Early morning coffee with a view.
This was the routine Tim and I had happily adopted since moving to the antique Victorian house by the river – and what a view it was. Past Otter Creek and the village of Alexandria Bay we could just make out Heart Island, Boldt Castle’s Bavarian-style stone towers surrounded by trees already turning orange and gold. Tim and I would huddle on the patio, sipping from our mugs while silver fog rose from the surface of the river. We’d chat and laugh and plan the day as best we could, though our lives had their share of surprises.
One of those was currently sitting in the dining room, swiping through TikTok on her phone.
Our daily routine had changed since Hen’s arrival in A-Bay. Having a kid in the house will do that, especially when the kid isn’t your own. Don’t get me wrong, I love my niece…but Hen’s presence was a huge responsibility. My brother expected Tim and I to set her straight, as if our background in law enforcement could magic away her black mood. But hers was no surface-level slump; angst ran through her veins like contrast dye, and the image it presented was alarming. This sixteen-year-old had a taste for trouble. It was her unruly behavior that had brought her to the Thousand Islands, and though I had no children of my own, it was now up to me to flush the darkness from Hen’s mind.
And so, the new routine was this: pour two mugs of coffee and trade a nervous glance with Tim before emerging into the dining room. Pretend to scroll through my phone while eyeing Hen to make sure she ate enough breakfast. Watch through the window as she pulled out of the driveway in Tim’s car. Check in with Tim’s stepmother, who worked at A-Bay High, to confirm that Hen’s grades weren’t tanking.
Tamp down the lingering guilt that refused to be expelled.
My brother, Doug, had been right about one thing when he sent Hen to spend the semester in Upstate New York: my niece and I had something in common. We both knew what it felt like to be ostracized. Cold-shouldered. Snubbed. I’d done my very best to keep the secret I’d learned in Manhattan three years prior, but the truth was out. The whole world knew our family’s connection to a killer, and Hen’s community back in Vermont had decided that – just as was the case with Blake Bram – violence must be in our blood.
I’d had some time to sit with the horrible knowledge that the Merchants were related to a murderer; it was me, after all, who’d connected the dots. For Hen, the revelation was still new, and it had recalibrated the way she thought of herself. I could see it in the slump of her shoulders where she sat. It cast a pall over the carefree child I’d once known. Now, every day was a rescue mission to bring that lost girl back.
I can do this, I told myself where I stood by the coffee machine, breathing in the fortifying smell. I can make this right.
But Hen was in far more danger than I’d realized. And here, in sleepy A-Bay, my mission to recover the innocent kid I’d once known was about to turn deadly.
Devils At The Door, A Shana Merchant Mystery Book #5
Genre: Traditional Mystery
Release: December 2023
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link
A suspicious drowning throws New York State senior investigator Shana Merchant’s life into turmoil in this taut, thrilling small-town mystery – perfect for fans of Agatha Christie and Ruth Ware.
Sixteen-year-old Henrietta used to be happy. But that was before her family hit the national news. Before she – and the whole world – knew she was related to one of New York’s most prolific serial killers.
Senior Investigator Shana Merchant readily agrees when her brother asks her to take in his troubled, rebellious daughter for the fall semester. Doug’s convinced that spending a few months in Alexandria Bay with Shana will straighten Hen out.
But when Hen arrives, Shana’s not so sure. She can’t help but distrust the strange and manipulative teen, who binge-watches bloody movies and roams the house at night, taking things that aren’t hers.
Soon, though, Shana has more to worry about than missing heirlooms when she’s called to investigate the suspicious drowning of a local teenager, only to discover her niece at the scene of the crime.
What happened that night on the dark, uninhabited island of Devil’s Oven? With Hen and her new friends not talking, and a community determined to keep their secrets dead and buried, Shana knows it’s a race against time to uncover the truth before her niece is upgraded from key witness to prime suspect.
Meet the author
Tessa Wegert is the author of the Shana Merchant mysteries, which include Death in the Family, The Dead Season, Dead Wind, The Kind to Kill, and the upcoming Devils At The Door. A former journalist and digital media strategist, Tessa has contributed to Forbes, HuffPost, The Globe and Mail, and The Economist. She grew up in Quebec and now lives with her husband and children in Connecticut, where she studies martial arts and is co-president of Sisters in Crime CT. Find her online at tessawegert.com.