Murder, Secrets & Halloween in the Thousand Islands: Tessa Wegert's This River Runs Black

In this episode, Gare and I chat with Tessa Wegert about her new thrill The River Runs Black!

Listen to hear about:

How the Thousand Islands and North Country become characters themselves, creating the perfect mix of cozy fall atmosphere, isolation, and underlying dread.Why Tessa set The River Runs Black around Halloween and how trick-or-treating, pumpkin festivals, orchards, and other seasonal details actually play into the mystery.How she uses multiple POVs, secrets, cliffhangers, and carefully timed reveals to keep readers guessing—and why she changed one major character’s perspective while writing.The real-life inspiration behind the novel’s drug trafficking storyline, including a late-night police encounter on the St. Lawrence River and the uniquely porous U.S.–Canada border.How the novel explores the impact of drugs, boredom, isolation, and vulnerability among teenagers in a small community, plus what’s next for Tessa’s North Country series and her hopes to eventually publish a standalone thriller.

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Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland