Death in the Family by Tessa Wegert is the first book in her new Shana Merchant series. Death in the Family is an exciting mystery thriller. We meet our heroine, Shana Merchant, who has only been in this upstate New York town for about a year, after recovering from a kidnapping as a NYPD detective. She hoped that she would not have to get involved in high crime areas that she was used to. She and her partner, Tim Wellington are called to investigate a possible murder at an isolated private island, and must travel on the lake through a nor’easter storm; the island mansion is owned by the wealthy Sinclair family. Upon arriving, Shana looks over the bedroom scene, with one side of the bed covered in blood, with no body to be found.

As the weather worsens, everyone is trapped at the mansion, including Shana and Tim, with the local police unable to get there. Shana does take charge, but she has to interview members of the family, who most are not very likable, and she is also at some odds with Tim, who is sure the missing person is alive and well, and Shana is confident that this case is a murder. This is very much like an old fashion murder mystery, with a house full of worthy suspects of being a possible killer; similar to Agatha Christie mysteries.

As Shana interviews each of the family members, with some of them very belligerent, we get a great view of the clues she finds, and when there is another victim, the danger escalates for all of them in the house who cannot leave; but one thing is set, there is a murderer in the house. Shana needs to get beyond her past memories that still plague her; and to confide to Tim about what happened to her. Tim has done well in keeping everyone calm, as she investigates, but he knows something is wrong and tries to get her to talk to him. Her past memories rise up when threatened by temperamental people, and eventually her and Tim will iron things out and work well together.

I will say that just about everyone in the house wasn’t likable, with the exception of the matriarch, Camilla, who is slowly losing her battle to cancer. Each of the members are suspected, and with so many twists and turns, it is impossible to correctly guess. The caretaker & the missing Jasper’s fiancée were the only ones who seemed nice besides the grandmother. As we race to the climax, I had an inkling who the murderer was, but was totally mind blown at the twist.

Death in the Family was very well written by Tessa Wegert, with an exciting, gripping and chilling thriller all the way, as well as the many twists and turns that kept throwing us off. If you enjoy an old fashion mystery thriller, look no further then Death in the Family.

3.5 stars. This sounded like it was going to be a good Agatha Christie style murder mystery. A missing body, raging storm, and a secluded island with stranded suspects. It fell short of my expectations. The story itself wasn’t bad but the main detective, Shana Merchant, had too many past problems and personal issues to deal with that just interrupted the main plot. Her back story kept being thrown in repeatedly without any context. It should just be told in a separate book, which is hinted at in the ending. Lots of characters and relationships to keep straight. With a little tweaking, this could have been a lot better.

Great characters, all with interesting back stories that are carefully revealed throughout the book. I loved the premise of this murder mystery with nine people on a secluded island. Two investigators getting to know each other as they struggle to put the pieces together before anyone else gets killed. Recommended

A twisty and solid mystery debut with shades of Agatha Christie. All my favorite tropes are present: family secrets, betrayal, murder, a crime scene cut off from the outside world, and of course, everyone is a suspect. I will definitely be picking up the next book!

Hard-boiled detective meets locked room mystery in this first in a new series. These classic genres are given a fresh twist in the setting an island in the midst of a raging storm, and in the protagonist, a female detective.

"Death in the Family" is a classic whodunnit. A clever detective with a murky past and her naive local sidekick try to solve the disappearance of a rich family's favorite son, all while trapped on an island in a New England storm. Anyone could be responsible, everyone has a motive, and someone could be next to disappear. The mystery is exciting but somehow also cozy, like Nancy Drew with a gun.

What makes this familiar plot new is the main character's history. Once a homicide detective, she moved from NYC to a small oceanside town to escape the memories of her last big case. As much as I enjoyed reading this book, I was let down by the lack of resolution to this side-plot. I can only assume (and hope) that the cliffhanger is due to a planned sequel.

This book is another early, surprising, twisty, riveting, dark, mind-bending, whodunit gift for me makes me sing Christmas Carol songs louder lalalalala! I think I found great new series lalalala! I want to read the second book now lalalaala! Bring it to me! Bring it to me!

In the beginning I was expecting I had a three stars, mostly four stars ordinary reading. A small town murder mystery with too much Agatha Christie vibes, dark and rainy atmosphere you may see at Norwegian TV dramas or Fincher movies (just remember bloody “Seven”, rain never stopped till the last scene.), investigators have different methods, coming from different backgrounds. Two detectives, Shana and Tim are (not Poirot and Marple) investigating disappearance of Sinclair family’s young son Jasper, trapped in a house with notorious, dislikeable, spineless family members. Jasper’s girlfriend finds Jasper’s side of bed empty. Okay correction! Not empty! His side of the bed is COVERED IN BLOOD. Is it getting interesting? Let’s continue to flip the pages because it’s getting more and more interesting in each second.

