In Death's Shadow is the fourth book in Marcia Talley's Hannah Ives Mystery Series.  For those unfamiliar, Hannah Ives is one of those women who always seems to find herself smack in the middle of a mystery. 

In this case, Hannah bumps into Valerie - an old friend and a fellow cancer survivor.  The two women suffered through chemo together and it's a joyful reunion as both are now healthy.  But a couple weeks later Valerie is dead.  Supposedly from lasting effects of her chemo.  But Hannah doesn't believe the story she's been given.  Following her gut instinct, Hannah digs around Valerie's life, including a recent financial windfall.  Was Valerie's death an unavoidable side effect of her treatments?  Or is something far more sinister going on?  The more Hannah digs, the more bodies start piling up.  And now it seems the target is on Hannah's back as someone will do anything - and I do mean anything - to make sure the truth remains hidden.

The premise was OK, but the story is lame.  Very lame.  The "thrills" are few and far between and there's very little mystery here.   The "false clues" were easy to spot, and the "bad guys" are easily figured out quite early on. 

Under 300 pages, this book doesn't take the time to dig very deep.  Other than Hannah herself, we don't really get to know anyone else.  We meet the victim for all of five minutes before she's dead.  We are introduced to several of Hannah's relatives but not a single one is given any depth at all.  Much time is wasted telling us what people are wearing, and what the scenery looks like, but when it comes to real thrills, this book skimps. 

I get the sense that the author expects us to "know" all of the secondary characters from the previous books in the series, hence she gives only the barest details of them in this book.  I realize that In Death's Shadow is in the middle of a series, but a book should be able to stand on its own, even if you haven't read the prior ones.  In this case, those who haven't been introduced to the characters in prior books will find them to be barely sketched out, here.

At least Hannah is well developed.  Even if you haven't been introduced to her before, you'll get a good sense of her.  She's smart, funny, and very likeable.  A real pleasure to "know".

The author does do a good job explaining the ins and outs of the life insurance business, including viatical insurance brokers - those who purchase existing life insurance policies, paying some percentage of their value now, and collecting the full benefit later. 

But this book is what I would call a "lite thriller".  Read it if you happen to find it abandoned at the airport and you didn't bring another book with you.  But don't go out of your way to purchase it, you won't be missing a thing.

Recommended: No