Book Title: The Unlucky Ones
Series: Black Harbor #4
Author: Hannah Morrissey
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press ~ Minotaur Books
Genre: Thriller
Pub Date: March 25, 2025
My Rating: 3.6 stars
Pages; 304

Here I am again saying ‘Hello’ to transcriber Hazel Greenlee,
In this the fourth book in the Black Harbor series. Hazel is back helping solve her ex-husband Tommy’s brutal murder-which took place at “The Mineshaft’ a placed that acts like bar but is a notorious hangout for dealers and crime lords.
Nikolai Kole is the lead investigator who finds his body - if you read any of the earlier stories you know Nik and Hazel have history.

Black Harbor is in no way a nice place to live - story isn’t close to a ‘Cozy Mystery but one where gruesome things happen and nasty language is norm. - So will Hazel stay and will there be Book #5 - Read on

When I finished reading "Hello, Transcriber|" first in this series my comment was - it had me at ‘Hello”!
I also read the Book #2 "The Widowmaker" - which I liked even more; but book #3 " When I’m Dead" was the best!
Needless to say I was looking forward to #4!

Want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press ~ Minotaur Books for this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for March 25, 2025.

The Unlucky Ones is a dark, gritty murder mystery set in the underbelly of a city that reeks of drugs and rot. But within the pages, a romance tries to bloom between two past lovers. Morrissey teases us with a bit of lightness to offset the ugly.

This is the 4th book that I've read and loved by this author. I find her writing to be immersive and the storylines to be suspenseful and well plotted.
It was interesting revisiting Hazel and Kole and watching the progression of their relationship and all the goings on in Black Harbor.
I look forward to reading all future books by Hannah and will add them all to my keeper shelfves.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC..

Nikolai Kole and his team have been called to investigate a body found in the bathroom of a clubhouse known to be a hangout for murderers. It is determined to be the body of Tommy Greenlee. Tommy's death, however, also draws in someone from Nik's past. Hazel is Tommy's ex-wife and Nik's ex-lover. Hazel proves useful in helping to put the pieces of the puzzle together in the case. Together they must figure out the clues before someone else shows up dead.

There’s no doubt that Morrissey is the queen of Midwestern Noir and Black Harbor is at its center.

This end to the series ties up things perfectly, both case wise and relationship wise.

Hazel and Kole have always been an interesting duo to follow and the Kole’s detectives round out the crew. Behind Black Harbor and all of its cases is an issue found in many Midwestern towns and to see a crew work these cases has been entertaining.

3.5/5 rounded up to 4

This newest installment of the Black Harbor series sees Hazel returning to Black Harbor after the murder of her abusive ex-husband. It is his murder that draws her back but she knew she'd have to return eventually to deal with all the unresolved issues she left behind. She quickly gets pulled into the case of who killed her ex and why, almost losing her own life to find the truth.

“The Unlucky Ones” is the next book in the Black Harbor series by Hannah Morrissey. Hazel, a former police transcriber turned novelist, escaped from crime ridden Black Harbor eight years ago. When her ex-husband, Tommy, is killed, Hazel returns to Black Harbor to figure out who did it. This book can be read as a stand-alone book, so don’t let the fact that it’s part of a series deter you (though I do think this book is better enjoyed having read at least the first book in this series). This book has so much crime, drugs, and corruption one rather wonders who would actually live in Black Harbor. I found this book a bit more gritty than I prefer, but the police procedures still read rather true (well, except for that one instance …).

US pub date: 3/25/25
Genre: small-town suspense
Series: Black Harbor, book 4
Can I read this as a standalone?: I recommend reading HELLO, TRANSCRIBER first to learn about Hazel and Kole's relationship.
Quick summary: Black Harbor hasn't gotten any less bleak in the time since former transcriber Hazel left. When her ex-husband Tommy is found dead, she returns to town to help her former lover/police chief Nikolai Kole solve the murder.

Hannah Morrissey calls her books "Midwestern noir", and her latest definitely fits that bill! Black Harbor is such a dark place with so many secrets under the surface, and I enjoyed the surprises that came with the reveal of those secrets. Seeing Kole and Hazel trying to work together brought additional tension to the narrative. This book isn't a mile-a-minute thriller, but the atmospheric quality of Morrissey's writing makes it a great choice for a wintry reading day spent inside. 3.5 stars rounded to 4.

