1–What is the title of your latest release?
2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
DEAD WIND is book three of the Shana Merchant series, about a female investigator with the New York State Police who now lives in upstate New York’s Thousand islands. When a body is found at the base of a wind turbine on a small Canadian island, and the victim has ties to Shana’s new town, she must dredge up dark secrets and old grudges while also hunting the man who’s been terrorizing her for years.
3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
Like all of the Shana Merchant novels, DEAD WIND is mainly set in the Thousand Islands of Upstate New York, but some of the most important action occurs on Wolfe Island across the border in Ontario, Canada. I visited Wolfe Island a few years ago and was floored by the landscape: it’s a very flat island, but it’s home to a wind farm, and those massive turbines felt otherworldly to me. I hadn’t even started writing the series at that point, but I knew that a turbine on the island would make an eerie crime scene, and I got my chance to use it in DEAD WIND.
4–Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
Absolutely. Shana Merchant holds a lot of things close to the vest, but she’s sharp and unassuming, and I think we’d get along well.
5–What are three words that describe your hero?
Rational, compassionate, determined.
6–What’s something you learned while writing this book?
This book taught me to be a more efficient writer. It’s the fastest book I’ve written to date – it took about seven months from start to finish – and I’m now writing more detailed outlines while also allowing myself the freedom to stray from the plan if that’s what serves the story best.
7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I always, always edit as I draft. I used to work as a freelance journalist with super tight deadlines, so the need to polish as I draft is deeply ingrained.
8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
It’s not gourmet at all, but my favorite indulgence is stovetop popcorn with loads of butter and salt. If given a choice, I’ll always pick a salty treat over a sweet one.
9–Describe your writing space/office!
I live in a hundred-year-old house, and when we bought it, my husband and I turned the attic into a third-floor office space. It’s quiet, and it has a great view of the whole neighborhood. The only downside is that it’s so far from the kitchen.
10–Who is an author you admire?
I’m in awe of Canadian mystery author Louise Penny and her ability to keep her series going for so long. She’s published 17 Inspector Gamache books so far, and the Three Pines universe she created just keeps getting stronger.
11–Is there a book that changed your life?
That would be Agatha Christie’s AND THEN THERE WERE NONE. That book has served me in so many ways: it piqued my interest in mysteries, it blew my mind with its standout plot, and it inspired me to write DEATH IN THE FAMILY – my first published novel – which is also set on a remote private island.
12–Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)
That was an unforgettable day. I knew from my agent that there were several editors interested in DEATH IN THE FAMILY, so I was keeping my phone close. I was actually at my son’s hockey practice when I got the call, so he got to experience that amazing moment with me.
13–What’s your favorite genre to read?
Crime fiction, mysteries, thrillers, suspense…I read almost exclusively in those genres and still can’t get enough.
14–What’s your favorite movie?
Jurassic Park. It was the first movie I saw in a theater that had Dolby Digital sound, and it was incredible. It also inspired the very first book I wrote, a (yet unpublished) bio-thriller.
15–What is your favorite season?
Fall – which is probably why so much of my writing is set during the chilly, moody months.
16–How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
I usually treat myself to something like a sushi dinner with the family or a night at the movies. I keep it pretty low-key.
17–What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I just watched the latest season of Shetland (based on the Ann Cleeves books), which was amazing. I’ve been lucky to read a lot of really excellent books lately, including The Maid by Nita Prose and Snow Blind by Ragnar Jónasson.
18–What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
There are many…I’m a little food-obsessed. Japanese and Indian are high on the list.
19–What do you do when you have free time?
I know this sounds crazy, but in my free time, I read. I have to do a lot of reading for research and blurbing purposes, which is a pleasure and an honor, but I always have a massive TBR list of new releases and backlist titles that I’m eager to get to as well.
20–What can readers expect from you next?
I’m about to turn in the fourth book in the Shana Merchant series, and I have a couple of standalone thrillers in the works.
DEAD WIND by Tess Wegert
Senior Investigator Shana Merchant must dredge up dark secrets and old grudges if she’s to solve the murder of a prominent local citizen in the Thousand Islands community she now calls home.
“An atmospheric, sophisticated thriller with layers upon layers of secrets” – Sarah Stewart Taylor, author of the Maggie D’arcy mysteries
The body is discovered on Wolfe Island, under the shadow of an enormous wind turbine. Senior Investigator Shana Merchant, arriving on the scene with fellow investigator Tim Wellington, can’t shake the feeling that she knows the victim – and the subsequent identification sends shockwaves through their community in the Thousand Islands of Upstate New York.
Politics, power, passion . . . there are dark undercurrents in Shana’s new home, and finding the killer means dredging up her new friends and neighbors’ old grudges and long-kept secrets.
That is, if the killer is from the community at all. For Shana’s keeping a terrible secret from almost everyone around her: eighteen months ago she escaped from serial killer Blake Bram’s clutches. But has he followed her, to kill again?
The Shana Merchant novels are a brilliant blend of chilling psychological thriller and gripping police procedural, set in an atmospheric island community with a small-town vibe.
Thriller Psychological [Severn House, On Sale: March 1, 2022, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9781448307128 / ]
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About Tess Wegert
Tessa Wegert is the author of the Shana Merchant series of mysteries, which includes Death in the Family, The Dead Season, and Dead Wind (April 2022). A former freelance journalist, Tessa’s work has appeared in Forbes, The Huffington Post, Adweek, and The Economist. Tessa grew up in Quebec and now lives with her husband and children in Coastal Connecticut.
Shana Merchant
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