Yes, I have traveled back to dark and dangerous Black Harbor, Wisconsin for the third book in this series. What did I think? I’ll give you my Review of When I’m Dead by Hannah Morrissey and my thoughts on the entire Black Harbor series, which also includes Hello Transcriber and The Widowmaker.
Written and edited by Jen Ryland. Last updated on:
This review will answer all these questions (and more)!
- Which of the Black Harbor books is the best?
- Can the Black Harbor books be read as standalones?
- How the Black Harbor books fit together?
- What TV show did the series remind me of?
Which of the Black Harbor Books is Best?
I’ll take an interesting and flawed book versus a cookie cutter read anytime. Hello Transcriber, book one in this series, is my favorite, but Goodreads did not quite agree. Rude!
Then I read The Widowmaker, book two, and was not the greatest fan of it. But Goodreads liked it better. Go figure.
Now that I’ve read all three books: Hello, Transcriber; The Widowmaker; and When I’m Dead, I feel like I can (maybe) see what it seems like Hannah Morrissey is up to. So this will be both a review of When I’m Dead and a sort of series review of the Black Harbor books.
Can the Black Harbor Books Be Read as Standalones?
Yes. The three books are completely separate stories. But for reasons I will explain in my review of book three, I think the three Black Harbor books make more sense as pieces of a whole. There seems to be one connecting character, and that’s Nikolai Kole. (And what is with Hazel and her bracelet? Please give me your thoughts in comments!)
If you just want to jump to my thoughts on book three, click here! But I’d read the whole thing. Really!
Plot Summary of Hello Transcriber
Every night, police transcriber Hazel Greenlee listens as detectives narrate Black Harbor, Wisconsin’s gruesome secrets. An aspiring writer, Hazel believes publishing a novel could be her ticket out of this frozen hellscape.
Then her neighbor confesses to hiding the body of an overdose victim in a dumpster. The suspicious death is linked to Candy Man, a notorious drug dealer. Hazel has a first row seat to the investigation and becomes captivated by the lead detective, Nikolai Kole.
Intrigued by the prospects of gathering material for her book, Hazel joins Kole in exploring Black Harbor’s darkest side. As the investigation unfolds, Hazel will learn just how far she’ll go for a good story. That might even mean destroying her marriage and luring the killer to her as she plunges deeper into the city she’s desperate to claw her way out of.
My Thoughts on Hello Transcriber (Black Harbor #1)
My full review of Hello Transcriber is linked here. I feel this is the most character-driven of the three books, and the most traditional.
It reads a little like a cross between an amateur detective story and a police procedural. Hazel, as the employee of the police department, has an inside view into a case without being a police officer herself.
There’s a (sort of) epistolary element to Hello, Transcriber, as Hazel types up police reports that are dictated for her.
The book has also the most traditional romance, as the married Hazel becomes more and more attracted to Nikolai Kole, a detective on the Dark Harbor police force. But this is not a happily ever after kind of series, just saying.
My Goodreads review called it a “dark and moody mystery.”
Plot Summary of The Widowmaker by Hannah Morrissey
Ever since business mogul Clive Reynolds disappeared twenty years ago, the name Reynolds has become synonymous with “murder” and “mystery.” Lured by a cryptic note, down-on-her-luck photographer Morgan Mori returns home to Black Harbor and into the web of their family secrets and double lives.
The same night she photographs the Reynolds holiday party, Morgan becomes witness to a homicide of a cop that triggers the discovery of a long-buried clue.
Investigator Ryan Hudson finally has a chance to prove himself as lead detective. If only he could stop letting his need to solve his partner’s recent murder distract him. But as Morgan exposes her own dark demons, could her sordid history be the key to unlocking more than one mystery?
My Thoughts on The Widowmaker by Hannah Morrissey
I looked up my Goodreads review and here were my thoughts on book two:
“The Widowmaker has two narrators: a police officer who is reeling from the murder of his former partner at work, and a young woman named Morgan Mori (even if you don’t know Latin, that surname should be a DEAD giveaway.)
Morgan has reluctantly returned to town and is working as a photographer. She should have been sympathetic to me, as she’s portrayed as a low-confidence sad sack in Walmart leggings. (I have social anxiety and am wearing Kirkland leggings at this very moment.)
But what I could NOT get past? A handsome guy from the richest family in town is strangely obsessed with Morgan and constantly sending her flirty texts.
