Death in the Family by Tessa Wegert – a Review

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Description:
A storm-struck island. A blood-soaked bed. A missing man. Senior Investigator Shana Merchant believes it all adds up to a killer in their midst—and that murder is a family affair.

Thirteen months ago, former NYPD detective Shana Merchant barely survived being abducted by a serial killer. Now hoping to leave grisly murder cases behind, she’s taken a job in her fiancé’s sleepy hometown in the Thousand Islands region of Upstate New York.

But as a nor’easter bears down on her new territory, Shana and fellow investigator Tim Wellington receive a call about a man missing on a private island. Shana and Tim travel to the isolated island owned by the wealthy Sinclair family to question the witnesses. They arrive to find blood on the scene and a house full of Sinclair family and friends on edge.

While Tim guesses they’re dealing with a runaway case, Shana is convinced that they have a murder on their hands. As the gale intensifies outside, she starts conducting interviews and discovers the Sinclairs and their guests are crawling with dark and dangerous secrets.

Trapped on the island by the raging storm with only Tim whose reliability is thrown into question, the increasingly restless suspects, and her own trauma-fueled flashbacks for company, Shana will have to trust the one person her abduction destroyed her faith in—herself. But time is ticking down, because if Shana’s right, a killer is in their midst and as the pressure mounts, so do the odds that they’ll strike again.

Review:

Death in the Family by Tessa Wegert is the first book in her new Shana Merchant series. Death in the Family is an exciting mystery thriller.  We meet our heroine, Shana Merchant, who has only been in this upstate New York town for about a year, after recovering from a kidnapping as a NYPD detective.  She hoped that she would not have to get involved in high crime areas that she was used to.  She and her partner, Tim Wellington are called to investigate a possible murder at an isolated private island, and must travel on the lake through a nor’easter storm; the island mansion is owned by the wealthy Sinclair family. Upon arriving, Shana looks over the bedroom scene, with one side of the bed covered in blood, with no body to be found.

As the weather worsens, everyone is trapped at the mansion, including Shana and Tim, with the local police unable to get there.  Shana does take charge, but she has to interview members of the family, who most are not very likable, and she is also at some odds with Tim, who is sure the missing person is alive and well, and Shana is confident that this case is a murder.  This is very much like an old fashion murder mystery, with a house full of worthy suspects of being a possible killer; similar to Agatha Christie mysteries. 

As Shana interviews each of the family members, with some of them very belligerent, we get a great view of the clues she finds, and when there is another victim, the danger escalates for all of them in the house who cannot leave; but one thing is set, there is a murderer in the house.  Shana needs to get beyond her past memories that still plague her; and to confide to Tim about what happened to her.     Tim has done well in keeping everyone calm, as she investigates, but he knows something is wrong and tries to get her to talk to him.  Her past memories rise up when threatened by temperamental people, and eventually her and Tim will iron things out and work well together.

I will say that just about everyone in the house wasn’t likable, with the exception of the matriarch, Camilla, who is slowly losing her battle to cancer.  Each of the members are suspected, and with so many twists and turns, it is impossible to correctly guess.  The caretaker & the missing Jasper’s fiancée were the only ones who seemed nice besides the grandmother. As we race to the climax, I had an inkling who the murderer was, but was totally mind blown at the twist.

Death in the Family was very well written by Tessa Wegert, with an exciting, gripping and chilling thriller all the way, as well as the many twists and turns that kept throwing us off. If you enjoy an old fashion mystery thriller, look no further then Death in the Family.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher