From the author of Trust No One Nothing stays buried forever… Doctor Rowan Dupont knows death. She grew up surrounded by it in her family’s Victorian funeral home, and it’s haunted her since the day her twin sister drowned years ago. Between her mother’s subsequent suicide and the recent murder of her father, coming home to run the funeral home feels fitting–even if it leaves her vulnerable … leaves her vulnerable to an obsessive serial killer.
Rowan refuses to let fear keep her from honoring her family. But the more time she spends back in Winchester, Tennessee, the more she finds herself questioning what really happened that fateful summer. Had her sister’s death truly been an accident? And what pushed their mother to take her own life? The dark lake surrounding Rowan’s hometown holds as many secrets as the bodies that float in its chilling depths. But Rowan is running out of time if she’s going to uncover the truth before somebody sinks her for good.
more
Another great read from a master storyteller.
If I had a choose a one-word description for this series it would be eerie. Mary Burton, Anne Fraser and Melinda Leigh fans would enjoy these books.
3.5/5
This is the second in The Undertaker’s Daughter thriller series.
In this one, Dr. Rowan DuPont has returned to her hometown to take over her father’s funeral home after losing him to a serial killer who is obsessed with her…and of course the killer shows up there.
There’s a good bit of time spent on stalking here, and there is a new plot line added that seems unnecessary and far fetched. While I enjoyed this one, I actually preferred the first one, as this one seemed a bit drawn out (there are two more), and I became frustrated with Rowan’s naivety involving the killer’s tactics. But I do plan to move forward with the series.
The Secrets We Bury
Debra Webb
The intricate puzzles that are woven within the dark lake in Winchester, Tennessee haunt Rowan as she begins to question if her sister’s death all those years ago was really an accident. If not an accident, how does it relate to her mom’s suicide and her father’s murder?
As she takes over her family business, a funeral home, the suspense ratchets up the more you read and you can’t put it down.
Another winner from Debra Webb that leaves you waiting for the next book.
Intriguing. When I wasn’t reading this book, I was thinking about it.
I enjoyed all the twists in the book. Liked the writing style and the characters.
I had read the second book in this series first so I had to go back and read this one. A really good start to this series, it kept me turning the pages. I was surprised at the ending. Can’t wait for book three! I enjoyed the book!
This latest book, by thriller mistress Debra Webb, is the first in a new romantic suspense series. Her protagonist, Dr. Rowan Dupont—formally Nashville, Tennessee Police Department’s forensic psychologist—also happens to be an undertaker’s daughter. But Rowan, who comes from the small town of Winchester Tennessee, is haunted by the mysterious drowning death of her twin sister.
Between her mother’s subsequent suicide and the recent murder of her father, returning to Winchester to run the funeral home feels fitting—even if it leaves her vulnerable to an obsessive serial killer.
In my Author Provocateur podcast, Debra and I not only discussed her plotting and how her own past affects her writing. She also has sage advice to authors just starting out. Listen here:
https://authorprovocateur.podbean.com/e/debra-webb-the-secrets-we-bury/
Loved this 2nd book in the series! Debra pulls you in to her stories from the first page ..if you like series this is the Author for you! Ms Webb is great at answering you questions in her stories but, also great at leaving you more to be answered !! Which leads you on a journey to reading her next book! I SO CAN NOT WAIT !!!
Wow! What an amazing book. Had trouble putting it down. Debra Webb you are amazing! I don’t know how you do it. This is definitely one you want to read. She keeps you in suspense at every page.
Doctor Rowan Dupont returns to her hometown to take over her family’s funeral home after an obsessive serial killer murders her father and leaves Rowan questioning so much of her life.
Was her sister’s death really an accident? And did her sister’s death really drive her mother to suicide? What secrets are hidden within the walls of the old Victorian funeral home that her family had worked and lived in for generations?
Refusing to let fear rule her, she wades through the mystery to unravel the truth, even as it draws the killer closer.
This book is another page-turning thriller from author Debra Webb, a lady who in my opinion KNOWS how to write a thriller! It is part of her newest series, The Undertakers Daughter, and is full of edge of the seat suspense that will have you flying through the pages.
Debra Webb does it again! The Secrets We Bury is another hit that keeps readers guessing with characters that they get attached too and are not ready to let go.
Dr. Rowan DuPont has come home to run her family’s funeral home after her father was murdered by a serial killer who at one time she trusted. One would hope that coming home would be easy for her but it seems that death is following her in the forms of deaths from her childhood that need to be explained and a number of murders that are taking place in her hometown now. Is the serial killer coming to finish her or is there someone else after Rowan?
Luckily for her she has her best friend to help protect her who also happens to be the sheriff of the town Billy Brannigan will be at her side to get the answers Rowan needs.
I loved this book. Rowan is one of those characters that can relate to right away. She was blindsided by someone she trusted and she still does not know what to do and yet she has all these other things going on around her and her rock is Billy and both of them are blind to see what is going on between them. It is so real. I love it. I also loved that I had no idea who the bad guys were in this book. Webb had me totally going oh my when I read the end.
