THE DEAD SEASON
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.
What People Are Saying
"Professional-grade detection with a no-nonsense heroine who can be stressed out but never counted out.”
— Kirkus Reviews
"The compulsively readable second Shana Merchant mystery finds the investigator returning to her Vermont hometown when the bones of her uncle are discovered in a local wildlife refuge."
— Shelf Awareness
"The Dead Season is a thrilling and chilling addition to Tessa Wegert’s promising new series."
— BookPage
"In this diverting sequel to Death in the Family (2020), the game is still on."
— Booklist
"Chilling psychological thriller meets gripping police procedural in this relentlessly compelling cat and mouse game of buried secrets and family heartbreak. Tessa Wegert is such a skilled and confident storyteller! I could not put this down.”
— Hank Phillippi Ryan,
USA Today bestselling author of The First to Lie
“The world is nowhere near done with Shana Merchant, and I look forward to seeing where Wegert takes her next.”
— Bookreporter
"Tessa Wegert’s descriptions of the mighty St. Lawrence, as seen through Shana’s eyes, are luminous.”
— Criminal Element
"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.”
— The Nerd Daily
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“Tessa Wegert leads us deeper into the treacherous past of detective Shana Merchant in this second installment. This time the stakes are higher and the obstacles more personal and sadistic. A thrilling read for fans of Tana French and Ruth Ware!”
— Audrey K.