What is wrong with this picture? A lot. Even if Morgan is actually a sad sack bombshell (is there such a thing?) in these kind of books, the rich people are BIG EVIL. (No, not vampires, but the rich family is into some pretty creepy and depraved stuff.)
There are only two possiblities a) the rich attractive guy has literally run through all the girls in town or b) he’s up to no good.
I did like how The Widowmaker’s two plotlines (eventually) came together as I assumed they would. This was well-written and vibe-y, if you like the depraved rich people in a small town vibe. With all their money, why don’t they move to a country with no taxes and sketchy law enforcement?”
Note: I didn’t find any mentions of Morgan or Ryan in book three. Kole is a character, and where did Hazel go????
Plot Summary for When I’m Dead by Hannah Morrissey
Published on October 31, 2023 by St Martin’s Press
Thanks to the publisher for the advance review copy which I accepted under FTC guidelines! Please see my Editorial Policy for more details.
On a bone-chilling October night, Medical Examiner Rowan Winthorp investigates the death of her daughter’s best friend. Hours later, tragedy hits home: her daughter, Chloe, goes missing.
A morbid mosaic of clues forces Rowan and her husband to question how well 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.
Review of When I’m Dead by Hannah Morrissey
When I’m Dead has three narrators: Rowan, the medical examiner in Black Harbor. Like Hazel, she’s a police adjacent character who can inject herself into the investigation. But she’s also married to Axel, narrator two, who is an actual police officer. The third narrator is Libby, an overweight teenager obsessed with taxidermy.
When I’m Dead is the second book recently I’ve read that felt very YA. In the case of When I’m Dead, that might be because the main plot line filled with angsty teens.
First Madison, a teenager, is found dead. After Rowan and Axel ditch their daughter Chloe’s school play to investigate, they return home to find that Chloe has vanished. To solve this mystery, Rowan will have to learn all about the teen goings-on in town. And so will we!
Several Goodreads readers have mentioned how weird it was that Rowan and Axel were allowed to be involved not only in investigating the death of their daughter’s friend, but Chloe’s disappearance as well. Which brings me to points one and two I’d like to make about this series:
1. The Black Harbor Books Are Less About the Characters than the Town
My review of the first book called it “moody and atmospheric.” Yes, the vibe is everything in these books. And unlike most book series that follow a single character, these books are more about exploring the town and all its varied residents: the crime underworld, the rich family, the teenagers.
I feel like the author has a very strong sense of Black Harbor as a real and fully realized place, and with each book, she’s exploring different facets of it.
What did this all remind me of? A universe. Like the Arrowverse or the Riverdale universe.
Edited to add: just found this on Hannah Morrissey’s Instagram!
2. The Black Harbor Books (to me) Have Strong Riverdale Vibes
I don’t know if you’ve seen the show Riverdale, but as I read the third book I was getting ALL the Riverdale vibes. Remember The Candyman in book one, Hello Transcriber? Riverdale had a drug lord called The Sugar Man.
The Widowmaker was all about the richest family in town. Like the Blossom family.
When I’m Dead focused on Black Harbor’s teen residents, just like Riverdale. The book’s title made me laugh: Rowan’s teen daughter told her medical examiner mom that “you’ll finally pay attention to me when I’m dead.”
All this teen drama gave When I’m Dead a bit of a YA vibe to me. We learned about teen friends and frenemies (but also a little too much about taxidermy and the tools used.) Which brings me to point three:
3. The Black Harbor Books Are Not for the Squeamish or Faint of Heart
The Widowmaker was the most disturbing, requiring a whole host of content warnings, but When I’m Dead was up there, with some gruesome details.
I saw one reviewer on Goodreads say, “since when do high schools have classes in taxidermy?” Fair, but please refer to rules 2 and 3. Like Riverdale, Black Harbor has its own logic that is not Real World Logic.
4. The Black Harbor Books Make Perfect Spooky Season Reads!
From the overall spooky atmospheric vibes to the very dark themes, The Black Harbor books make great reads for the Halloween season. I’d read all three, because that’s the way to really get a sense of the whole story world. Like I said going in, read together I think these books make up a whole that is interesting. I don’t read a ton of paranormal mysteries and thrillers, but if you can think of another series like this that is more setting-driven than character-driven, tell me in comments!
I’m really hoping that book four in the series (if there is one) takes a Dark Academia turn!