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.
I read an ARC of this book because I saw it in a webinar. This is book #5 in the Shana Merchant series but in the webinar it was mentioned that it could be read as a stand alone. While I don't think they were wrong, I felt that I was missing some things by not reading the first 4 books. I am left with some questions about what happened with the serial killer cousin and will probably go back at some point and read the first books. Overall it wasn't a bad story; I got frustrated with Hen's character in the beginning, it's not because of how she was written, she is just a crabby, moody, sneaky kid.
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