One girl dead and one girl missing isn't exactly surprising in Black Harbor, but it still rocks this dark town and the people who live there despite its rough reputation.

***

I am going to caveat that I have not read the first two Black Harbor books, so maybe I am missing something. That being said, WE GET IT. Black Harbor is this dark, dingy town. Which begs the question, why do so many people live there? Enough that there is a private academy? I couldn't even care about the missing Chloe or the dead bodies piling up because we kept getting hit over the head with how common it was in this town.

Let's also talk about Libby. <spoiler>

Libby tortures bugs.
Libby is bullied mercilessly.
Libby receives no repercussions for generally being creepy and weird? Did I miss something there?
All I can say is, Chloe girl, you have been through enough, get away from that girl FAST. </spoiler>

I think I would have enjoyed this book more with less emphasis on how scary this town is and more likeable characters. But I am willing to revisit Black Harbor again!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I'm Dead is the first book I've read by Hannah Morrissey. Although its plot is pretty typical for a mystery/thriller, what makes it better than most is the character development. I was interested in all the characters right from the start and I found them realistic, each not entirely good or bad, with flaws and regrets. The characters kept me engaged through all the "whodunit it", is Chloe dead or alive, how will it turn out? When I'm Dead is a solidly enjoyable story.

n Black Harbor sits a small community known as Belgrave Circle where Medical Examiner Rowan Winthrop and Homicide Detective Axel Winthrop live. Next door lives Marnie the local ICU doctor with her daughter Libby. Madison, a girl that goes to school with Libby and Chloe, lives around the bend a few houses down from them.
…
On the night of Chloe’s Beetlejuice performance Madison was murdered. The call came in during her performance leaving Chloe disappointed that her parents left before her scene. While her parents were working the investigation Chloe was left alone.
…
When I’m Dead is told from the points of view of Rowan, Axel, and Libby. Libby went to school with Chloe and Madison. Except she wasn’t friends with either one of them. She’s considered bizarre by many for her interest in dead animals and taxidermy.
…
As far as police procedures go this one was unique in the way this community handled the investigation. For every person of interest police managed to create a long list of suspects which led them down a rabbit hole of digging into the dirt of the other suspects.
…
It doesn’t seem that this series is interconnected meaning you can read each as a standalone. I’ve read books 2 and 3 and looking back each investigation was conducted by a different character. Hannah Morrisey’s Black Harbor series focuses on the people who live within this small community. Hedelsten Hides & Leather Goods Tanning Company kept this town thriving for many years. Hannah Morrissey guides readers in the direction that she wants suspicion to follow. While this is an easy tactic to distract readers from the real suspect I wasn’t quite on board with the misguided direction. Once the tannery closed a divide was made between low-income and high-income neighborhoods. Rainbow Row was known for its low-income housing. It’s a ghost town with abandoned homes.m
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It’s not as dark of a read as I had imagined. The cover led me to be believe we were dealing with a monster. I guess everyone’s definition is different. The type of crime certainly leans towards a grotesque individual. Yet the words formulated are not of the violent kind. I’ve read some pretty dark books. This one is mild. With the prologue leading into Halloween with ghouls and ghosts I was hoping for a more atmospheric read. There were no scary creepy vibes. Black Harbor was referred to as a crime-ridden city where crimes happened on a weekly basis, yet the police department suffered cutbacks stockpiling the work on those remaining.
…
Thank you St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read When I’m Dead by Hannah Morrissey. This is book three in the Black Harbor series.

"One girl murdered...another one missing...and a medical examiner desperate to uncover the truth in When I'm Dead, the latest Black Harbor mystery by acclaimed author Hannah Morrissey.

On a bone-chilling October night, Medical Examiner Rowan Winthorp investigates the death of her daughter's best friend. Hours later, the tragedy hits even closer to home when she makes a devastating discovery - her daughter, Chloe, is gone. But, not without a trace.

A morbid mosaic of clues forces Rowan and her husband to question how deeply they really knew their daughter. As they work closely to peel back the layers of this case, they begin to unearth disturbing details about Chloe and her secret transgressions...details that threaten to tear them apart.

