Debra Webb’s The Undertaker’s Daughter saga began in a gripping 2018 e-novella called, naturally, The Undertaker’s Daughter, wherein series heroine, 39-year-old psychiatrist Dr. Rowan Dupont, learns that her already complicated family history (which included the death of her identical 12-year-old twin, the subsequent suicide of their grief-stricken mother, and two suicide attempts of her own) has many dark, unsuspected facets. Shocked into awareness by the disturbing revelations contained in that novella, she embarks on perilous personal journey to learn the secret history of her immediate family.

Her yearlong quest for truth begins in earnest in The Secrets We Bury, with Dr. Dupont returning to her hometown of Winchester, Tennessee, to take over the family undertaking business, believing it will represent a new beginning and a clean break with her past life as a police consultant. Events conspire against her, however, as revelations concerning the details of her sister’s passing both intrigue and torture her. Simultaneously, she is tormented by the machinations of a man she once trusted almost as much as her own father.

Webb’s gripping roman-fleuve continues in The Lies We Tell, as she delves further into her mother’s mysterious past, and concludes in The Darkness We Hide, where she continues her look into the abyss, only to find it staring back at her. The body count rises, and startling revelations continue unabated until the very last chapter.

This well-crafted saga eagerly embraces its myriad influences, drawing inspiration from gothic romances, the novels of Thomas Harris and Anne Rice, even television shows like Murder, She Wrote and Quincy, M.E. Webb’s writing is both effective and affective, ruthlessly pulling readers into her story. Her writing is at once subtle and operatic; she doesn’t shy away from the grand, but still manages to invest even the most mundane interactions with vibrant energy and intimacy.