Take Her Under: A Psychological Thriller

by Pamela Crane

The next body on the embalming table may be hers.

Preparing bodies for burial wasn't on Ashley's career list until a horrifying accident left her to inherit Fallon's Funeral Home. She spends her days applying final touches and ensuring the departed look more peaceful than they ever did in life.

When a crash echoes from the embalming room late one night, she expects to find a fallen tray or her clumsy assistant. Instead, she unveils a body laid out on the stainless-steel table, posed with unsettling care. The woman has Ashley's face. Ashley's hair. Ashley's scar just beneath her chin. She's even dressed in Ashley's clothes. Clutched in the corpse's pale fingers is a single note:

  Murderer

Someone knows what Ashley covered up. As strange threats arrive and familiar faces turn watchful, she realizes the funerals she controls so expertly have become her own fate. She must uncover who is exhuming her past before she becomes the final viewing.

As the town undertaker, she buries secrets with the dead. But someone is digging up hers, and they plan to Take Her Under.

Genres: Thriller

310 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 6, 2026

About the author

To know PAMELA CRANE, you first need to know her husband. He sleeps with one eye open. He checks the knife block to make sure none are missing. Why? It could be because they have four kids and a farm full of mischievous animals. Or it could be because she writes murder mysteries, and about the occasional woman who has lost her marbles (not based on her real-life psyche, she swears!) Don't worry—her husband is safe...for now. Her books range from witty whodunnits to psychological suspense and even humorous women’s fiction thrown in for good measure. She’s a USA TODAY bestselling author of over a dozen novels (who’s counting?), but her biggest accomplishment is keeping her zoo of animals alive…and her husband in check. Grab a free book at www.pamelacrane.com.

Reviews

[mrs.speedy.reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book, it had the perfect Thriller vibes right from the first few pages. The story flows really well and you become invested in the characters so much that you are really invested in the outcomes of all of the characters.

[Donna Mallery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in a funeral home, this book has creepy vibes! I love the author’s unique themes and dry humor!

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

True to the genre of a good psychological thriller this book weaves a wonderfully slow burn with many twists and turns. A thoroughly satisfying read. For full impact read this book in the dead of night whilst all alone in the house.

[Niki Gardner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gripping until the end!

What a great read. First time reading this author and they did not disappoint. Fast moving. Great character and world visuals. Plot twist galore!

[suzanne janis · Rating 5 out of 5]

unexpected twists & turns…

i did not see that coming…..this book kept me up into the early morning hours as i kept saying ‘just one more chapter’……..

[Pamela Kelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Take Her Under

Complex generational plot involving parents and married children living and working together. Elderly medical problems in adults being cared for by the family. Not all is as it seems. Many murders among colleagues and who done its leave you guessing. Female protagonist attempts to find the killer and story ends with a cliffhanger.

[Kenneth Lingenfelter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great novel by Pamela Crane. A funeral home with financial problems trying to stay open. Someone is helping get bodies for a funeral. A missing father-in-law that Ashley thinks was killed. A lot of twists in this page turning novel.

[Cheryl Tabor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nightmare while awake Funeral Home Director. You could almost invission stories they could tell you about the deseased. The stories that lead to some of their demise. As well as wondering if your loosing your mind like the main Character here with all the happenings around her and living in the Funeral Home she runs. Interesting rrad. Enjoyed. Thanks Hello Books, Author and publisher.

[Pamela Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

While writing this book I tragically lost a best friend, and I almost decided to shelf the book and step away from writing altogether. But as she was my biggest fan who supported every book every year since the very first word I typed, I chose instead to dedicate this one to her. In a matter of six months I lost two of the most important people in my life who inspired me to write, and giving it up just felt...wrong. My friend and I had both also just lost a parent, so a mortuary felt uncomfortably familiar to me as a setting, and the process of grief after losing a loved one seemed to naturally flow from the creative side of me that demands writing as part of my healing process. Thus this book was imagined out of pain, born out of loss, but helped bandage my wounds just a little because I knew she would have enjoyed this one. For all of you who are struggling with grief alongside me, this one is for you.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

not my favorite.

I didn’t enjoy this as much as I have some of Pamela Crane’s other books. I was not a fan of the shifting viewpoints and found it confusing to the timeline of the story. I also thought the ending was abrupt and wholly unsatisfying.

[Diane Jewell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Take Her Under by Pamela Crane ⭐⭐⭐

Takes place in a Fallon's funeral home, scary, creepy with lots of twists and turns and a surprise ending. Don't skip the ending.

[Ariel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars!