While Into the Shadows by Shirley Wells didn’t exactly leave me breathless, it was nevertheless a pretty good effort for a first in a series. This series features Jill Kennedy, a forensic psychologist who works with the police on profiling criminals. She works closely with DI Max Trentham,, with whom she has a history. In this first outing they are hunting for a serial killer called Valentine, but also get involved in the murder of a vicar’s wife in the small village that Jill has recently purchased a cottage in.

As the first book, the introduction of various characters took center stage with the hunt for the serial killer bringing the tension. While the murder of the vicar’s wife was pretty straightforward, it helped by describing the village and introducing many of it’s inhabitants.

Jill and Max are involved in a complicated dance around each other, and I can see this relationship will be developed over the course of future books. I thought the author did a better job of exposing the character of Max, while Jill still remains an enigma that needs both depth and definition. While this first book hasn’t sent me into a frenzy to read more of this series, I will continue on with at least the next two as I happen to have them already on my shelf. ( )

An enjoyable read even though I'd read later stories in this series. In this one Jill Kennedy has not long moved into the village before the vicar's wife is killed and quickly becomes involved in helping Max Trentham to identify the killer, whilst worrying about the serial killer "Valentine" whom was wrongly identified and is still out killing women. Lots of red herrings before the killer of the vicar's wife is identified and more importantly the Valentine serial killer. Set around the Rawtenstall, Bacup, Rochdale area. ( )

English village mysteries are one of the categories that remind me that even though I love the dark and noir side of crime fiction, a little lighter fare every now and again is good for the psyche. Or at least a welcome change in approach. I'm always on the lookout for a new "series" of these style of books to accumulate for when I'm looking for something lighter as I'm running a little short of favourites to turn to.

INTO THE SHADOWS is a more modern take on the traditional English village style of book, mostly I felt, because there's yet another serial killer involved. I have to say that the combination of a blurb talking about a retirement life with cats, romantic tension with an ex-lover trying to regain affection, and a stalking serial killer and I was feeling a little leery. Add to that some predictable plot points (every male in the village seemed to be a suspicious character), and some flat out unbelievable plot points (look behind you - well in this case above you for goodness sake!) and I wasn't exactly in my own particular reading comfort zone.

Surprisingly enough though, I found that I could still read this book. Perhaps it's because Jill and Max were an interesting pair, flawed, warm, funny, very realistic. Perhaps it's because it is an English village mystery and there are some aspects of those style of books that you can just let roll - after all they are the perfect antidote to a cold Sunday afternoon. And that's probably the main reason that I'm always on the lookout for a good English village series - I like reading these sorts of books, curled up in the rocking chair in front of the fire, large glass of something red and a small select box of good choccies. Whilst I can't say that INTO THE SHADOWS wasn't a flawed book, it certainly had enough going for it to put other entrants in the series on my potential new series to follow list. ( )

Part cozy, part police procedural Into the shadows by Shirley Wells is a solid British mystery with one serial killer, several victims, and lots of suspects. This first book in the series featuring forensic psychologist Jill Kennedy and DCI Max Trentham is set in the small English village of Kelton Bridge where Jill, formerly a police profiler, has retreated from assisting the police force and is now writing self-help books. Max, her ex-boyfriend, has just been promoted to Detective Chief Inspector of the region so, when the vicar's wife is found at home in Kelton Bridge with her throat slit and her son holding the murder weapon, as senior investigating officer Max is under pressure to close the case quickly. Meanwhile, the serial killer known as Valentine is still on the loose after four years of fruitless pursuit by both Max and Jill. To add to the tension, Jill has been receiving anonymous messages that appear to come from Valentine. There is plenty of mystery crammed into this hybrid crime novel as the bodies and suspects multiply. A solid series debut from 2007, Into the Shadows creates a strong foundation that can grow in several directions. I look forward to reading the next three books to see if they live up to the promise of this first one: A Darker Side (2008), When Petals Fall (2009), and The Broken Circle (2010). ( )