a toll on the seventy-one-year-old man.
He’d lost weight, and his gray hair lacked its usual sheen. But it was his eyes
that told the real story. Dull, list-less, resigned.
Rowan DuPont felt
no sympathy.
Renewed indignation
tightened her lips. This man—a man she had known and trusted her entire
life—had deceived her. He had taken advantage of her father…and betrayed so
many people. For no other rea-son than greed. He could toss out his excuses
about his wife’s illness, but the truth was he had hurt people, using Rowan’s
family and the funeral home that had belonged to her family for 150 years.
He deserved a far
heavier punishment than she imagined the court system would eventually dole
out. Eventually being the key word.
The trial wasn’t scheduled to begin for another three months. The wheels of
justice indeed moved slowly.
“Did you get my
letters?” His voice sounded rusty, as if he rarely found a reason to use it.
“One every week,”
Rowan said, her voice stiff, no matter that she had repeatedly attempted to
relax. No matter that she did not want to be here, this meeting was necessary.
Furthermore, it was essential that she proceed with caution where her personal
feelings were concerned. She needed him cooperative. Revealing her utter
disdain would not aid toward that end.
Herman had written to her every week since his
ar-rest. Until yesterday, she had not opened a single one of his letters. She
had felt no desire to read anything he had to say. He could not be trusted in
any capacity. Yet, unfortunately, he was the one person still living who was
well versed in her family’s history. He and her father had been best friends
their whole lives. With her father dead going on a year now, Herman was the
only person who might be able to help her.
For five months she
had attempted to dissect her mother’s journals. She had searched the funeral
home, as well as the living quarters, from top to bottom. One by one she had
questioned neighbors, business asso-ciates and anyone else who had known her
parents. She had learned nothing useful toward her goal of uncovering the facts
surrounding the deaths of her sister and her mother.
Perhaps the truth
had died with her father.
Rowan still
struggled with the loss of her father. The idea that he might have lied to her
made adjust-ing to this new reality all the more difficult. A part of her
refused to believe he had lied, despite the rumors and innuendos she had
encountered. The trouble was, she had to know for certain. Herman Carter, the
man who had stolen body parts from the dead to sell on the black market, was
the sole person on this planet who might be able to help her find the answers
she sought. However hard she had searched to find the facts some other way,
ultimately, she had realized this was her only choice. He was her final hope.
The thought of
living with the uncertainty was something she was not prepared to do. Too much
hinged on knowing the whole truth.
“Is that why you’re
here after all this time?” Herman asked, a spark of hope lighting his dark
eyes. “Did my words persuade you to forgive me?”
Rowan clenched her
jaw long enough to restrain the urge to laugh in the man’s face. Forgive him? Not in this lifetime. All
those weeks and months she had ignored his attempts at communicating. She had
fully expected to continue on that course. Then, the day before yesterday she
had hit a wall, run out of viable options for finding answers. With no other
alternative, she reluctantly began to open the letters and read each one, twice.
They told her nothing useful. Rather, his words had repeatedly expressed how
deeply sorry he was and how desperately he wanted her forgiveness.
Forgiveness was the
one thing she could not give him. Beneath the table that separated them, her
right knee started to bounce. She braced against the out-ward display of her
emotions and said what needed to be said. “No.”
The optimistic
gleam that had appeared in his eyes died an abrupt death. “Then why are you
here?”
“I’m here for
information.” Rowan squared her shoulders and stared straight into his defeated
gaze. “You owe me the truth, Herman. The whole truth.”
He shook his head,
turned up his shackled hands. “I’ve told you and the police everything I did. I
don’t know what else I can do.”
If only the issue
were so simple. “I don’t need the truth about what you did, Herman. We know
what you did.”
His shoulders
drooped. “I don’t understand what you’re saying, Ro. I did bad things—but never
at Du-Pont. Never. It was Woody who crossed that line, not me. I wouldn’t have
done that to Edward. And it only happened once. Even if Woody hadn’t ended up
dead, I guarantee you he wouldn’t have done that again.”
Really? She was
supposed to be grateful he did his stealing from the dead at another funeral
home? Un-believable.
Focus,
Ro.
Sticking with her
agenda was imperative. The chief of police had allowed her this extended visit
with Her-man for that specific purpose. She wasn’t allowed to discuss the
ongoing criminal case with Herman—not that she had any desire to do so. The
chief—her long-time friend, William “Billy” Brannigan—had allowed her to use
this interview room rather than the usual vis-itation area with the metal bars
and Plexiglas. Today could very well be her one chance to speak with Herman in
this sort of setting. The elderly man was likely going away for the rest of his
life.
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