Amidst the noise of navigating her newfound grief and reconciling the sins of her past, an undeniable fact rings true for Rowan: karma has finally come to collect."

I'm getting a distinct Twin Peaks Laura Palmer vibe.

When teenager Madison is found murdered, with her teeth smashed in, and another girl, Chloe, is missing the community is terrified that someone is killing/kidnapping their young girls. Chloe's parents are a detective in town and the medical examiner, and When I'm Dead follows their story as they uncover clues and interview various people who knew Chloe. Shocking twists and a multi-layered story, this is a super enjoyable thriller that's a quick read primarily due to switching frequently between different character perspectives. Highly recommend! Thank you to the publisher for my advanced copy.

🦷🦷🦷🦷🦷 / 5

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review! And thank you to Hannah for sending me a physical copy!

When I came home to the physical ARC on my doorstep, I immediately began mentally preparing because I knew this book would consume me. I wanted to devour this story, but I needed to savor every second back in Black Harbor.

Hannah’s writing is like no other, especially in the thriller genre. Her use of literary devices, such as similes/metaphors, imagery, and juxtaposition, is so strategic and unique—it catches you off guard. I often found myself reaching for my Kindle to highlight excerpts that I couldn’t stop thinking about.

If you read her first two books and loved the dark, grungy, gruesome vibes, you’ll definitely love this one! It had all the thrills and twists and more!

It was a unique experience to see things from the perspective of the medical examiner and the investigator because their daughter goes missing shortly after her friend becomes the murder victim in their case.

Once again, I loved the references to the previous books, and the return of Nikolai Kole. And the locket was the perfect choice for a mysterious object that potentially holds secrets, like the skeleton key in THE WIDOWMAKER.

I could literally go on and on, but I’ll leave the writing to Hannah. This is THE perfect book for spooky season, so if you only add one more book to your TBR this fall, please let it be this one!

“You’ll love me more when I’m dead. Chloe’s last words ring in her head like tinnitus.”
When I’m Dead is the third in the Black Harbor series and it’s another well done thriller. It’s dark, tense and chilling.
Morrissey has perfectly captured the hell of two parents dealing with a missing daughter - a daughter that might have actually killed her best friend. It doesn’t help that both parents are involved in the case - the father as a detective and the mother as a medical examiner. The two hold opposite viewpoints and it’s tearing the marriage apart. It also doesn’t help that both parents feel a huge amount of guilt over placing jobs before family.
Morrissey has also captured what it’s like to be a teenager - the jealousies, the meanness and the unwillingness to be truthful with adults.
The book moves at a fast pace without sacrificing character development. I was swept up in this story and couldn’t wait to see how it would play out. Be forewarned, there are several gruesome scenes.
My thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for an advance copy of this book.

Hannah Morrissey was a new author for me. I was given this book from NetGalley to review. When I'm Dead is a chilling murder mystery. Madison is dead. Murdered in a rather gruesome way. Her "best friend" Chloe is missing. Chloe's parents are Axel who is one of the local detectives and Rowan, his wife, who is the local medical examiner. They all live in the small town of Black Harbour. Rowan and Axel are overworked and understaffed in their respective jobs and have been busy. Chloe who is missing was often left on her own, Rowan's next door neighbor Marnie is her best friend. Marnie's daughter Libby is in Chloe's class and while maybe not her friend knows a lot about Chloe and what has really been going on between Chloe and her two best friends Madison and Sari. No one knows if Chloe is alive or dead or if she killed Madison. The only thing Rowan knows is that when she left her daughter in the middle of her performance her daughters last words to her were " You'll love me when I'm dead". Axel and Rowan and the team race to find who the murderer is in this mystery.

In a town where it feels like the dead outnumber the living, medical examiner Rowan and her detective husband Axel have their hands full. On the night of their daughter's on stage debut, they are called away in the middle to investigate a new murder. Their daughter's best friend. Just hours later - they would come to realize that their daughter is now missing too. And bodies are dropping like flies around Black Harbor. Will their Chloe be next?

This intoxicating novel keeps you sucked in from the very first page as it takes you on a journey to try and see how well these parents actually knew their child. How much does any parent know really? Once you pick this book up - it's impossible to put down.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hannah Morrisey for allowing me to read this amazing book as an eARC.

