With an Agatha Christie-like atmosphere, Tessa Wegert’s debut thriller Death in the Family was a hit and introduced an exciting and fascinating, but still very relatable new State Police Detective in Shana Merchant. Picking up mere weeks after the events of Death in the Family, Wegert brings Detective Merchant back for a thrilling new adventure that combines a brand new case and a close-to-home cold case in The Dead Season.
Detective Merchant is still dealing with the fall-out of the events in Death in the Family. The end of her relationship means she doesn’t really have a place of her own, so she’s staying with a friend and fellow officer. Her reactions to stress during the intense circumstances of her previous case have left her temporarily suspended, pending counselling (which she has been faithfully completing) and a psychological evaluation, which is just days away. She and her police partner Tim have also not quite found their footing with each other. They both learned a great deal about each other working the previous case, including correcting some misinformation that each had been given about the other, but neither is quite sure where they stand, not knowing how Merchant’s suspension will play out.
While trying to work through all of these issues, get through her evaluation, and get reinstated, Merchant’s past suddenly takes center stage. Bones are found that are believed to be related to someone from her extended family, and then someone from her past reappears in her life, as she both knew and dreaded that he someday would. This sets off a fast-paced cat-and-mouse game as Shana must decide how many of the secrets of her past she will need to reveal to Tim and her other law enforcement colleagues as they try to end a serial killer’s deadly game before anyone else get hurt – or worse.
Wegert keeps the action going with excellent pacing throughout the story. We meet a lot of the characters from Merchant’s past and they are all well-developed, very real seeming characters with their own stories, issues, and backgrounds. Through her interactions with them, we get an even more in-depth picture of just who Shana Merchant is, not just as a detective, but as a daughter, a sister, a cousin, a niece, a friend, and more.
Many of the events and people from Shana Merchant’s past that were only briefly referenced or alluded to in Death in the Family reappear here and we are able to put these things into the context of Merchant’s life. But just as she brilliantly did before, Wegert withholds some things – she keeps us wanting more. She leaves tantalising breadcrumbs (hopefully) leading to our next thrill-ride with Detective Merchant.
The Dead Season is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
Will you be picking up The Dead Season? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
Senior Investigator Shana Merchant has spent years running from her past. But she never imagined a murder case would drive her to the most dangerous place of all–home.
After leaving the NYPD following her abduction by serial killer Blake Bram, Shana Merchant hoped for a fresh start in the Thousand Islands of Upstate New York. Her former tormentor has other plans. Shana and Bram share more than just a hometown, and he won’t let her forget it. When the decades-old skeleton of Shana’s estranged uncle is uncovered, Bram issues a challenge: Return home to Vermont and solve the cold case, or the blood he spills next will be on her hands.
As Shana interviews members of her family and the community, mining for secrets that could help her solve her uncle’s murder, she begins to realize how little she remembers of her childhood. And when Bram grows impatient and kidnaps again, leaving a trail of clues Shana alone can understand, she knows his new victim will only survive if she wins the psychopath’s twisted game. In order to solve one mystery, Shana must wade into her murky past to unravel another.