Thank you to Minotaur Books for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

BOOK REPORT
Received a complimentary copy of The Unlucky Ones, by Hannah Morrissey, from St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books/NetGalley, for which I am appreciative, in exchange for a fair and honest review. Scroll past the BOOK REPORT section for a cut-and-paste of the DESCRIPTION of it from them if you want to read my thoughts on the book in the context of that summary.

Well, I have only myself to blame…..

I just _thought_ I remembered liking the Hannah Morrissey Black Harbor series, which is why I was happy to get the fourth book in it from NetGalley. I should have gone to Goodreads to read my notes on the previous two….because here I am feeling the same way about No. 4….“Unfortunately, although Book No. 3 was a great deal more engaging/faster paced/believable, it still suffered from some of the same issues as No. 2. As in, belabor Black Harbor much, Ms Morrissey? You keep trying to make us believe that this town is beyond redemption, but somehow the emotional resonance is not there. All I can figure out to say here is, ‘The lady doth protest too much, methinks.’ “

So, for sure, yeah, this time, Future Kristi: No more of this series for you, if there even are any more books to come. Because Glasgow, Black Harbor ain't.

DESCRIPTION
A police transcriber-turned-novelist returns to Black Harbor to help solve the case of her ex-husband’s murder in the next riveting Black Harbor, featuring the return of characters from Hannah Morrissey's breakout debut, Hello, Transcriber.

Black Harbor is a tinderbox. Temperatures and violent crime have both risen to all-time highs, a new drug razes the city, and the scene to which Sergeant Nikolai Kole responds is anything but a rote homicide. In the back of a clubhouse lies a body wrapped in garbage bags and doused in bleach.

It isn’t just any body. Tommy Greenlee, the ex-husband of Kole’s former lover, Hazel, has been shot several times and left for dead. What’s more…the killer left what appears to be a calling card.

Elsewhere, Hazel is haunted by her memories of Black Harbor. Lured there after eight years, she returns to find out who killed Tommy and why. Now back in Kole’s orbit, their love affair can hardly pick up where it left off. They both used each other to their own ends before, which begs the question: would they do it again?

With the atmosphere growing more volatile by the second, Hazel and Kole call a truce, and as they work together to solve this murder, they will not only unearth Black Harbor’s deepest, darkest secrets—they’ll each have to face their own.

Here we go!! Book 4 did not disappoint! I really enjoyed this one. Very suspenseful and very twisty, just how I love my thrillers to be! Highly recommend!

Holy cow was this good! The Unlucky Ones has fast-paced chapters, twists and turns, suspense and even a little romance thrown in. Black Harbor is a dark, tense and frightful place to live. This book makes you feel that to the core.

I sincerely appreciate the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. Definitely go grab this one if you love police procedurals and crime thrillers.

Hazel is back!! I love this reconnection of her and Kole because I especially love Kole. I love the summary of previous story- great way to remind me- throughout. Great connections as well. Very helpful for something read almost 4 years ago! I love the way the author develops the characters and intertwines her stories into this. Great read!!

Edgy and raw, this is Book 4 in the Black Harbor series, and the first this reader has had the pleasure to read.

Hazel Rydelle, our first-person POV narrator, is an ex-police-transcriber and and ex-occupant of Black Harbor, Milwaukee, — by her accounts a terrible place; black at heart; rife with crime, poverty, and violence; and all in all a brutally unsettling location she was happy to escape (with her life) eight years ago.

Upon the sudden violent death of her ex-husband, Tommy Greenlee, Hazel, now in NY, finds herself uncontrollably drawn back to Black Harbor. Could this be as much for Sgt Nikolai Kole, he with “eyes the color of frost, too good looking for my own damn good”, a Black Harbor man Hazel still loves and fears for the power he has over her?

Nik’s world, (now assumed by Hazel), is a dark and gritty one, (shared with the reader in his own third-person POV voice) as he leads the BHPD Violent Crime Task Force. Nik’s cases mainly intersect with the city’s underbelly, inhabited by a slew of drug addicts, criminals and powerful overlords, leveraging Lake Michigan to inundate Black Harbor with a deluge of the horrifically potent Xombie, an exponentially-potent opioid-like drug that cannot be managed with narcane.

