NOVEMBER 2022 - AudioFile
In the second book in the Black Harbor series, narrators Xe Sands, voicing photographer Morgan Mori, and Adam Verner, portraying police detective Ryan Hudson, alternate chapters. Mori returns to her hometown to solve the mystery of a key she anonymously received. Mori and Hudson connect after she witnesses a robbery that results in the death of Hudson’s colleague. While intent on solving this murder, Hudson also becomes the lead detective of a cold case that has haunted Black Harbor for years. Sands's deep, velvety voice is a good match for the enigmatic Mori. Verner’s portrayal of Detective Hudson is also in tune with the character. Listeners who appreciate Morrissey’s description and attention to detail will be drawn into this dark, multilayered saga. E.Q. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
10/03/2022
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. (Dec.)
From the Publisher
“The Widowmaker confirms Hannah Morrisey’s status as one of the brightest new voices in crime fiction. An unflinching look at two damaged people trying to do right in a world full of wrong, told in scalpel-sharp prose with a poet’s eye for detail.” —Riley Sager, New York Times bestselling author of The House Across the Lake
“The Widowmaker is impossible to put down and even harder to stop thinking about, with characters so fully formed, they walk right off the page, crawl inside you, and stick to your bones.” –Elle Cosimano, USA Today bestselling author of Finlay Donovan Is Killing It
“The Widowmaker is absolutely enthralling. It’s moody and dark, with characters that are heartbreakingly real. Hannah Morrissey has become a must-read author for me.” – Samantha Downing, internationally bestselling author of My Lovely Wife
"Welcome back to Black Harbor, where the snow looks like ash and the people are darker than ever. Morrissey’s latest is an electrifying and unnerving exploration of privilege, justice, and the strength it takes to tackle a city’s grit and glitter in one fell swoop.” —Tessa Wegert, author of Dead Wind
"An instantly compelling main character and unforgettable cast. A propulsive look at family and secrets and desire . . . gorgeously written." - Hank Phillippi Ryan, USA Today bestselling author of Her Perfect Life
“Mesmerizing, moody, and filled with menace, you won’t want to put down The Widowmaker. The future of crime fiction is named Hannah Morrissey.” —Alex Finlay, author of The Night Shift
Library Journal
07/01/2022
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.
NOVEMBER 2022 - AudioFile
In the second book in the Black Harbor series, narrators Xe Sands, voicing photographer Morgan Mori, and Adam Verner, portraying police detective Ryan Hudson, alternate chapters. Mori returns to her hometown to solve the mystery of a key she anonymously received. Mori and Hudson connect after she witnesses a robbery that results in the death of Hudson’s colleague. While intent on solving this murder, Hudson also becomes the lead detective of a cold case that has haunted Black Harbor for years. Sands's deep, velvety voice is a good match for the enigmatic Mori. Verner’s portrayal of Detective Hudson is also in tune with the character. Listeners who appreciate Morrissey’s description and attention to detail will be drawn into this dark, multilayered saga. E.Q. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2022-09-28
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.
