The Widowmaker

July 1, 2022

Back home in crime-ridden, grime-ridden Black Harbor, WI, struggling photographer Morgan Mori is snapping shots at the glittery-rich Reynolds family's holiday party when she witnesses a murder that could hold clues to the long-ago disappearance of family patriarch Clive Reynolds. And more clues could come from her own shadowy past. Following the LJ -starred Hello, Transcriber.

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October 3, 2022
At first glance, straight-arrow police officer Ryan Hudson, whose former patrol partner has just been fatally shot during a convenience store stickup, and goth photographer Morgan Mori, a traumatized eyewitness, have little in common besides the bad luck to be living in crime-infested Black Harbor, Wis., the gritty setting for this intriguing if flawed thriller from Morrissey (Hello, Transcriber). But as guilt-ridden Ryan pursues his own unofficial investigation, gradually breaking through the defenses Morgan has built up as a survivor of childhood abuse, the pair prove surprisingly sympatico. Maybe it has something to do with the scars both bear from their deeply dysfunctional families, or the secrets that could get one bounced from the force and put the other behind bars. As their bond blooms into friendship, Ryan comes to realize that Morgan may unwittingly hold the key to not only his partner’s murder but also the town’s most high-profile cold case: the disappearance 20 years earlier of wealthy mogul Clive Reynolds. Morrissey skillfully interweaves these twisty plot strands, even as some developments strain credulity. Nonetheless, readers will be eager to see what further mysteries Black Harbor may harbor. Agent: Sharon Pelletier, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.

October 15, 2022
A pair of murky mysteries haunt the residents of a deceptively sleepy Wisconsin town. In wintry Black Harbor, Morgan Mori goes on an impromptu first date with Bennett Reynolds, CEO of a private equity firm, after a gig photographing a family Christmas celebration at the Reynolds estate, a "sea glass-colored mansion at the top of the bluff." Their mutual chemistry becomes clear when Morgan shares how she's landed back home in Black Harbor after an unhappy tenure in nearby Chicago. Later that same night, as she stops at a gas station, she witnesses the murder of police detective Brix Garrison. Alternate chapters are told from the perspectives of Morgan and Garrison's partner, Ryan Hudson, who is introduced already surveying the Fast Mart crime scene before the chapter describing Morgan's arrival. Hudson is haunted by the crime and driven to solve it. The intriguing result is that significant plot details are doled out piecemeal. For example, Hudson's on-again, off-again affair with Garrison's wife, Noelle, isn't revealed for nearly 100 pages. Timelines are also often tantalizingly fuzzy. Fittingly, the story focuses on two unsolved crimes: the murder of Garrison and the disappearance of Clive Reynolds, wealthy patriarch of that influential Reynolds family, 20 years ago. Morrissey is unstinting in piling on the creepy atmosphere, from Morgan's surname to Black Harbor to a part of town called "The Ruins" to her title, which refers to a classic car, a Porsche 930 Turbo, registered to Clive Reynolds. An intriguing mix of police procedural, gothic potboiler, and psychological thriller that will keep readers on their toes.

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Starred review from November 1, 2022
Morgan Mori has had a horrific life. She can't remember her father, and her mother abandoned her when she was four, leaving Morgan with an aunt who allowed men to abuse her. She eventually left her hometown, Black Harbor, Wisconsin, and moved to Chicago, where she opened The Ruins, a space for individuals to come to terms with their own damaged lives. Then The Ruins burned down, with only a mysterious key and a note saying "all roads lead back to home"" left behind. Curious about the cryptic note and the key, Morgan returns to Black Harbor, where she witnesses a brutal murder and becomes involved, with a sympathetic cop, in investigating the long-ago disappearance of wealthy citizen Clive Reynolds. In trying to decipher the mysterious message and find out what the key opens, she discovers shocking news about her past, leading to a near-apocalyptic weekend in a remote woods. Full of secrets, danger, and terror, with a tragic, spiky, gutsy lead character reminiscent of Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander, this dark, twisted, Gothic-style thriller will grip readers from first page to last. Outstanding.

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