Wow! What a perfect book to read before Halloween. It's dark and twisty and keeps you guessing right up until the final reveal. I hope there are more Black Harbor books. Both have been great.

Just wow! My first Hannah Morrissey novel but definitely not my last! This book was totally captivating from the very beginning until the very last page. Fabulous characters that kept me flipping pages long into the night. So many factors contributed to this being a 5 star read. It was packed with tension, twists and great reveals. And it played on every emotion I can think of. Highly recommend.
Thank you NetGalley, Hannah Morrissey and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read and review this great book.

Thank you so much to Minotaur Books and Hannah Morrissey for my copy of this book! It was much anticipated and exactly what I needed. The book is about medical examiner Rowan and her detective husband Axel, and their active jobs in Black Harbor. One night they are both called to the murder of their daughter’s best friend, and hours later they discover their daughter Chloe is also missing. Now Rowan and Axel must question how well they know their daughter and the people in her orbit.

Thoughts: This book was gruesome and chilling and EVERYTHING I wanted. This my first book from Hannah Morrissey and even though this is a series, it was perfect as a stand alone. I read this fast-paced police procedural in a few hours and the story kept me engaged the whole time. I loved the setting of Black Harbor and each point of view was unique and interesting to read. There were lots of great suspects and threads to pull on as the story went along.

However, the reveal was so obvious and the killer was clear from the first time they were mentioned. I loved the tension that built in this book and the police procedural elements, as well as the suspicious characters. Even though I knew exactly what was going to happen, it was a BLAST to read and I loved every minute of it. 4.5 stars for this fun story!

Well written, interesting and well developed characters, and an intriguing story

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65213515

This was my first Hannah Morrissey read, even though I've seen beloved bookstagrammer @crimebythebook absolutely rave about this author!

Married couple Axel and Rowen specialize in dead bodies - a medical examiner and a detective. And on the debut of their only child's big school play, they're called away to handle just that. How would they know that hours later, their lives would all be thrown into absolute chaos? Their missing daughter lives in a world they knew nothing about, and as the body count increases, they begin to wonder what exactly they might discover next...

This was an enjoyable, edgy book with a fresh plot and perspectives! I enjoyed the bit of domestic thriller, the bit of teenage drama, the bit of detective procedural...but what I enjoyed most of all was the setting of Black Harbor. I almost felt myself there, in this bleak, cold, crime-ridden town that people can't seem to escape from. The setting was perfection, and it made me empathize so much with Rowan coming to terms with her past that led her to Black Harbor and her future desire to leave Black Harbor. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book, and I look forward to going back and reading Morrissey's other Black Harbor books: The Widowmaker and Hello, Transcriber!

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for my ARC - all opinions are my own.

When I'm Dead revolves around Rowan Winthorp, a medical examiner in Black Harbor, and her husband, Axel, who is a detective in the same town. Early on in the book, their daughter's best friend is found murdered, and shortly thereafter, their daughter Chloe disappears on her way home from the high school musical she is starring in as Lydia Deetz. The book revolved around their mutual investigation into their daughter's disappearance, as well as the murder of Madison. This is the 3rd book in the Black Harbor series, but the first book I've read by this author, and in my opinion this book is stand alone, and can be read and understood without reading the prior books.

The plotting of this book was well done, and is told primarily from the perspective of Rowan, Axel, and also their next-door neighbor's teenage daughter, Libby. There are plenty of false leads, and misleading clues. However, with that said, the true killer is easy to spot from fairly early on for an experienced reader.

The part of the book that I struggled with is the supposed danger of Black Harbor itself, for a town that is supposedly incredibly dangerous for all who live there, parents seem oddly ok with letting their teenagers galivant all over, unsupervised. Also, for such a dangerous town, the cost of living seems fairly high, and there's even a private high school with 5 figure tuition. The vibes just don't seem to match for me. With that said, I still enjoyed this book overall as it was a sufficiently spooky and autumnal feeling book and rounded up from 3.5 stars to 4 solid stars.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the electronic ARC of this novel for review.