So at the second half of book kept growing on me. I enjoyed characterization, fast pacing, mysterious, mind-bending way of story-telling. Everyone could be suspect. Each character has own flaws, mistakes, scandalous secrets. I liked the final twists, revelations and CLIFFHANGER at the end! I think I have to pray for the author write the second book ASAP! I think I’m going to get addicted to this new series. So my decision is to give FIVE STORMY, CREEPY, MURDEROUS, BLEAK STARS to this exciting journey!

So let’s look at Jasper’s family members:

Camilla Sinclair: Only likeable character, getting weaker each day, suffering from big C, truly loves Jasper and has no idea about great schemes are orchestrated by rest of her evil grandsons and granddaughter.

Flynn Sinclair: Big brother, typical asshole, having anger management issues, violent past, potential alcoholic, correction he’s alcoholic and mean. Seems like a potential killer, hah?

Abella Beaudry: Jasper’s girlfriend. She is jobless, having issues with her visa to stay in the US, trying to get a job at the family company (at least with Flynn says to the detectives) and she may have had a big argument with Jasper before he is gone missing. How a person cannot hear anything when sharing a bed with somebody who is possibly stabbed to death and carried outside the room! Even I don’t sleep so deep! (I had missed two largest earthquakes, but I had been so tired at those days!) She could be also a killer, right?

Caretaker Mr. Norton: He stays too long with the family. Camilla considers him as a family member. He seems like he holds something back. Could he be the killer? He gives us creepy vibes!

Ned: Flynn’s boyfriend who wants to leave him and he has a secret relationship with Flynn’s sister! Yesss this is not a regular episode of Young and Restless or Bold and Beautiful, we’re still introduced to scumbag characters. Ned thinks Jasper sees him with his sister and he can tell it to Flynn. Could it be a reason to kill anyone? Maybe…

And sister Bebe (Nope we are not talking about women’s retail brand. I think it is short for 2B a.k.a. BIG BITCH because she is the bitchiest character and so many times I asked myself which one of them were more irritating? Flynn or her? I visualized to kick their asses and raised my glass!) cheating sister, manipulative, pretentious, sneaky. Could she kill her own brother for his share of inheritance. Of course she could.

Jade, Bebe’s problematic stepdaughter, 14, in love with Jasper, is spying on people. Could she want to avenge Jasper because he doesn’t love her back? Maybe…

Miles: Husband of Bebe, seems like cool guy, is about to divorce his cheater wife, taking care of his daughter. But he is also hiding something, making suspicious comments about everyone, hating the family members truly. So is he another potential suspect? Why not?

And of course everyone detectives’ characters are impeccably developed, well-rounded. Shana is the heroine, suffering from traumatic past. She is kidnapped by a serial killer and saved by a rookie police officer who had died at the basement she had been captivated. She could have killed the man named Bram. She could have avenged those four women had died in his hands. Why did she let him go? Is it a regular Stockholm Syndrome case? Shana’ s over protective, controlling, psychiatrist fiancée pushes her hard to resign from her job and not to trust her colleague Tim? Why? Tim says Shana’s fiancée is an evil incarnation who had tried to run his life in the past. Who tells the truth?

I enjoyed Shana and Tim’s collaboration to solve the case. They complete each other with their opposite characteristic methods. Tim is friendly, genuine, talkative local guy and Shana is introverted, septic, reactive and straightforward. I also liked their chemistry.

So I’m looking forward to read more of this series. I enjoyed this book so much.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group to share this fascinating thriller with me in exchange my honestly written review. And congratulations to Tessa Wegert for creating such a mind blowing, exhilarating page-turner!

Being kidnapped by a serial killer put former NYPD Detective Shana Merchant off big city policing. She takes a job in a small town in upstate New York, hoping to find some balance. But if she was hoping for peace and quiet, she’s going to be disappointed. With a blizzard on the way, she and partner Tim Wellington travel to an island in the middle of nowhere to look for a missing man on the wealthy Sinclair estate. Tim thinks they have a runaway on their hands, but Shana sees the blood and thinks they’re dealing with a murder. As the storm ramps up, Shana and Tim are stuck on the island with a group of Sinclairs and their friends that Shana finds increasingly suspicious. After a while, she even starts to doubt whether she can trust Tim. Living in the Northeast, I know there is nothing more claustrophobic than a big snow storm, imagining myself locked away with the characters in this book was enough to have be turning on extra lights