I really can’t wait to see what happens to Rowan and Billy in the next book. I feel like there is so many ways this story can go my head is spinning and I want the next book so bad. Excellent!
The Secret We Bury gets five out of five stars.
High intensity intrigue with a lot of heart thrown in the mix! The first full length book in Debra Webb’s The Undertaker’s Daughter series picks up shortly after the prequel and immediately hooks a reader with the mystery that surrounds Rowan now that she’s returned home to Winchester. The story continues the hunt for the serial killer we saw revealed in the prequel while adding to our knowledge of Rowan’s past and uncovering further secrets and betrayals along the way. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a series revolving around a serial killer with smaller mysteries to solve along the way.
What really did happen to Rowan’s sister and mother? Even though this book is continued into the next book, you can really get a feel for the characters and how they interact.
After first meeting Rowen in the Undertaker’s Daughter, the prequel novella to this book, I was hooked. This full length novel certainly follows in the twisty footsteps of the prequel. It reveals just enough about things in Rowen’s childhood to make you scratch your head and keep you guessing. For me, this was a good set up for the series. It did not resolve any main conflicts, but it did open up a lot more questions that I think will serve as major plot points in the up coming books. The only thing I did not like through out the book was that Rowen doubts herself so much. What she’s recently went through could shatter anyones confidence, but she is so negative on herself to the point she lets others actions make her doubt her own mental stability. I hope to see her self confidence return in the next book.
This series was a GREAT find. From the opening pages of this first book, I was hooked.
There’s a gritty darkness here that you often find in these types of thrillers, but that is somehow magnified in this case. I don’t know if it’s the twin factor, the best friend who turns out to be an even scarier breed of serial killer (I didn’t know such a thing was possible, but it is!), or the atmospherics that Webb has crafted around her characters, but something makes these particular spine-tingling for me. The interplay between past and present secrets is definitely a component; Webb teases the reader with revelations buried in seemingly innocuous details, and the suspense throughout is top-notch.
The novella and first book did have a few spots in which things felt rushed, like someone told the author she had to wrap it all up already and put her pencil down… This was particularly true in the novella, in which the background was developing at a slow, steady burn and then – BAM! – exploded and resolved itself (as much as it does) in a handful of pages. The writing and pacing definitely smoothed out by the second full book, and I thought things read much more consistently, vis-a-vis detail and revelation – in that book. Webb is definitely honing her style to a knife’s edge – and it that works perfectly for the story and characters.
Thanks to the publisher for my review copy.
The Secrets We Bury (Book 1 Undertaker’s Daughter) by Debra Webb
The Undertaker’s Daughter (0.5 novella)
April 30, 2019
MIRA
342 pages
Mystery, suspense, fiction, book series
Rating: 4/5
9/8/19-9/19/19
Dr Rowan DuPont goes back to live and work at the family funeral home In Winchester from Nashville after the unexpected death of her father. With a serial killer still at large, she has the chief of police, Billy Brannigan watching out for her. At home, Rowan is surrounded by long time friends and neighbors.
Moving away from Nashville where she worked as a forensic psychiatrist with homicide on unsolved murders. She has begun to uncover many confusing stories about the people she thought she could trust. The deeper she digs the more twisted the story of lies and deceit become for Rowan.
As the detectives investigate the growing list of victims, it becomes clear that Rowan isn’t safe and becomes a target for the serial killer. As she continues to run the funeral home, it seems more unexpected deaths require investigation. She begins to help Chief Brannigan uncover the mysteries surrounding the deaths and how they might be connected.
What they discover is far beyond what anyone could have imagined! Past and present are entwined in an illegal scheme which stretches far beyond this little town.
This small and typically quiet southern hamlet, with an eighty-year-old veterinarian for a coroner, was suddenly overflowing with murder cases, old and new, and lots of peculiar goings-on. This engrossing tale was extremely well crafted, ingeniously paced, and cast with a full slate of quirky and oddly compelling characters. I was instantly and forcefully yanked into the story and the intrigue and creepy sense of impending peril never let up, what with nightmares, cryptic messages from a serial killer, missing memories, and eerily misplaced objects in the funeral home – yikes. I devised and cast off myriad hypothesis and was only partially correct, but my little pea brain would never have come up with a fraction of the deviously clever twists and turns this master storyteller has conjured from her brainpan. But wait, there will be more as the killer is still out there, lurking. Thankfully, I have the next installment locked and loaded on my beloved Kindle.
Thrilling from beginning to end. This author knows how to weave a story full of thrills, chills and suspense. The secrets that were unraveled were shocking and I cannot wait for the next book.
The Secrets We Bury is a story that I just couldn’t put down. The suspense had me turning page after page long after I had planned on putting it down for the night. This story is so well-written. I highly recommend it.