Hello, Transcriber by Hannah Morrissey

 

Hazel Greenwood is not in a good place in her life.  She is stuck in Black Harbor, Wisconsin, a dark and dingy city.  She is in a loveless marriage to Tommy, who spends all his time hunting and fishing and drinking with the occupants of the other side of their duplex.  Hazel had thought by now she'd be an author but that didn't work out either.

But she can type and gets a job as a police transcriber, working overnights in the deserted police station.  She is good at her job and starts to take interest in the cases she writes up and the detectives that solve them.  One in particular, Nick Case, catches her interest and he seems interested in her as well.  

Nick is working several deaths.  The first is a nine year old boy who overdosed on drugs and was disposed of in a dumpster.  He suspects a drug dealer nicknamed The Candy Man and it turns out that Hannah's neighbor, Hank, was the one who put the child in the dumpster although he insists The Candy Man made him do it and he refuses to identify him.  Then there is another overdose and then the death of Nick's best informant, a woman he is rumored to be having an affair with.  As the deaths pile up and Hannah gets more entangled in the case and in Nick's company, she begins to believe she can solve the case and write a novel that will take her away from this life she hates.

This is a debut novel for Hannah Morrissey.  She lives in Wisconsin and was an actual transcriber which lends her work authenticity.  The pacing in this novel is spot on and there are twists and turns that keep the reader guessing.  Hazel makes every mistake a woman in love can make and it almost costs her the life she wasn't sure she wanted.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.