Devils at the Door

by Tessa Wegert

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781448313761
Publisher:	Severn House
Publication date:	08/27/2024
Series:	Shana Merchant Series , #5
Edition description:	Main
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	574,739
Product dimensions:	5.43(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Tessa Wegert is the author of the Shana Merchant series of mysteries. A former freelance journalist, Tessa has contributed to such publications as Forbes, The Huffington Post, Adweek, The Economist, and The Globe and Mail. Tessa grew up in Quebec and now lives with her husband and children in Connecticut, where she studies martial arts and is currently at work on her next novel.

Editorial Reviews

10/30/2023

Wegert’s chilling fifth mystery featuring New York State Police investigator Merchant (after 2022’s The Kind to Kill) successfully builds on her protagonist’s loaded backstory. In previous entries, Merchant discovered that her cousin, Abraham Skilton, killed more than a dozen women while living under the alias Blake Bram. Despite Bram’s violent death, Merchant remains haunted by nightmares about the murders. Now, Merchant’s troubled teenage niece, Henrietta, has been skipping school and damaging her parents’ property in response to being bullied by classmates about her familial connection to Bram. Merchant’s brother pleads with her to take in Hen for a semester, and she agrees—but the move to a new town doesn’t end the teen’s torments. After students at Hen’s new high school start a Bram fan club, she becomes the prime suspect in the drowning death of a boy discovered with a suspicious head wound—and Merchant is assigned to investigate. Wegert expertly renders Merchant’s quandary, ratcheting up the personal and professional stakes, and keeps readers off-balance as the investigation unfolds. Fans of David Mark’s DS Aector McAvoy series should check this out. Agent: Marlene Stringer, Stringer Literary. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

An atmospheric, sophisticated thriller with layers upon layers of secrets

Sarah Stewart Taylor

[Wegert has] rightly earned the badge as one of the finest talents of the past three years. And The Kind to Kill is her best novel to date

The Strand Magazine on The Kind to Kill

A bone-chilling mystery that crackles with suspense

Joanna Schaffhausen

An extremely well-written crime novel . . . fans of the series will not be disappointed 

Booklist

Stellar . . . Devil's at the Door has all the hallmarks of this excellent series – spooky Thousand Islands atmosphere, rich characterization, and a compelling circle of suspects

author of the Maggie D'arcy mysteries Sarah Stewart Taylor

An explosive small town mystery filled with delicious and deadly secrets

#1 international bestselling author of The Engagem Darby Kane

Louise Penny meets Ruth Ware in this small town mystery that bubbles with secrets and intrigue

Charlie Donlea

A taut, atmospheric and compulsive thriller that had me gripped as every secret unravelled and the investigation reached its compelling conclusion

author of The Jigsaw Man Nadine Matheson

A compelling, unique mystery with twists I never saw coming. I couldn't put it down

bestselling author of My Lovely Wife Samantha Downing

2023-09-21
Shana Merchant’s unsettled upstate New York household is invaded by an unexpectedly troublesome presence: Shana’s teenage niece.

What could be more awkward for Shana, a senior investigator for the New York State Police, and her teammate Tim Wellington as they busily plan their Christmas wedding than to take in Henrietta Della Merchant, the wayward daughter of Doug Merchant, her brother in Vermont? But Hen’s become so uncommunicative and unmanageable at home that Shana and Tim open their doors and hearts to her. The gesture’s not returned: Hen continues obstinately silent even after Shana’s called one night to Devil’s Oven Island, where she finds Hen and three of her few school friends, one of them dead. A preliminary exam indicates that Leif Colebrook has drowned, but the medical examiner rules otherwise, and Shana, still burdened by her neighbors’ identification of her with Blake Bram, the cousin whose many murder victims include her ex-husband, finds her position compromised even further by Hen’s involvement in Leif’s death. The most ironic twist of all, Shana thinks, is that the very reason Mia Klinger, the leader of the three teens discovered with Hen at Devil’s Oven, befriended the outsider was because she was fascinated by her link to Bram. But Shana, who feels guilty because she didn’t stop Ford Colebrook, Leif’s grieving father, from kissing her, is wrong. That’s not nearly the most ironic twist in a tale whose secrets keep getting more and more devastating.

Missing your relatives and your summer vacation? Wegert has the perfect antidote.

Kirkus Reviews