"A one sitting read!"

Finally we get to read about Ricard De Chaux, le docteur la mort. Ric has just taken a job in the small town of Shadow Bay, Michigan as the new county medical examiner. He's decided he's tired of working with the dead or undead and needs to get back into the swing of the mortal world. Little does he know how hard and how daunting this task will be.

Shelby Cort worked for a big-city police department and finally came back to Shadow Bay to be with her uncle. Before he died he persuaded Shelby to run for Sheriff. It's a tough job and she gets lots of flak but she does her very best.

When Lucius 'Digger' Moravich digs up a fairly fresh dead body from an old outhouse hole, Shelby meets Ric for the first time. Ric examines the body and can tell right away that this may have been the work of the undead since there's no blood in the body. Now he has to figure out who did this and why before someone else figures out what's going on.

While Ric and Shelby work together, they are drawn to each other but what will Shelby do when she finds out who and what Ric is and how can he tell her?

This book is every bit as compelling as the first two of Jaye Roycraft's books. I am well and truly hooked on this most fascinating series and eagerly look forward to more and more of these stories!

Reviewed by Kathy Boswell
Posted December 1, 2002

Summary

Shelby Cort has had enough of working for a big-city police department. Ricard De Chaux, the notorious le docteur la mort and ex-Paramount for the Undead in France, has been escaping for years and now reluctantly works his way back into human society. They meet in the small town of Shadow Bay, Michigan—Shelby as Sheriff and Ric as the new county medical examiner.

When dead bodies start to pop up in unlikely places and the killings go unsolved, Shelby comes under attack from town officials, the media, and her own co-workers. She finds an ally in the new ME, both grateful for his support and drawn by his exotic good looks.

But what Shelby doesn't know is that the killer isn't human. What she also doesn't know is that the cool, collected Dr. De Chaux is by night Doctor Death, the new Overlord of the local Undead, whose top priority is to protect his new charges. Doctor Death hides one piece of evidence after another from the Sheriff, as all the while Ric fills Shelby's off-duty time with longing and passion.

When the killer goes after Shelby and all Ric's secrets are on the line, where will his allegiance fall?