The Widowmaker

I received a digital advance copy of The Widowmaker by Hannah Morrissey via NetGalley. The Widowmaker is scheduled for release on December 6, 2022. The Widowmaker is the second Black Harbor mystery, but you do not need to have read Hello, Transcriber before reading this novel.

The Widowmaker follows Morgan, a young woman with a secret dark past. She has received a mysterious key along with a note and is now working to figure out what it will unlock from her troubled past. She finds herself entwined with he Reynolds family, a wealthy group with their own secrets and double lives. Morgan then witnesses the murder of a copy, which pulls her into the world of Investigator Hudson (the second point of view character).

While Hudson is the link to the first book (he works in the same police department featured in the first novel), Morgan was by far the stronger character for me. From the beginning, we can see that she is broken, but working to move forward. With every hit she takes, I found myself rooting for her, even when she made some questionable choices. Hudson is also well-developed, but has a less powerful storyline, which made him read as a secondary character for me.

Each of the main characters has their own plot initially. As the story progresses, those plot lines become more entangled, leading to a satisfying resolution of both of their stories. The story here is more mystery/suspense than police procedural, despite one of the main characters being a cop. In the middle of the novel, there were a couple of spots where I didn’t quite follow the links between events, but I was able to sort out enough to still enjoy the overall story.

Overall, The Widowmaker is a very good second installment in what I hope will be a continuing series of Black Harbor novels.