I was immediately absorbed by this atmospheric page turner. Holy Moley. Black Harbor reminds me of Gotham City. It has that kind of vibe. The story is told from three points of view: Rowan who's the medical examiner; Axel, a homicide detective and Rowan's husband; and Libby, the awkward teenager who lives next door.

The night of the high school play, a teenage girl is found murdered. Rowan and Axel are called to the scene only to find the victim is their daughter's best friend. Things escalate when they realize their daughter is also missing. What follows is a desperate search along a twisted path for their daughter as well as answers to unexpected revelations that come to light along the way.

This book never lets up. Rowan and Axel are thrown into crisis mode and become unreliable narrators of sorts. That's where Libby comes in. You never know what's up with her but her perspective gives you a different take on the action and gives you a break from the turmoil enveloping Rowan and Axel.

Overall, it's a gripping thriller with lots of dark twists and turns. The setting sets the tone. The well done characterizations bring the drama. It's the perfect book to read come October 31st. Definitely check it out if it's your jam.

I enjoyed this book! I don’t think I have encountered a thriller series where each book focuses on a different set of characters. This author seems to be following the mold of a small town romance author, and I kind of liked it. You do not have to read either of the other books in this series before reading this one. I liked the darkness in all of the characters. Their reactions seemed like what would genuinely happen in a marriage if your daughter went missing. It seemed pretty raw. Everything seemed very bleak in this town where murder is synonymous with daily life.

Rowan and Axel are a powerhouse of a couple. Rowan is a medical examiner and Axel is a detective. They work LONG hours. They have a daughter Chloe who is getting ready for her first lead in a play. She has changed her appearance and is learning about method acting. All seems to be going as normal until Rowan and Axel get the call out on opening night of her play. The body is one of Chloe’s friends, or so they think. It is a gruesome. Rowan goes home to check in with Chloe to realize her worst fears have come true- Chloe is missing.

Now we are in the deep dive of the investigation of how the murder and the disappearance are connected. Mean girls from high school are involved. Rumors are involved of a taboo relationship between Chloe and her drama teacher. Rowan and Axel find themselves on other sides of a line of how they think their daughter is involved. One stone overturned leads to another dead body and another. Will they ever find out who is doing this? How is Chloe involved? She couldn’t be the one responsible right?

I liked the way that this was done in dealing POVs (also reminiscent of some romance novels I have read recently). We got to see the different thought processes from the main characters. I liked the twist- I didn’t see the killer being the killer. Overall this was a fast paced thriller, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

A dark and gruesome crime thriller that I absolutely enjoyed. Little did I know this was part of a series and I have had the first book sitting in my to be read pile for forever. This one was literally the third in the series. Good thing they can all be read as a standalone. I will definitely be pushing book one, Hello, Transcriber up to the top of the pile as I loved this authors writing. Definitely kept me turning the pages with curiosity and suspense.

Thanks @netgalley and @stmartinspress for read number 127 of 2023: @hannahmorrisseywriter’s newest book to be released on October 31st. Please note that my ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This was a very fast-paced, but also very graphic read by Morrissey. It was definitely disturbing at times, but I was gripped from the first page and eager to see how things ended. The character development was wonderful. While many of the characters appear in her other books, you could read this is a standalone novel. I did anticipate the ending, but I still enjoyed getting there. A ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read in my books. A great one to check out! #avivaandfriendsrecos

I discovered Hannah Morrissey last year on instagram and immediately devoured Hello Transcriber. I ordered The Widowmaker to arrive on publishing day, and when I saw the email from NetGalley inviting me to read early, I immediately jumped!

💀I loved the range of characters in her third Black Harbor novel - the teen angst, the frustration, the drama between the adults - felt like a Halloween movie and we saw more dimension to each character

💀Hannah’s research into the macabre is almost unparalleled. She shares some of her research on IG but it also comes through in her books.

💀This third book also seemed to have more subplots happening and I felt like there was a lot to keep track of, which I loved! Definitely held my interest!

If you haven’t read Hannah’s first 2 books in the Black Harbor series, definitely check them out and preorder When I’m Dead, publishing on 🦇Halloween🎃