Without giving the plot away, this is a complex, unflinching and well-crafted police procedural, peopled with cops and criminals so authentic it’s no coincidence this author is a former police transcriber herself. As Hazel and Nik, along with his team of colleagues, encounter a host of brutal, vicious, and downright terrifying characters (and more than one homicide to solve), a claustrophobically tense race to the finish unwinds dramatically, (with several good twists), leading to a grand finale which is satisfying on a couple of levels.

With oodles of intriguing backstory hinted at and touched upon, it would be recommended to read the previous books first — you won’t want to miss a beat on the tangled and treacherous path each of these characters has previously encountered.

A great big thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.

This is the fourth entry in the Black Harbor series and the third I’ve read. Thanks to NetGalley, I’ve continued to enjoy the series. “The problem with Black Harbor—and there are quite a few—is that it’s not all that big of a city. Not a lot of good comes out of there, but a lot of bad passes through.” Nikolai Kole runs the Black Harbor Police Department and its’Violent Crime Task Force. For a small town, it has big crime problems exacerbated by the latest in drugs called Zombie. When the ex-husband of Nik’s former lover is found murdered, she returns to Black Harbor for presumably more than getting to the bottom of her former husband’s death.

The story is well-constructed, nicely paced, and suspenseful. You may think you know who all the players are and their roles, but there are many surprises. I’ll be interested in future Black Harbor stories.

This is book #4 of the Black Harbor series, although past books just basically have the eroding town of Black Harbor on the western coast of Lake Michigan in common. “The Unlucky Ones” can be read as a standalone police procedural, although it brings back main characters from the first installment “Hello, Transcriber” (Rowan and Axel, main characters of the last story return, too). It’s eight years later, and Hazel, a former police transcriber, now NYC novelist, who believes that escaping Black Harbor and her abusive ex was one of her greatest life milestones, is drawn back when her awful ex, Tommy, has been murdered. This also reunites her with police detective Nikolai Kole, also once her lover.

The darkness of Black Harbor seeps into every scene as Hazel and Kole begin a tortuous reunion. This is a journey through a depressing drug scene and multiple big bosses trying to control one another. It’s vivid and gritty, but at least the Hazel/Kole relationship brings some hope into this thriller. Morrissey builds tensions until the very end which keeps the reader absolutely engrossed. 4 stars!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): YES Harriet has green eyes.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO But even the trees in Black Harbor are ragged and gnawed.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!

This talented author has written a page turner. Tragic and frightening, the red herrings kept me guessing.
Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC to read and enjoy. All opinions are my own.

In this Black Harbor revisit novel Hazel returns after eight years to find out who killed her abusive ex-husband, Tommy Greenlee. As a former police transcriber turned novelist, Hazel is haunted by the memories of her former life and relationship with handsome Sergeant Nikolai Kole.
Tommy has been shot several times and a strange lottery ticket has been left in his pocket. This clue leads Koles team down a dark path to the past in this page turner. Can Hazel and Nik find each other's hearts again or are the wounds too deep? Who left Tommy Greenlee dead in a cartel club? These questions and more are answered in this dark and twisted novel by Hannah Morrissey.

NetGalley pub 3/25/25 I received a copy from NetGalley and the publisher. I voluntarily wrote a review.

Book 4 of the Black Harbor series. Hazel is lured back to Black Harbor after hearing of the death of her ex-husband. She wants to figure out why he was killed. While back, she rekindles her romance with detective Kole. The plot delves into the drug trade and we meet many unsavory characters. This book held my interest, and the resolution was a good one. Finding out who the big bad was, was a surprising reveal. This was a good addition to the series.

The Unlucky Ones is definitely a thrill ride. that last twist was unexpected. Highly recommended for anyone who loves a suspenseful, emotional, and thoroughly engaging mystery..

Thanks publisher and netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own and isn't influenced by anyone else.

Black Harbor is a crime ridden dark town that most prefer to run from rather than toward. But Hazel returning to this gritty place so she can figure out who killed her horrible ex-husband. While this is a series, this book can be read alone and the reader will be highly satisfied. Packed with crime and clues to keep one guessing, this will leave many readers reaching for the prior books. Entertaining but be forewarned it is filled with the darker side of life.