The bullet she took to the head at the time temporarily severed Taylor's ability to speak. Still mute weeks later, Taylor is told it is a psychological problem stemming from PTSD and that all physical manifestations of the ailment are healed. Still reeling from the very personal betrayal dealt to her by her fiance, profiler Dr. John Baldwin, Taylor uses the PTSD as an excuse to accept an invitation by the intriguing and persistent Memphis Highsmythe. Memphis, an investigator with New Scotland Yard and in another branch of his life a Scottish viscount, has offered her a getaway at his familial estate in the Highlands and exposure to one of his best friends, Dr. Madee James, a psychiatrist.

Taylor, who had been certain her biggest concern during this trip would be dissuading Memphis (though she's not sure she wants him to be dissuaded) from using this trip as a step in his campaign to win her from Baldwin, almost immediately suffers haunting dreams, ghostly hands, and the feeling that she's being watched; the feelings don't just stem from Memphis' ghost stories.

As Taylor noses through Memphis' past, she begins to wonder if this is how his three-years-dead wife felt leading up to her untimely death ... or is it just something Taylor, now unfamiliar with her own mental processes, is creating on her own? Time would tell, but time, in this situation, is not on Taylor's side; it is clear, one way or the other, that Taylor is wanted out of the picture. When a snowstorm not only strands Taylor and her potential enemy, it likewise prevents Memphis or Baldwin from rushing to the rescue. Taylor will have to face her awful memories of the night in the attic and get her act at least somewhat together to get through her days in Memphis' haunted house.

Where All the Dead Lie, Ellison's first in trade paperback, does not at all fit in with the previous six Taylor Jackson novels. Taylor is totally off the deep end, which one can expect in real life from someone who has been through her past year, but in novel-length fiction? Not very interesting. There is nothing terribly convincing about any of the plotlines, and the protagonist is very easy to pick out. This series has always been about Taylor, yes, but it has always also been mysteries; Where All the Dead Lie does have two peripheral mysteries that are respectively being dealt with by the Nashville PD and New Scotland Yard, but Taylor is working with neither at the moment. Fans of this normally action-packed and psychologically intense series will be disappointed, but I'm not worried; certainly Ellison and Taylor will be back to form by the next one.

--Sarrah Knight